Norman McLaren & Neighbours...

Norman McLaren was born in Scotland in 1914. He got his inspirations for film making from Russian filmmakers Eisenstein & Pudovkin along with German animator Oskar Fischinger. He became interested in film-making while at Glasgow School of Fine Arts where his interest in dance lead him to documentaries and the making of Seven till 5 which was influenced by Eisenstein.  

Sergei Eisenstein who influenced McLaren's first film 'Seven till 5'  

In his work McLaren thought that was important to control every stage of production. He also wanted people to experiment with new techniques, he was one that was always coming up with new techniques. He did a lot of drawing and etching on film which lead him to paper cut outs which was used in Rythmetic which was made in 1956. Another technique he did was animation  in a chalk drawing through a series of modification which was in his production of Là-haut sur ces montagnes in 1945. C’est l’aviron in 1944 used the technique of cross fading. While he wasn't the first person to use pixillation in 1952, Norman McLaren made it well known in his most famous film 'Neighbours' 

McLaren's most successful work 'Neighbours' in 1952 

Many thought that this piece of work contained a lot of animation but he used a variety of techniques through pixillation, these techniques included speed photography which was usually used a fast motion therefore looking as though it was actually animated. McLaren also used some stop frame techniques to make it look as though the actors levitate although it only looked like this due to the techniques he used. I think that the production of 'Neighbours' is a very humorous way of portraying a serious problem. I think that the camera movements in this is done very well as its very simplistic but McLaren makes it look good due to the photographic element of two people. I can see why this production was described as 'one of the most controversial films the NFB ever made' I think that this was a very risking film that McLaren made as the reasoning behind it was very political as he stated 'I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war' I think that this could have gone against him.

He always wanted to make sure that his work stood out from the rest by coming up with new techniques and ideas of his own. 

McLaren always made sure that his work was life like which meant that his work stood out from others, including the humorous aspects of Neighbours. He also wanted to make sure that his work expressed a concept of beauty which was based on harmony and balance Although McLaren liked to change things up on his films even in his later films he never went away from abstract expressionism. 

His life experience had a big effect and his personality shone through his work especially type of work that he did including five of his films directing relating to the war effort. These films were Keep Your Mouth Shut, V for Victory, Five for Four, Hen Hop & Dollar Dance. V for Victory was a very simple film and he did this so he could show people that they could make their own hand held films. 

'V for Victory' which was one of his simplest films 

As an artist Norman McLaren was very successful, with his most known and famous film 'Neighbours' winning and Oscar. He also got a Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival for Blinkity Blank. Three years after his death in 1987 Don McWilliams produced a full length documentary on his life and work at the NFB titled 'Creative Process: Norman McLaren.' 

'Overview of his work' - http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Norman-McLaren/overview.php -15th September

'Neighbours' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbours_(film) -15th September

Norman McLaren 'Biography' - http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Norman-McLaren/biography.php