The
immediacy of tablet touchscreen technology has revolutionised how we interact
creatively with computers. In the realm
of animation, The NFB (National Film Board of Canada) has been at the forefront
of harnessing this new technology not only by making much their back catalogue
of films available to view online via smart phone and tablet apps, but by creating tablet apps that make it
easier than ever before for amateurs to try their hand at animating their own
films. They first did this through the
development of their PixStop
Stop Motion Animation App for iPad and this past summer they released a new
free app: McLaren’s
Workshop.
Named after
the pioneering experimental animation Norman McLaren, this app allows users to
create their own short animation and post it exclusively on Vimeo. In addition to inspiring users with the
biography and films of Norman McLaren, the App features three workshops: Paper
Cut-Out, Etching on Film, and Synthetic Sound.
Norman McLaren is one of the very few early animators to experiment extensively
with direct animation – also known as drawn-on-film animation or cameraless
animation – in which artists draw or etch directly onto a filmstrip.
The McLaren’s
Workshop app, allows users to make their own direct animation or cut-out
animation on the surface of the iPad. The
resulting films that I have seen on video definitely have a McLaren feel to
them – not just because of their look but but because the soundtracks clearly come from McLaren
films. Koji Yamamura’s Five Fire Fish, is clearly an homage to
the direct animation of McLaren with recognizable visual motifs from Blinkity Blank (1955). The cut-outs and soundtrack in Regina Pessoa’s
film are from Le merle (1958).
As part of
the online promotional campaign, several top directors were given free reign to make 30-60 second animations using the app:
Five Fire
Fish (Koji Yamamura, 2013)
Cyclop(e) (Patrick Doyon, 2013)
Day Sleeper (Don Hertzfeld, 2013)
Barcode Transmission (Renaud Hallée, 2013)
I Am Alone and My Head is On Fire (David O'Reilly, 2013)
Bon App (Regina Pessoa,2013)
Bon App by Regina Pessoa - McLaren's Workshop App from National Film Board of Canada on Vimeo.
This article was originally published on my sister blog Nishikata Film Review on October 10th, 2013.
Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014
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