Summary
Using drawn-on-film animation, McLaren and Lambart painted and scratched directly onto film stock to create a visual representation ofProduction
At the time, Oscar Peterson was 24 and new to the professional jazz world. McLaren heard his music and traveled from Ottawa to Montreal to hear him play at a club, then asked if he’d be interested in recording the music for a film. The next morning, McLaren showed him ''Stars and Stripes'' (1939), ''Dots'' (1940) and ''Loops'' (1940) and Peterson played some ideas. McLaren chose one improvisation and they worked on it together; Peterson’s ideas gave McLaren visual ideas and McLaren’s visual ideas prompted what Peterson wrote. Peterson monitored their progress by writing on the back of an envelope that lay on the piano; over the next four days, Peterson shaped the music into a form to which McLaren could animate. The group met at the recording studio two weeks later; at the time, the Oscar Peterson Trio included Austin Roberts on bass and Clarence Jones on drums. McLaren was concerned about obligating the NFB to pay royalties; the soundtrack to ''Begone Dull Care'' is not included on any of Peterson’s albums. In their studio, McLaren and Lambart stretched a clear strip of celluloid and pinned it onto a 12’ wooden board. The recorded music was measured and drawn onto the film. An oscilloscope allowed them to see the vibrations and mark them on the film. After measuring notable passages as a visual map, they matched their configured shapes and colours to follow the benchmarked sounds. McLaren worked over a ground glass area with light shining through the glass and used an individual grid behind each frame as a reference. Both filmmakers worked directly to the film and viewed the painted strips through a moviola with the music playing in the background. They worked on short sections of the film, dividing the music into pieces and painting onto it in five-second segments. Some were painted as the moviola was moving, and a brush full of paint was 'danced' to the rhythm of the music. The dotted section in the middle of the film was made with a knife on black emulsion running through the moviola. Each segment was checked to make sure it had captured the spirit of the music. If it had not, they repainted the images. Numerous transparent coloured dyes were used; musical accents or short phrases were emphasized by additional painting or engraving. Black film allowed them to scratch onto the film. They used India ink, watercolour, cell paint, dust, various brushes, sprayers, finely crumpled paper; netting, mesh and fine lace acted as stencils. Dust was sprinkled onto wet dye, which formed circles as it recoiled from each dust speck; black opaque paint created a crackle pattern as it dried. These abstract shapes dance, shake, spin, and curl to the sound of Peterson’s fingers on the piano. In one instance, the sounds of the three musicians are encapsulated in a flurry of three-dimensional shapes landing on a pinkish feather; in another, a bird-like design flaps its wings in tempo. The goal was to stimulate the eye by capturing the rhythmic energy produced by sound and transferring it onto film through abstract images of colour and light.Awards
*Legacy
''Begone Dull Care'' was designated and preserved as a "masterwork" by theReferences
External links
* * {{Norman McLaren 1949 films Quebec films Animated films without speech Canadian animated short films Films directed by Norman McLaren Visual music Jazz films Canadian Screen Award–winning films Drawn-on-film animated films National Film Board of Canada animated short films 1949 animated short films Animated musical films Canadian musical short films 1940s Canadian animated films