Op Art

Pattern engineered to move while the camera holds perfectly still.

Precision is the whole style. Shoot level, centred and sharp, and let the pattern supply the movement. Keep colour to one interruption per frame and make it count. If it starts to feel psychedelic, reduce: fewer colours, harder edges, more white.

Director's note

Leave with every frame on this list.

Shot list

1. 01Frontal, dead-level shot of a large black and white warped-grid panel filling the frame edge to edge, no context, the distortion doing all the work
2. 02Medium shot of a figure in a black and white striped garment standing against a striped wall of a different frequency, the moire forming where they overlap
3. 03Close detail of concentric black circles printed on white board, one red circle interrupting the sequence, hard edges, no visible texture
4. 04Wide shot of a white corridor whose floor is a radiating stripe pattern that seems to tilt, a single figure in black at the far end
5. 05Overhead shot of stacked screenprints in black and white, the top sheet a vibrating chequer, one blue sheet showing at the edge of the pile

Flat, even, shadowless light so nothing competes with the pattern. Softbox or overcast. The subject is contrast between black and white, and any gradient from lighting reads as a mistake.

Light

Scout these before anything else.

Locations

1. 01A white studio cyclorama
2. 02A gallery wall hung with large monochrome panels
3. 03A long plain corridor or stairwell that can be dressed with pattern
4. 04A screenprint studio with drying racks

Black and white only, in stripes or solids, with a hard line between them. One garment may carry a single colour block. Fabrics that hold a crisp edge, nothing that drapes into curves unless the curve is the point.

Wardrobe