Nexus' Jim Le Fevre Creates Magic With His SBTRKT-O-SCOPE

There's something wonderfully beguiling about optical illusions of old. Yes, we can now see Minecraft spouting out of tables with Microsoft's HoloLens or wander around a virtual Paris in Google Cardboard, but a traditional thaumatrope, zoetrope or Pepper's Ghost is still crafty enough to trick our cynical eyes into believing the impossible. With his new installation for producer/multi-instrumentalist SBTRKT (in collaboration with Red Bull), Nexus' Jim Le Fevre has taken these tricks of the old (zoetrope, strobe lighting) and the new (digital printing, computer-controlled motion) to create something truly delightful.

Unveiled earlier this year at Inner-City Arts' event 'Summer on Seventh' in Los Angeles and housed at Guerrilla Galleries in Downtown LA's arts district, the 'SBTRKT-O-SCOPE' is one of only a small handful of 3D stroboscopes of its scale in existence, the others owned by animation giants Studio Ghibli (we've seen it – it's awesome) and Pixar (we haven't seen it – we bet it's awesome). In short, a stroboscope is like a giant, 3D zoetrope, but instead of using slots cut into a cylinder to create the illusion of motion the piece uses a rotating disk and strobe lighting. Basically, magic in front of your eyes. Still confused? Check out the amazing 'making of' video.

Designed to extend the visual identity of SBTRKT, the installation was created as a physical prequel to the New Dorp video, and represents the birth of SBTRKT's now trademark creature (the dark, cat-like beast pictured above). The installation brings to life SBTRKT's mysterious creature in multiple forms emerging from the water, clambering over the Manhattan skyline, and plunging into New York's city centre.

The artist, BAFTA winning animator/director Le Fevre, created the 8ft tall and 6ft wide stroboscope to spin at 33.3rpm and illuminated it with a strobe-rig to create the optical illusion of animation. Cleverly, the architecture and tiers were laser-cut to specific dimensions, with the character animated at Nexus' London studio then 3-D printed frame by frame into physical models.

We were fascinated by the process and logistics involved in creating such an audacious piece of physical animation, so sat down with Jim to talk 3D prints, cyclical animation and what it's like to be an actual wizard (kinda).

How did the project come about?

I actually got the call about the job through Gee Staughton, an art director/set builder who has now moved out to LA who had previously helped me make a rather large Phonotrope for a title sequence a few years before for 'Holy Flying Circus', a comedy drama based upon Monty Python for the BBC.

He had been approached by XL (the record label) to try and develop an idea SBTRKT's Art Director, A Hidden Place, had had for a 3D zoetrope using their dog/cat character but didn't have the experience in the logistics and theory to take it further.

Nexus got the project up and running with the support of XL's partners on this project, Red Bull. From that point onwards we began discussing the idea, which was at a very early stage.

How many zoetropes have you made in the past? Is the transition from 2D to 3D different?

Back in 2006 I discovered the technique which I later called the Phonotrope which was a delightful exploration into creating 'live animation' using the confluence of a record player spinning at fixed revolutions per minute (rpm) and the frame rate of a camera (fps). Essentially a contemporary reworking of the zoetrope. Over the years I've created many many discs (and not just discs, ­ there's a very fancy pottery version I made for the Crafts Council a couple of years ago!) partly to experiment further into the technique but also because I find it a really lovely process.

The joy of the process, compared to working in film, is the enormous restrictions you find yourself under, namely a very small amount of animation and a restricted physical canvas to play with, and added to that the nuances of repeating a movement where every single frame exists in the same space. Yet out of these restrictions comes some lovely things (possibly because of those restrictions) and you have to find yourself in a mental space where you give yourself over to them and learn to explore and exploit the things that you can, which in this case are the three dimensions that a Phonotrope (or in this case strobe based zoetrope) offers, i.e. up!

With that in mind all of my experiments in this field have been in 3D (although I do a lot of workshops using 2D card guides which are a great way into the process) so the main difference with the Sbtrkt­o­scope was the sheer scale and space we were working with and the knowledge that it would be spectacular. Having said that, my first large scale Phonotrope (the Monty Python title sequence) was even larger so I was familiar with the adjustment and ready for exploring those opportunities.


How much R&D did you have to do to get the effect nailed? Had you visited the other stroboscopes in Japan and the US? (I've seen the one in the Ghibli Museum and it blew my mind!!)

To be honest the R&D to get the effect nailed took a couple of days of remembering all my GCSE maths back in 2006 and the realisation that once you have a few 'simple' principles worked out in 'theory' (the rpm and the fps) then the 'practice' should always work (although in cases like this where so much effort goes on before you press 'play' there is always that terrifying moment just before you flick the switch where you suddenly worry if you've made a silly mistake somewhere at the start!).

What has been great over the years is in identifying areas to explore, such as the space 'into' the disc and the relationship of sizes of objects as well as the clarity of the space as there is a tendency to throw too many things into it. This makes it rather messy rather quickly!

I did have the opportunity to see the Pixar Zoetrope, created and devised by Warren Trezevant, when it was over here in the UK more than a decade ago and it's absolutely incredible although funnily enough my route into discovering Phonotrope actually came from an entirely different direction as it began when I was trying to come up with an idea for the Straight­8 film competition (an entirely analogue film competition which generally results in filmmakers trying to out­clever each other).

In fact I was lucky enough to be introduced to Warren via email a while back via Peter Hudson, himself an absolute god in 3-dimensional zoetropes, after the Monty Python one launched and had the opportunity to say what a monumental achievement he'd made.

Going to see the Ghibli one is absolutely on my bucket list though and I'm jealous you've seen it!!!

Annoyingly enough there was an aspect I wanted to experiment with for the Sbtrktoscope which I had begun to play with in my Phonotrope work, namely that of UV light, with the intention of enabling us to be able to extend the limited loops within the disc, however we soon realised that the nature of UV light meant we couldn't get enough punch within a strobe system and we simply didn't have any time or money to R&D that aspect which was a real shame as it could have been amazing!


In the prep for the piece, how closely did you work with Red Bull / SBTRKT? Who influenced what?

Annoyingly, as is the case with jobs like these, SBTRKT himself was midway through a gruelling world-wide tour so we only got the opportunity to chat once on Skype but in any case the idea of creating a zoetrope with the SBTRKT spirit animal was conceived by his Art Director (A Hidden Place) so we managed to have one or two face to face meetings with her during the process.

Nexus got the project up and running with the support of XL's partners on this project, Red Bull. From that point onwards we began discussing the idea, which was at a very early stage.

The most important meeting (perhaps obviously) was the first one where it was crucial for everyone to understand the restrictions of the technique and of what works and what doesn't twinned inexorably with a tight budget and time limitations.

One thing which takes time to explain is that there is no arguing with physics and maths (which it is all based round) so as much as one might like to, for instance, have a character move across a space and stop, in a zoetropic approach - because the loops must join - that would mean the 'stopped' figure at the end of the sequence would have be present at the start of the sequence.

Due to the restrictions we were working with We had to hit the ground running and only had the opportunity for one major revision (after a discussion with SBTRKT and A Hidden Place we shifted it from an influence of the New Dorp promo from his first single of the album towards the aesthetic of the Manhattan Harbour line which it ended up as) but, probably because of the experience I've had in experimenting with Phonotropes I had instinctively settled on a satisfying direction of the action and the feeling I wanted from the movement quite early on and fortunately it all fit and folded around this shift perfectly.

How different is the actual process when compared to traditional or computer­aided animation? Do you storyboard in a similar way? Is it comparable to stop­motion?!

What is so refreshing about the technique is that it lends itself to quite an immediate form of expression, or rather, knowing that once you've made the decision for the rpm of the disc (in this instance 33rpm) and the speed of the strobe (10 flashes per second for this disc) you can fairly quickly sketch out the planning of it and, as I've said, the years of experience have taught me that the simpler, clearer set­ups and movements work far better so there's not really a point in 'storyboarding' it rather it's better to jump in and assess things as you go along.

It's more about an instinctive understanding of the space.


What was the process, from page to build?

The starting point to any strobe based zoetrope (a 'stroboscope') picking the right combination of revolutions­per­minute (rpm) that your disc spins and flashes­per­second (fps) that the strobe fires at which gives you the amount of animation you can play with. Again with the SBTRKT-­O-SCOPE we were also dealing with tricky things with regards to the legal compliance of strobes which varies from state to state (and indeed all around the world). In this case I quickly got to the stage of finding a good medium, namely 33rpm and 10fps that would give me about 1.8 seconds of animation.

Although this isn't that much animation I worked towards a series of 'folded' loops which meant a single character could perform a long sequence extending it to 7­ish seconds of animation although it meant that three versions of the same character would be in play over the disc.

A secondary challenge that comes from this is that each loop has to a) appear from somewhere, b) be moving enough so that it got out of the way of its previous loop and finally c) disappear somewhere.

From the theoretical challenges of the animation and set, the next challenges were the implementation and creation of the physical objects we were using.

The set elements were inspired by a chat I had with Aaron (SBTRKT) and his Art Director who had an image in their minds of the Manhattan harbour line as well as having the monochromatic feel of the New Dorp promo from his opening single release from the album.

The sets were all built by Gary Fouchy here at Nexus and were designed and created so that they could be broken down into 'slats' and then laser cut by Ewen Dickie at Lasermake and be interlocked and constructed 'simply' by Gordon Allen and Gee Staughton who were in charge of the physical construction of the disc (I say 'simply' because there were about 700 separate elements!).

The animated elements (the SBTRKT dog/cat character) were built and rigged by Mark Davies and Pete Addington at Nexus from an existing model, and animated by Will Lorton then parsed through a system to make them 3D­printable by Jay Short at Inition which I then hand painted. Bearing in mind each 'frame' of the animation had to have the continuity for animation (each piece of paint in its relative position) you have to remember we were doing all of this 'blind' i.e. Not being able to check it, so it was gratifying when it did all fit the first time we span it.

Throughout this though, I had to keep a really strict eye on every aspect of how they came together as registration point needs to be built into the each element of the set so it wasn't as simple as printing out identical piece of set!

All of the theory, set and animation had to be rapidly signed off simply due to amount of time we found ourselves left to make it and the sheer timescale of laser cutting and 3D printing the assets as well as physically engineering the structure that it was to be attached to and spun on which was going on hand in hand by Gordon and Gee.

As these two sides met the next biggest challenge was devising a strobe system which would be secure enough to give us the exact frames per second bursts of light with enough power to fill our space. By this time the lowest disc was coming out at nearly 2 meters in diameter so we needed a massive amount of reliable light from the strobes. Thankfully Michael Karliner, an incredible old­school computing and engineering genius helped us out by devising a system which 'read' a magnet embedded into the spinning disc and calibrated the strobes accordingly.

The final challenges were entirely physical, namely securing the elements onto the disc knowing that they would be under a fair amount of centrifugal stress and finally devising a way to house and transport the finished structure which Gordon and his colleagues did with incredible efficiency.


How did the build come together? What did the team have to deal with?

Because there were some unforeseen delays in contracts being signed and approvals we lost a lot of the most crucial aspect of the project which was time, so it had to come together rather quickly!

Gordon and Gee had gone ahead with some basic tests (which you can see at the start of the film we've put together about it) to assert aim that we were on the right track but after that we had about three and a half weeks to create the animation, sets and planning on the computer while, side by side, Gordon and Gee began building the base structure.

Once I was happy with the animation and had rigorously and painstakingly gone through it to make sure all the registration points were being correctly built into the set they all had to be sent off to their respective 'makers' (Ewen Dickie at Lasermake for the sets and Jay Short at Inition for the models) and then there was a momentary pause of a day or two whilst Gordon and Gee prepared to receive them.

From that point it was all hands on deck as the elements were hand painted and mounted and at the same time a colleague of Gordon's created the motor system and Michael Karliner, devised the system to run the strobes AND another colleague of Gordon's started constructing the structure to house and transport the growing beast!

Does the 3D printing technology help the transition from computer to 'real life'?

A lot of my recent ideas have massively benefitted from the recent leaps in technology. This is very much the case with ideas that need their foundations in quite strict mathematics and workings such as zoetropes. It massively speeds up what you are able to do when you are confident that all of your methodical planning on computer (such as registration points in the set and the jigsaws of the building flats) will translate immediately into the physical space.

Specifically for this project the nylon SLS 3D printing was perfect to be able to get the main character into its 3D form and I was very lucky to have worked with Jay Short from Inition before so I was familiar with both the material and the process.

Equally, for the laser cut slats that made the buildings and the harbour line I had worked with Ewen Dickie at Lasermake and was aware of that process too. The thought behind the balance of set vs character within the zoetrope was very much based on what I knew could be achieved by both materials/processes and was crucial in being able to do so much within the time and money limit.

Having said that I relied so heavily on computers to plan it all, I did so with the knowledge of how ultimately the realisation in laser cut wood, 3D printed Nylon and paint would feel to the real human being so the computer was only essentially used as a mathematical tool.


Without revealing too many trade secrets, how the heck does it work?! Are you a magician?

I'm not going to tell you. Yes, I am a magician.

How did it feel when you saw it in motion for the first time?

There is always a terrifying moment just before you flick the switch that you think you might have got something wrong. In fact quite early on before we had got the main strobes in place we found out that someone had wired up the motor to spin anti­clockwise and it took a few very long heart beats to try and figure out why the characters were moving backwards down into the sea. Oh how we laughed. I'm being facetious here.

What was also quite nice about the process was, although we didn't have that much time, there were definite stages of change from having the basic set and a small strip of strobes to the models in place to the first time we had it in the structure it now sits and the full bank of strobes on there and each time it just got better and better. It was lovely to see everybody's efforts slot into place like a jigsaw and just take it further and further towards what you see now.

What has the reaction been from people who have seen it in person? Is it nice to create something so analogue in an increasingly digital world?

Annoyingly I've only had the good fortune to see people's reactions from when it was in the workshop here in London as, as soon as it was finished, it was shipped out to The States but of those reactions the best one was the photographer from Red Bull who was the first person I'd seen watch it that I didn't know and who knew nothing about what it was.

I think we were all quite exhausted and feeling a little downbeat but she turned up not really knowing what it was and then proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes with her hands over her mouth saying "Oh my god! Wow!".

Thankfully Gordon, who built the vast majority of it, got to go out to the private launch of it for the installation process managed to film some people's reaction (along with a really lovely camera person, Tamara Benavente and her assistant) and so I got to see a lot of footage of people saying pretty much the same thing which was so heartening.

You don't always get to see people's reactions to things you make when you make commercials so it's a very special feeling.


How can people see it? Is there any chance of it touring?

That's a tricky one! It's not a very portable thing!

To be honest where it goes is very much up to SBTRKT and Red Bull to decide although I think we'd happily try and have it in our new Nexus studio if either of them get bored of it!

(Nexus has just moved into a lovely new larger studio and there aren't nearly enough large scale strobe based zoetropes around for my liking).

What's up next for you?

I'm always flitting from thing to thing and constantly chasing down new areas to pioneer different approaches in breaking animation out of the screen although I'm still making projects based solely on film too.

I've recently pioneered a unique digital/analogue system of playing games called Stages (an iteration of which is currently at the Science Museum in London until the end of 2017) and I'm currently working on a visualisation of game narrative that combines an aesthetic representation of game logic with a neat exploration of how games are made which is currently purely digital but is working its way into the 'real world'. Hmmmm... Watch this space!