The first thing that struck me about Terminal Bar was that it was not the kind of film I had been expecting. It was not entirely live-action footage but instead mostly animation. In the description of the video on YouTube it credits Stefan Nadelman as both director and animator, this confirms for me that Terminal Bar is at its core an animated film.

The way Nadelman constructs his narrative centred around the Denizens of the titular establishment is for the most part through scenes constructed from the collection of photos his father, Sheldon amassed over his ten-year stint as a barman at Terminal Bar. He also includes newspaper extracts and interview footage with his father: the amateurish quality of which is the only aspect I feel ages the film. He employs many different techniques to build an exciting visual narrative using those photos, sometimes mimicking traditional cinematic tropes such as establishing shots and split screen and sometimes going into a freestyle, playfully arranging and animating the monochromatic portraits to dance about the frame accompanied purely by the original score which fits perfectly.

In one scene around the 17 minute mark Nadelman animates a wonderful sequence in which reverb-soaked guitar takes over and compliments the black and white kaleidoscopic visuals perfectly. The key focus here seems to be on the impressive size of Sheldon Nadelman’s pictorial collection with over a hundred individual portraits being shown at one point.

Looking into Nadelman’s other works it’s clear his expertise are firmly in motion graphics. The techniques and style of this documentary are what appeal to me over the story and what I will think about when I myself involve myself in that field of design in the near future.

Brandon Hutchins