Oliver Harrison

Oliver Harrison is an English filmmaker, artist and animator, based in London. His films have been shown around the world in festivals including: Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival and the London Film Festival and have picked up many awards. His work has been featured at Tate Modern, the Whitechapel Gallery, The Barbican Centre and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. A pioneer of kinetic typography and influential in the development of motion graphics, much of Harrison's work has a strong typographic element. His feature film The Fallen Word premiered at the BFI Southbank[1] in 2013.

Oliver Harrison
Harrison in 2013
BornStratford-upon-Avon, England
OccupationFilmmaker, artist, animator
NationalityEnglish

Film career

Harrison was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta along with three other animators: Edwin Roston, Karoline Glusiec and Petra Freeman, to animate the opera Into The Little Hill written by George Benjamin with libretto by Martin Crimp. The piece was produced through Animate Projects.

His debut feature film The Fallen Word premiered at The BFI Southbank in May 2013 coinciding with the release of the DVD The Fallen Word and Collected Films,[2] funded by Arts Council England. Written and directed by Harrison, The Fallen Word stars: Julian Bleach, Steve Smith, Will Strange, Jim Conway, Emma Hill, Dominic Cazenove and Gavin Molly and has been described as: 'a sinister fairytale'. The Fallen Word was invited to screen at the Beginning festival in St Petersburg in 2014.

Apocalypse Rhyme won the award for Best Motion Graphics in the British Animation Awards[3] 2014. The film was commissioned by Channel 4's Random Acts and produced by Animate Projects and Lupus Films . The film made official selection in the Aesthetica Short Film Festival,[4] The Imperial War Museum Film Festival and also in the Writ Large festival in Santa Cruz where it was projected against buildings. Apocalypse Rhyme was featured in articles in Artribune,[5] and Savage;[6] Lucy Felbusch described the film as 'devastating and beautiful' and is listed as number 12 in the Creative Bloc 'must see examples of kinetic typography'.[7]

Love is All, a three-minute short, was filmed in 35mm, on a 1917 Bell and Howell camera, using multiple exposures. The film was shown in over 70 festivals around the world and was selected for the Cannes Film Festival Director's Fortnight in 2000. Love is All picked up seven awards around the world including the Jury prize at New York Film Festival and the Jury prize at the Oberhausen Film Festival.[8] The film went on general release[9] in cinemas with various films in 2000; Time Out described Love is All as "an ineffable sweet ode d’amour". The film was screened at Tate Modern London has part of Thresholds of the Frame[10] and was featured in the Barbican Centre exhibition: Passionate Obsessions.

Spirit of Place was the first film to be shot entirely on a motion control camera. In 2015, Spirit of Place featured in the Institute of Contemporary Arts' exhibition: Poetry FIlm Parallax curated by Zata Banks.[11] In 2016 the exhibition was invited by the Bauhaus Film-Institut to play at the Backup Film Festival in Weimar.

Oliver Harrison studied at St Martins School of Art (foundation course at Cheltenham School of Art). His graduation film Amore Baciami received critical acclaim. The first film to exclusively feature animated typography, Amore Baciami was nominated for 'Best Animated Film' and 'Best Student Film' in the 1988 British Animation Awards. Amore Baciami's TV debut was on Thames TV's First Run introduced by David Puttnam. He said of the film: 'I think it's quite brilliant'. The film was shown around the world, including festivals in Hong Kong Film Festival and the Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation in Los Angeles. Excerpts of the film were also shown on MTV in the US. Harrison said of the film:

"I wanted the type to be the star, the letters: the heros. This was not a film-title-sequence, type was not playing second-fiddle to live action, it was not a sequence in a pop promo, It was a new way of thinking about type and about graphics"

Amore Baciami was bought by DMB&B, an excerpt was used as a commercial called Letters of Love for The Royal Mail for Valentine's Day 1989.[12] This cut down version of the film went on to win a Gold Lion at Cannes, a Gold Arrow at the British Advertising awards, a D&AD Pencil and the Epica d'Or. Oliver was commissioned in 1992 to shoot the titles for Merchant Ivory's Oscar winning film: Howards End. Following this success, Harrison signed up with Acme Filmworks[13] in Hollywood to make commercials. Harrison created spots for Nike, Marie Claire, P&O Ferries, The Independent newspaper, Molson Beer, Toyota, IBD and MTV[14] amongst others. Harrison's Toyota Rav 4 commercial was Spot of the Week in Shoot magazine in 1996.[15]

Early music career

Harrison played drums with the punk band Satan's Rats from Evesham and, at the age of 17, signed a record contract with DJM Records. The band released three singles, their third, "You Make me Sick", was produced by Dr Feelgood producer Vic Maile. Satan's Rats played in The Roxy in London and various clubs across the country, including Barbarella's in Birmingham. On 18 December 1977, they supported The Sex Pistols at their second gig at the Wolverhampton Lafayette Club,[16] as part of the infamous Spots tour. Satan's Rats also played a one off gig in HM Prison Long Lartin, where the band met John McVicar who was helping with the equipment.

In 1979, the band changed its name to The Photos, and were joined by singer Wendy Wu. At the end of a bidding war the band ended up signing to CBS in 1980. It was the biggest record deal for an unknown band at that time. The Photos spent much of the time gigging, playing in the early days with The Adverts, The Cure, John Cooper Clarke and The Fall and later toured the UK supporting The Undertones and Squeeze. Once, at The Marquee in Wardour Street on 13 July 1980, they were supported by an unknown up and coming Irish group called U2. Later Jools Holland and the Millionaires supported The Photos on another UK tour.

When The Photos played Manchester Polytechnic, they were reviewed by Morrissey in the Record Mirror, writing under his full name Steven Morrissey. The review was also featured in the book, Morrissey and Marr the Severed Alliance. He said of Oliver:

…"Perhaps their only saving grace is their drummer Ollie whose playing is excellent. Will anything happen?"[17]

At the height of their powers, The Photos went on a stadium tour supporting The Police in Europe. The band made a number of TV appearances including Top Pop in Holland in 1980 and The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1981. They headlined the Lyceum in London supported by the Thompson Twins in 1981. U2 were third on the bill. Their highest single entry was "Irene" which reached number 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980.[18] The eponymously named first album got to number 4 in the UK Albums Chart,[18] although it was surrounded by controversy that the record company had hyped it (unbeknownst to the band).

The Photos recorded a second album with Tony Visconti in his Good Earth Studios in Soho, London. The album was not released until 2012 by Cherry Red Records. The band split from Wendy Wu in 1982, securing another record deal as a three piece with Rialto Records. The new line up released a couple of ill-fated singles. Disillusioned with the music industry, Harrison left in 1982 to pursue a career in art.

Filmography

Short films
  • Amore Baciami (1988)
  • Time (1990)
  • Spirit of Place (1992)
  • Love is All (2000)
  • Apocalypse Rhyme (2012)

Feature film
  • The Fallen Word (2013)

Commissioned work
  • Howards End - title sequence (1992)
  • Dolly Thompsett - animated paintings (2011)
  • Into the Little Hill - opera (2017)

Commercials
  • Royal Mail - Letters of Love (1989)
  • Marie Claire - You reach Me (1989)
  • Nike - 180 (1989)
  • Nike - All Conditions Gear (1990)
  • P&O Ferries - Hotel (1991)
  • Rav 4 - Typographer's Dream (1995)
  • Molson Beer - Yin or Yang (1996)
  • Independent Newspaper (1999)

Incidentals and Super 8 films
  • Rose tinted Super 8 (2016)
  • Love is All Super 8 - behind the scenes (2016)

Awards
FilmFestivalAwardYear
Amore BaciamiBritish Animation AwardsBest Student Film nomination1989
Amore BaciamiBritish Animation AwardsBest Animated Film nomination1989
Amore Baciami - Letters of Love versionCannes Advertising FestivalGold Lion1989
Amore Baciami - Letters of Love versionD&AD awardsD&AD Pencil1989
Amore Baciami - Letters of Love versionEpica AwardsEpica d'Or1989
Amore Baciami - Letters of Love versionBritish TV and Advertising AwardsGold Arrow1989
Spirit of PlaceCork Film FestivalBest Cinematography1992
Love is AllNew York Expo of Short FilmsJury Prize2000
Love is AllOberhausen Short Film FestivalJury Prize2000
Love is AllCannes Film FestivallLa Quinzaine des Réalisateurs selection2000
Love is AllCork Film FestivalBest B/W Short Film2000
Love is AllRushes, Soho Short Film FestivalRushes Prize2000
Love is AllCourt de Brest Film FestivalShort film award2001
Love is AllTCM Classic ShortsHighly Commended2001
Love is AllDahlonega Int. Film FestivalAudience Award2001
Apocalypse RhymeBritish Animation AwardsWinner - Best Motion Graphics2014

References
  1. "Oliver Harrison". Bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  2. "BFI Southbank". Shop.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  3. "British Animation Awards". Britishanimationawards.com. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  4. "ASFF - 2016 Programme". Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  5. Marsala, Helga (16 January 2014). "Apocalypse Rhyme, un poema gotico per Oliver Harrison". Artribune.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  6. "Apocalypse Rhyme: Interview with Oliver Harrison". Sacageonlinec.o.uk. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  7. October 2019, Aaron Kitney 04. "40 must-see examples of kinetic typography". Creativebloq.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  8. Film, British Council. "British Council Film: Once upon a time in Oberhausen ..." film.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  9. "LOVE IS ALL - British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  10. "Tate Modern -Thresholds of the Frame". Oliverharrison.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  11. Guy Sherwin, Eye (16 August 2015). "PoetryFilm Parallax". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  12. "Campaign article - Hair apparent (11 Nov 1988)". Oliverharrison.com. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  13. "Directors - Acme Filmworks". Acmefilmworks.com. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  14. "Sorrel Downer, London Evening Standard article - Tropical Issues (2 Nov 1989)". Oliverharrison.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  15. "Kathy DeSalvo, Shoot article - Oliver Harrison's Letter perfect Dream (22 March 1996)". Oliverharrison.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  16. "Sex Pistols - Live at Club Lafayette 1977". Punk77.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  17. "Steven Morrissey, Record Mirror - Instamatic Pop, The Photos review (29 March 1980)". Oliverharrison.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  18. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 426. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

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