5.17 - Rhythm

What was really interesting about Norman Mclaren’s film that we watched in class was his use of texture; that was the first thing to catch my attention. A lot of the processes look like they were probably rather complicated, but what materials he used at any given time are a mystery to me. He seemed to use some sort of fabric at times to create a sort of fish scale patterns, which gave a lot of rhythm to the movement. But the whole thing seems to be about rhythm and more importantly personifying it.

The filmmaker used the techniques at this disposal to give voice and personality to abstract shapes and colors, which by extension gave personality to the musical notes, which are automatically abstract in nature.

This is especially apparent apparent in the slow piano interlude section, where the beams of light seemed to be dancing with eachother in some sort of beautiful ballroom. The delicate shapes really emphasized the character of the high piano notes, which themselves seem like they’d be easy to crush. What was really amazing was how he gave movement to the lines and shapes in this segment, as it’s very coherent and smooth. While the high notes were represented by shining white dots and star-shaped objects, they interacted with the lower bass notes, and their movement together created a ballroom dance. In each case, the qualities of the visual emphasized something about the quality of the sound. And of course, it all worked with the rhythm of the music, but the ability to use the audience’s psychological understanding of sound and shapes to create a sense of personality and maybe just the tiniest hints of a story