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Rival Consoles 'Soft Gradient Beckons' by Anthony Dickenson

Promonews - 10th July 2025

Anthony Dickenson's video for electronic musician Rival Consoles is a months-in-the-making marvel, a personal experiment that has evolved into a large-scale installation, a blurring of the lines between moving image and fine art.

The film to accompany Soft Gradient Beckons is a frame-by-frame animation of Dickenson's hand-painted monoprints. It's a meditative, analogue response to an electronic composition which resulted from the director's diligent repetition of the creative act of painting - and a total of over 5000 frames painted. 

Each frame was transferred onto tracing paper, building a rhythmic visual language that mirrors the emotional shifts in the track. The film’s quiet pulse and slow unfolding invite the viewer into a space where rhythm, decay, and memory take on physical form.

Ultimately as the film shows, it results in 11 painted rolls, each 20 metres long, laid out in sequence to reveal the full timeline of the piece. 

“The process became its own kind of ritual," says Anthony Dickenson. "Painting each frame by hand over months gave me space to reflect. The piece grew out of a changing period in my life, and somehow it absorbed that energy. It became less about animation, and more about presence.”

Promonews - 10th July 2025

Tags

  • Animation
  • Director's notes
  • Pick of the Day
  • Electronic
  • Alternative

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Anthony Dickenson
Producer
Milly Upton
Production Company
1st Ave Machine

Camera

Shoot install
Jessica Luostarinen, Louis Grzimek
BTS
Dan Lowe

Animation

Animator
Anthony Dickenson

Editorial

Editor
Anthony Dickenson
Post
Dan Lowe
Additional post
Will Samuel

Grading

Colourist
Dan Lowe

Misc

Drone Operator
James Weller

Other credits

Special thanks

The Beams

Promonews - 10th July 2025

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