Bringing margins to the mainstream

Once a month we fuel our minds with a guest lecture. We call it Firma WHY. 

Merav Shaham is a multidisciplinary creator, musician, and one of the most unique designers in the industry. She’s done projects for television, festivals, books, clips, albums and more (Fauda, ​​My Successful Sisters, Sanderson, Keshet, Yes, etc.). The chance of not encountering her art is small to none. We spent a wonderful 90 minutes with her, learning how she creates opening sequences for movies and tv series, enriching them with character. She shared with us her challenges and inspirations, and how she combines music with design.

Later, she answered our curious WHYs.

1. Why is music the major start of your art? 
Music is a very instinctive thing. I remember the moment of discovery played by the first album I had in my life. At some point, I felt that my interest in music and my exploration of all kinds of music throughout my adolescence was what really shaped who I am today. (progressive rock, psychadelic music from the 1960s to the Dark 80's, gothic and industrial music in Haifa's clubs, when I was 17).

2. Why switch to animation and video, and not just stay with music?
Moving on to video clips was very natural to me, the combination of music and images moving on screen is a winning connection for me. In addition, text is something that infinitely inspires a visual creator, especially if the piece manages to excite me, at this point I feel that it is also my creation, and the connection becomes symbiotic and effortless.

From ‘Fauda’ open sequence | Created by Merav Shaham

3. Why be a designer?
I think design by definition is not necessarily the thing that interests me most. I feel that in many cases an image can speak without the need to use words, it works on other frequencies, on senses, on associations. It inspires the imagination and leaves us curious and adventurous children forever

4 . Why incorporate TV & designers?
The most important thing I can say about this is that I feel that our designers have a very different and a very special perspective on cinema / TV from every filmmaker who is used to making movies. We are first and foremost researchers, we understand what the work is about, we know how to decompose it, how to separate plot and illustrated content and how to produce graphical interpretation for this content. Give it another dimension of messaging. This way I can create a situation where the viewer will experience the same content in a completely different way from normal viewing.

5. Why & how you choose a particular color or style for each project?
Generally, the choices are not random, they are based on research and viewing the existing materials, the colors have a very strong message in the design, the challenge and the decisions are similar to decisions like any other branding project.

6. Why insist on 10 hours of underwater photography, like you did with Lior Ashkenazi, if its only 5 seconds video of opening for the series?
First of all because it's fun, it's an experience, it's a challenge, it's one-off and someone pays for it! I would do it again and again and I am just waiting for more opportunities like these that are rare in our districts.

From ‘Sisters’ open sequence | Created by Merav Shaham

7. Why also illustrate books? Don't you think it’s complicated profession?
I always had the question of: Why not focus on one area? Is it good to disperse like that? Does it stop me from specializing in a particular field? Today I know that it's just me and that's what's good for me. Guri's (Alfi) book for example was really one-off in terms of investment, scope and dedication, it's something I've learned a lot from. "The Man Who Has Not Noticed Anything" is a direct extention of my inspirations from music (because music has lyrics and when they’re good there's no substitute in the world.

8. The future of the media In your opinion:
I think I'm one of those (perhaps very much ...) stuck in the past and immersed in nostalgia - the one channel TV, records, letters and books and my emerging interest in the connection between design and technology, code writing, VR and everything related to the algorithm

That, on the one hand, can work in our favor, and on the other hand, can slowly destroy us from inside (see the magnificent Matty Marianski's "Ascending Machines" Facebook page). I do not know where we are headed in this respect, but I admit that I mostly feel threatened, and hope we can keep ourselves sane in the face of all this madness going on in front of our eyes.