Concept and creative process
‘Rockface’ was the title of a drama series set in the Scottish Highlands which featured dramatic rescues performed by a mountain rescue team. Designer Ant James, inspired by David Hockney’s photo and video montages, thought that such a concept would fulfil the brief and feature the mountainous landscape and the leading characters from the cast in an intriguing way. He was presented with action clips of the mountain rescue team, their headquarters and the surrounding landscape by the series director. In post-production on Flame he created a patchwork of images composited from different out-takes and moved them all in synch to create a continuous panning shot, building in whip pans to add interest and pace. The panning shot finally resolved to a narrow out-of-focus moving linear strip of greys and browns, elegantly forming the background to the animated programme title.