Notes on the film
Bead Game is produced through the manipulation of thousands of glass seed beads under the camera, contorting and shapeshifting their arrangement into figurative and abstract compositions accompanied by the rhythm of classical Indian drums. The beads transform into elemental particles that undergo a series of visual metamorphoses, depicting the trajectory of planetary evolution from competing primordial organisms to modern political strife. The film’s cautionary portrait was influenced by nuclear bomb testing in India, and its optically layered psychedelic conclusion can be read as an appeal for planetary enlightenment.
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the film’s central motif of opposing conflicting forces
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the film’s central motif of opposing conflicting forces
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the film’s central motif of opposing conflicting forces
The film’s material approach was shaped by Patel’s visit to the Canadian Arctic (present-day Nunavut), where he saw Inuit beadwork on sealskin clothing, a traditional practice sustained primarily by women. Patel decided to shift from traditional drawn animation to a process based in manipulating beads, where “lines could be broken, re-attached, scattered, grow and shrink.” Using beads as elementary building blocks allows the artist to depict the concept of evolution from one form to another, as well as complexity emerging from simplicity. By arranging and scattering beads, the artist is able to depict evolution as a continuous process of collision and mutation, as the beads transform into atoms that radiate on screen with the energy of light.
production images documenting the laborious process of handling thousands of seed beads in this film
Through Bead Game, Ishu Patel crafts a narrative of birth, destruction, and regeneration — a meditation on the cyclical order of life reinforced by the meticulous slowness of the animation process itself. In his reflection on the production process, Patel described using a fine sable brush and steady hand to carefully build, dismantle, and reshape creatures frame by frame directly beneath the camera. The film gradually transitions from a tighter composition (“field 7”) to a wider frame (“field 24”), with Patel raising the camera incrementally after each frame. This framing move mirrors the expansive evolution of forms within the narrative.
different techniques of contorting and moving beads, including optical printing effects, to create powerful visual imagery
Interview with Ishu Patel
An interview with Ishu Patel by Nikita Banerjee, published in Animation Reporter (no. 16, April 2009).
Read Interview
