Alex Rutterford, 33, directed Autechre’s Gantz Graf. He works in West Hampstead, London
How did the idea for Gantz Graf come about?
I’d been chatting to Shaun and Rob [from Autechre] for years about this idea of interacting sound with some kind of abstract shape. Without sounding like a druggy, they were the images I saw in my head while I was on acid a long time ago.
It’s incredibly detailed – how long did it take?
It took me about a month to work out a technique just to animate one little thing in particular. Months and months. I used the LightWave program, a 3D animation application. An architectural student in Italy is writing a thesis on it. He wanted to know the most detailed aspects of it – it’s a bit mad really.
Why has Warp been so successful with its videos?
They have an aura and a mystique and a bit of an attitude which is quite rare these days. You just see more and more videos that are commonplace and banal. I cannot stand the pop trash fodder, it’s so formulaic. You have to work five times as hard to get something special. Some people expect a video that looks like bloody George Lucas has directed it.
How obsessive are you?
I’m a lunatic. One of the things I’m working on at the moment – it’s very sculptural – is going to take about a year to do.
Interesting. Last time I read something about this amazing video, it was that Rutterford hand crafted and keyframed most of the video to go exactly with the music. Quite a feat I’d say. I still love this video.
