Blown Minded - Carine Khalife

Khalife directed and animated this abstract and raw music video for Young Galaxy's and their song "blown minded". The entire animation is comprised of oil paint on glass, photographed from above.

"Basically, my technique was to paint on a piece of glass fixed to a light box. I would paint on the glass with oil so that it wouldn’t dry, and I could play with it for hours. A camera, fixed overhead above the animation table and plugged in my computer, would capture my paintings frame by frame and create the animation using the software Stop Motion Pro (the aardman studio software). This process took place inside a dark room so that there wouldn’t be interference or changing lights on the paint. The single light source came from beneath the glass, revealing the textures and details of brushes movements.

I worked a lot with transparency. The more paint, the darker the image, and therefore the animation becomes about gesture, and the texture of brushstrokes; it’s a very physical, organic process. I based the number of frames per second (sometimes 8 sometimes 12) on the rhythm of the music. Everything is based on the rhythm. It was important for me, especially for the abstract parts, that I was responding to the song conversationally; like a running dialogue. I think I’ve listened to the song more than a thousand times. And because i would often listen to it and focus solely on drums, voice, lyrics, or melody – I was still able to hear new things each time."

I find this whole process just brilliant and beautiful. How she describes the organic gesture in which she paints really emphasises the relationship animators have towards their animations. Animation isn't just "a" piece of art. The work it takes and the relationship that builds from that makes it a piece of you. How a single light underneath exposes the texture in the oil so beautifully, how you can play with light and dark tones with this too is also fantastic. She uses a thin layer of oil to create the texture of the waters surface so beautifully. It is obvious how one of her focusses was for it to correlate with the music as the movements co-exist perfectly. I also love the effect of the paint textures almost turning into sand and swiping across the screen, it really enhances and complements the raw and organic feeling of the medium she is using.

I even think the title complements the animation itself. The mixture of abstract textures really creates the effect of a mind explosion.

I love how the main protagonist style character remains unpainted and colourless. This makes him stand-out from the abstract swirl of textures that caress him. This could reflect a person who fields segregated from society and doesn't fit in.