Sharing Animation - Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)

It's really weird that I've never talked and shared anything about one of the greatest and most innovators animators of all time! He has so many experiences, so many new looks to animation and so many innovative ways to look at frame by frame images, that I guess I didn't know how to start!

Since I'm thinking in making a very short experience in Pixilation Animation (for those of you who don't know it by the name, you'll see what I mean in the end of the post!) I thought I could share with you the first McLaren short I've seen, and it's in that technique. The 1952 short called Neighbours.

McLaren was one of the big pioneers of the NFB of Canada. There he produced many animations as you can see with a simple google search.

Well, Norman McLaren has many incredible particularities, and in this short he shows some of them. He made animations not only for his country, but to all the world, with messages of peace and understanding among other cultures. Another thing is that he loved to explore not only new techniques but serious contemporaneous issues, and in this animation, made in the middle of the Cold War, clearly shows his thoughts about it.
And yet another thing, one of the most wonderful and crazy (so to speak) things about him, the music in it. McLaren made animations that he actually painted (or scratched) directly in the film instead of photographing it. That alone was quite innovative, but then he started painting his own sounds.
The analog film have a bar by the side of the image frames that corresponds to the sound that is played in the theater. It is represented by waves. What McLaren did was figuring out how to draw especific notes in the right time to correspond it with the actions that were already animated in the film. It's incredible really. Better than explaining it maybe you should see this two youtube videos that explain both the drawing in film and drawing sounds:






After that, here is my actual short sharing, Neighbours by Norman McLaren:

Check out the other short movies from the Sharing Collection HERE!!

See you next week with more inovative and pioneer animation!

No copyright and related rights infringements are intended with these sharings, all these animations are properties from their respective authors or studios always credited in the post.