Words from the City

http://www.wordsfromthecity.com/

Words from the City is an AFI-nominated documentary that explores Australian hip hop and the way MCs use a sense of place to help define their art. Directors Natasha Gadd and Rhys Graham spent months over a long, hot summer filming artists like TZU, MC Wire, Hilltop Hoods and Bliss ‘n’ Eso, then painstakingly constructed a literary document of Oz hip hop in the first decade of the new millennium.

The directors had very clear ideas of  how they wanted their film represented in a website, and offered themes such as inter connectedness, multiple layers of place and space, individuality and the craft of music production. Small Studio distilled these ideas into a variety of visual cues which made up the look of the site.

The key art is a blend of four layers — curved lines make up the background, which could be interpreted as geologic strata, microphone cables or the threads that bind the artists in the documentary. The second layer is an image of the places that the artists inhabit, such as a suburban streetscape or the stage. The third layer is a treated image of the artists themselves, and above that, a strip of gaffa tape — an indispensable tool of any performing musician which binds the whole look together. Interspersed throughout are other signs of hip hop; turntables, road cases, keyboards and cables.