Around is Around (Original title)
Date: 1951 (Release)Countries: United Kingdom, CanadaDirector: Norman McLaren
Synopsis: Stereoscopic film produced for the Festival of Britain and shown at the Telekinema, 1951. This experiment blazes so many trails that we need to list them before considering which is merely a picturesque by-path, and which may be expected to lead some where. Among the more important novelties exemplified are: (i) Three-dimensional abstract form. (ii) Abstract form plus stereophonic music. (iii) Abstract form produced from hand-drawn track photographed frame-by-frame. (iv) Abstract form produced by normal-speed cinematography. (v) Three-dimensional form produced by synthesis from a series of two-dimensional images. It is difficult to estimate how much the third dimension is capable of adding to cinematic "abstracts" because the whole technique is still in such a tentative phase. The possibilities of founding a new form of art by wedding expressive form to expressive sound are very dazzling. Moreover, the present tendency of painters to experiment in abstract form, and of their spokesmen to make free with the vocabulary of music, shows which way the wind is blowing. But so far all attempts have been bits of lone prospecting neither following nor creating any established set of conventions. The abstract film may have more to gain at the moment by exploring two dimensions systematically than by rushing into a third. Still, we must be grateful for this captivating view of the frolics of an art-form in its infancy. The sound-track was appropriately conceived and certainly added an appreciable amount to the somewhat eerie and hypnotic effect of the oscillograph disporting itself in its gay light-bath.
Genre: Animation
Releases
Date: 04 May 1951Country: United KingdomRelease type: FestivalFormat: 35mm Film - Colour - Technicolor - SoundRuntime: 10 mins Length: 895 FeetNo Dialogue: EnglishDistributor: British Film Institute
Title: [ The Mini-Cinema - v5 n9 June 1951: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v18 n209 June 1951 Page: 283
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v18 n209 June 1951: no known title]Language: English
Date: 1951 (Release)Countries: United Kingdom, CanadaDirector: Norman McLaren
Synopsis: Stereoscopic film produced for the Festival of Britain and shown at the Telekinema, 1951. This experiment blazes so many trails that we need to list them before considering which is merely a picturesque by-path, and which may be expected to lead some where. Among the more important novelties exemplified are: (i) Three-dimensional abstract form. (ii) Abstract form plus stereophonic music. (iii) Abstract form produced from hand-drawn track photographed frame-by-frame. (iv) Abstract form produced by normal-speed cinematography. (v) Three-dimensional form produced by synthesis from a series of two-dimensional images. It is difficult to estimate how much the third dimension is capable of adding to cinematic "abstracts" because the whole technique is still in such a tentative phase. The possibilities of founding a new form of art by wedding expressive form to expressive sound are very dazzling. Moreover, the present tendency of painters to experiment in abstract form, and of their spokesmen to make free with the vocabulary of music, shows which way the wind is blowing. But so far all attempts have been bits of lone prospecting neither following nor creating any established set of conventions. The abstract film may have more to gain at the moment by exploring two dimensions systematically than by rushing into a third. Still, we must be grateful for this captivating view of the frolics of an art-form in its infancy. The sound-track was appropriately conceived and certainly added an appreciable amount to the somewhat eerie and hypnotic effect of the oscillograph disporting itself in its gay light-bath.
Genre: Animation
Releases
Date: 04 May 1951Country: United KingdomRelease type: FestivalFormat: 35mm Film - Colour - Technicolor - SoundRuntime: 10 mins Length: 895 FeetNo Dialogue: EnglishDistributor: British Film Institute
Articles held in BFI Reuben Library
(2)
In: The Mini-Cinema v5 n9 June 1951 Page: 31Title: [ The Mini-Cinema - v5 n9 June 1951: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v18 n209 June 1951 Page: 283
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v18 n209 June 1951: no known title]Language: English