Little Histories of Cinema. Norman McLaren and Animation Cinema

Children's film series

The third edition of Little Film Histories is dedicated to Scottsman Norman McLaren, known widely as «the poet of animation.» His singularity lies in his combining experimental film with the avant-garde. McLaren was born in Glasgow in 1914 and, at the age of 20, while studying at the Glasgow School of Fine Arts, he discovered the films of Russians Einstein and Pudovkin. These films marked a change in his way of thinking about the media; he began to see film as going far beyond mere entertainment to become an important means of expression. His first film, Hand-painted Abstraction, was made without a camera. He painted and drew all the images directly onto film, which got the attention of John Frierson who contracted him to work in London's British General Post Office Film Unit. In that time, McLaren achieved a subtle balance between free expression and artistic discipline. In 1936, just as the Civil War began, McLaren worked as a cameraman in Spain, an experience which would effect him throughout the rest of his life. At the onset of World War II McLaren moved to New York, but left when Grierson convinced him to join the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). As a member of the NFB, McLaren was a well-known animator (which also became his nickname) and set up his own animation studio. He experimented with a wide variety of cinematographic techniques and was especially drawn to the creation of sound while working directly on film. While his creativity, humor and technique are definitive characteristics of his work, his personal life is marked by his efforts as a pacifist, which lead him to participate in educational audiovisual projects with UNESCO: in 1949 he went to China to teach animation, and in 1953 he carried out the same project in India. While in China he worked on Neighbours, a parable against the war, which won an Oscar in 1952. Normal McLaren has been and continues to be a reference point for animated film and is tangential to the work of many contemporary filmmakers as he was the first to establish the personal relationship with film so similar to that which exists between painter and canvas.