Norman McLaren was an innovative Canadian animator who invented or significantly advanced several areas of animation. There are several films by McLaren available for viewing through the National Film Board of Canada's website and a few more on Google Video at the moment, and several of them will be interesting to a young child if you can get them through McLaren's leisurely credits. About his influence, the NFB writes:
McLaren’s personality and philosophy are inseparable from the direction animation took at the NFB. A tireless innovator, he perceived animation filmmakers as artisans who, much like artists in their studios, control every step of the production of their films. Consequently, McLaren set an example for his colleagues, motivating them to develop their own tools and experiment with new techniques. Owing to such masterpieces as Begone Dull Care (co-directed by Evelyn Lambart, 1949) and Blinkity Blank (1955), McLaren’s name has become widely associated with drawing and etching directly on film, yet his impressive filmography shows a variety of techniques: paper cut-outs (Rythmetic, co-directed by E. Lambart, 1956; Le merle, 1958), animating a chalk drawing through a series of modifications (La-haut sur ces montagnes, 1945), the systematic use of cross fading (C’est l’aviron, 1944), pixillation [stop-motion] (Neighbours, 1952; Opening Speech: McLaren, 1961) and superimposing images obtained by an optical printer (Pas de deux, 1967), etc. [Link]The NFB has taken steps to make small amounts of McLaren's corpus available for viewing. At least one of the videos on Google Video appears to have been uploaded by the institution (A Chairy Tale), they currently stream five of McLaren's short films on their own website, and they are sponsoring a stop-motion contest for 9- to 20-year-olds inspired by McLaren's A Chairy Tale (although whether they will leave that film up on Google Video after the contest ends remains to be seen). But the only way a person can legally access the majority of this filmmaker's amazing work is by buying a $90 box set. In cases like this, it's easy to wonder if the creator's legacy is truly coming first in the minds of those responsible for preserving it. Looking up clips on Google Video is like attending a film festival - watch it while you can, because tomorrow it may be gone. I saw the amazing Stars and Stripes this way, and planned to include it here until it disappeared.
If you have the money and the interest, you can click on the video link above to purchase a definitive set of McLaren's experimental works. If you're like most of the rest of us, you can just watch what the NFB has shared and keep scanning YouTube and Google Video for work that makes its way online, and enjoy it while it lasts.
ZScore (out of 10): 8. The chair which refuses to be sat on is fascinating and mildly disturbing; perhaps later it will be funny, but it is certainly riveting, and worth multiple viewings. Le Merle is interrogated profusely for refusing to "fly away" as birds are expected to do, but the rhythm and concept are engaging. Perhaps even better for a three- or four-year-old!
Continue on to #4: Art Clokey!
"Like methadone for Teletubbies addicts": Our sixth installment, featuring French stop-motion wunderkinden Chapi Chapo, is now online.
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