Norman McLaren Filmography / Filmographie de Norman McLaren

View / purchase films on NFB / ONF 

Scotland / Écosse ( - 1936)

• 7 Till 5 (1933) B&W, silent, documentary short
• Hand-Painted Abstraction (1933), direct animation short, with Stewart McAllister
• Camera Makes Whoopee (Glasgow Arts School, 1935), silent, experimental short
• Colour Cocktail (1935), abstract short, not extant
• Polychrome Phantasy (1935), colour, silent, experimental short

London (General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit) (1936 - 1939)

• Hell Unlimited (1936) b&w, silent, documentary short, mixed media, co-director Helen Biggar
• News for the Navy (GPO, 1937), b&w, documentary short
• Book Bargain (GPO, 1937), b&w, documentary short
• Love on the Wing (GPO, 1938), animated publicity film for Empire Air Mail
• Mony a Pickle (GPO, 1938), b&w, segment director, documentary short, co-directors Alberto Cavalcanti, Richard Massingham
• The Obedient Flame (1939), animated advertisement for British Commercial Gas Association)

New York (1939 - 1941)

• Stars and Stripes (1939), animated short
• Spook Sport (1939), danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns, co-directed by Mary Ellen Bute and Ted Nemeth, McLaren did direct animation sequences for this film at Bute’s request
• Scherzo (1939), lost, found and released in 1984
• Rumba (1939)
• Allegro (1939)
• NBC Valentine Greeting (1940), made for NBC but they did not buy it, released by NFB in 1985
• Loops / Boucles (1940), colour
• Dots (1940)
• Happy Birthday for Solomon Guggenheim (1940), hand-drawn greeting for Guggenheim’s 80^th birthday
• Boogie Doodle (1940)

Canada (National Film Board / Office national du film du Canada) (1941 - 1983)

• Mail Early (1941), hand-drawn animated short
• V for Victory (1941), colour, direct animation, propaganda short
• Five for Four (1942), direct animation, propaganda short
• Hen Hop (1942), colour, direct animation, animated short
• Dollar Dance (1943), colour, direct animation, propaganda short
• Keep Your Mouth Shut (1944), b&w, propaganda short
• Chants populaires nº 5 (1944), b&w, folksong adaptation, co-directed by Alexandre Alexeïeff
• C'est l'aviron (1944), b&w, adaptation of the folksong  «C'est l'Aviron»
• Alouette (1944), co-directed by René Jodoin, adaptation of the folksong «Alouette»
• Là-haut sur ces montagnes (1946)
• Hoppity Pop (1946)
• A Little Phantasy on a 19th-century Painting (1946)
• La poulette grise (1947), colour
• Fiddle-de-dee (1974)
• Begone Dull Care / Caprice en couleurs (1949), colour, co-directed by Evelyn Lambart
• Workshop Experiment in Animated Sound (1949)
• Pen Point Percussion / À la Pointe de la Plume (1951), b&w, documentary short
• Around is Around (1951), co-directed by Evelyn Lambart
• Now is the Time (1951)
• Neighbours / Voisins (1952), pixilation, Oscar winner
• A Phantasy (1952), colour
• Two Bagatelles (1952), colour, co-directed by Grant Munro
• Blinkity Blank (1955), colour (Palme d'or du court métrage au Festival de Cannes)
• Rythmetic (1956), colour
• A Chairy Tale / Il était une chaise (1957), b&w (music by Ravi Shankar), co-directed by Claude Jutra with animation by Evelyn Lambart
• Le Merle (1958), colour, assisted by Evelyn Lambart
• Mail Early for Christmas (1959), colour
• Short and Suite (1959), colour, with animation by Evelyn Lambart
• Lines vertical / Lignes verticales (1960), co-directed by Evelyn Lambart
• Opening Speech: McLaren / Discours de bienvenue de Norman McLaren (1961), b&w
• New York Lightboard (1961)
• New York Lightboard Record (1961), documentary short
• Lines horizontal / Lignes horizontales (1962), co-directed by Evelyn Lambart
• Caprice de Noël (1963), co-directed by Jeff Hale, Grant Munro & Gerald Potterton
• Discours de Bienvenue de Norman McLaren (1964), b&w
• Canon (1964), colour
• Mosaic / Mosaïques (1965), colour, co-directed by Evelyn Lambart
• Pas de Deux (1968), b&w
• Spheres / Sphères (1969), co-directed by René Jodoin
• Synchromy / Synchromie (1971), colour
• Ballet Adagio (1972)
• Animated Motion / Le Mouvement Image par Image (1976-8), documentary series in 5 parts co-directed by Grant Munro, colour
• Narcissus / Narcisse (1983), colour

Caroline Leaf Filmography / Filmographie de Caroline Leaf

DVD : Caroline Leaf : Out on a Limb / Sur la corde raide (Les films du paradoxe, France, 2009)

View films on NFB / ONF

• Sand or Peter and the Wolf (USA, Harvard U, 1969)
• Orfeo (USA, Harvard U, 1970)
• 2 clips for Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood (USA, PBS, 1971-2)
• How Beaver Stole Fire (Communicado, Inc. , 1972)
• The Owl Who Married a Goose / Le mariage du hibou : une légende eskimo (Canada, NFB, 1974)
• The Street / La rue (Canada, NFB, 1976)
• The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Canada, NFB, 1977)
• Interview (Canada, NFB, 1979)
• Kate and Anna McGarrigle (Canada, NFB, 1981)
• The Right to Refuse (Canada, NFB, 1981)
• An Equal Opportunity (Canada, NFB, 1982)
• Pies (Canada, NFB, 1983)
• The Owl and the Pussycat (Canada, Canada Council, 1985)
• The Fox and the Tiger (Canada, NFB, 1986)
• A Dog's Tale (Canada, NFB, 1986)
• Two Sisters / Entre Deux Soeurs (Canada, NFB, 1990)
• I Met a Man (USA, MTV, 1991)
• Bell Partout (Luxembourg, La fabrique des images, 1992)
• Fleay's Fauna Centre (Australia, 1994)
• Brain Battle (USA, Acme, 1995)
• Radio Rock Détente (Canada, Les Productions Pascal Blais, 1995)
• Drapeau Canada (Canada, Les Productions Pascal Blais, 1996)
• Absolut Leaf (SwellProductions, 1998)
• Odysseus & the Olive Tree (Canada, NFB, 2001)
• Slavery (USA, Acme, 2004)

Le mariage du hibou : une légende eskimo by Caroline Leaf, National Film Board of Canada

Two Sisters by Caroline Leaf, National Film Board of Canada

The Street by Caroline Leaf, National Film Board of Canada

Direct Animation for the Tablet Generation

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