Motion Graphics Designer Rupa Rathod creates psychedelic spectacle for Tame Impala

Shapes, colors, photography, art and perspective, everything that catches Rupa Rathod’s eye are all major influences in her craft. She is constantly working out how to turn anything she sees into something graphical, abstract and moving. Her interest in design and art have always been very much a part of who she is. This innate talent is what makes her extraordinary at what she does as a motion graphics designer, and why she is a leader in her industry.

Rathod combines her instincts for design with her passion for music. Throughout her career, she has worked alongside some of the music industry’s most iconic performers, from Kylie Minogue to Shania Twain, as well as rock bands like Bastille and The Killers, the latter of which Rathod recently received a major award for her screen content for their tour. Music is what drives her every day, and why she loves what she does.

“Music has always been a huge aspect of my creativity, from sound beds, to mood music and everything in between. Growing up my family were very musical and so that has always resonated with me. Music has waves of calm, excitement and extreme energy, I've always seen music visually and how each part of a track would look if it was broken down,” she said.

Earlier this year, Rathod once again showed the world what she was capable of with her work on the Festival Tour Circuit for Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala. Their visual content has a very specific, heavily hypnotic style, so Rathod was naturally very excited about the challenge of something new and different, as she had never worked with this type of music before.

“Tame Impala have a wonderful reputation not only for their music but also their whole vibe visually. They're an incredibly successful and effortlessly cool band that I couldn't miss the opportunity to work with. Their vision is more vibrant color swatches, psychedelic patterns and hypnotic shapes which flow seamlessly and beautifully to the music. I'd always been a huge fan of their music, but I'd never worked with this type of screens content before or with this type of music so I was naturally very excited to explore something new and challenging,” said Rathod.

The content on this show was very soothing for Rathod. The visual content had been the same for quite some time, as the band and their audience were very fond of it, but they were very keen to revitalized for this year’s festival circuit. The band wanted to give such responsibility to an individual they trusted to recut and interpret it and make it feel more musical. This type of work required creative assertion, quick thinking, and someone who could confidently recut and rebuild content using what was there already, all of which, through Rathod’s years of experience in the industry, are things she has become known for successfully being able to achieve.

“We recently worked with Rupa on a project that involved countless edits to existing video content, new content creation and video show-programming. Rupa was brought in for her ability to work fast and under pressure and she certainly achieved that. She took direction from the artist and the creative director churning out extremely high-quality work. Rupa always understood the artistic vision and brought her fun but professional spark to the table. We will happily work with Rupa again in the future,” said Matty Chequer, Tame Impala Production Manager.

One of the most rewarding parts of working on this project for Rathod was gaining the professional trust of the lead singer Kevin Parker. With Rathod’s ability to creatively turn things around at a high pace and use her initiative to add extra elements within Parker’s creative parameters, they instantly clicked. Rathod worked to ensure that whatever she was doing to the content respected the bands energy and vibe. Therefore, Parker and Rathod sat down together one morning to come up with a plan, and he told her there was one key song close to the finale that he had always wanted to liven up. He was very open to the idea of playing with existing content to rework it into something new, but also valued Rathod’s opinions on any new suggestions of content as well. He was toying around with some filters on his phone through an app he'd been playing around with for years that instantly added psychedelic life to anything that was shot through its lens, and Rathod found a way to incorporate this into the set, something he had been trying to do for years. That feeling of absolute trust in suggestions is still one of the most rewarding feelings Rathod gets from doing her job.

“From the moment I arrived on site, the whole team were welcoming and professionally casual in their manner which made the job such a pleasure. It was a wonderfully positive environment to be in even during some of the more challenging moments. Kevin, Tame Impala's lead singer, and I were very in tune with one another creatively from the moment we met. I understood his vision and he was very trusting and open to any suggestions I had which was reassuring. We worked together most days and through mutual understanding of his music and the show, managed to get his set into a new place that he was really happy with,” Rathod described.

Tame Impala have taken their new content globally to all the shows in their festival circuit this year for thousands and thousands of happy revelers to see. Rathod’s touch was more than appreciated by the band and their crew, but also respected, allowing their show to feel fresh and new. Building these types of trusting relationships with artists and their management teams is something that Rathod never takes for granted, as they are an invaluable part of her job that gives bands and artists confidence in the work she does. That is just why she is so respected in her industry and on the music scene, and why she will continue to be for years to come.