![]() Scenes are also occasionally long-winded and without dramatic substance, making them feel dramatically flimsy, frivolous and cute.įélix Paquet and Greta Hodgkinson in Frame by Frame. McLaren and his fellow NFB filmmakers (Evelyn Lambart, as danced by Greta Hodgkinson and the institution’s founder John Grierson, as played by Tomas Schramek, among them) are presented as a series of cameos without much flesh-and-blood dimensionality, causing Frame by Frame to be glib as well as emotionally and psychologically shallow in places. It’s a small prop but it speaks volumes about the late Canadian film pioneer, and how well Lepage has read him in creating this, his first full-length ballet.īut while Lepage clearly knows his subject well – the most noteworthy films and major personal and professional turning points are all faithfully replicated here – he tends to reduce McLaren to that stick-figure prop, giving the work a sense of visual continuity. Finally, appearing at the end of the ballet as a stand-in for McLaren, who passed in 1987 at the age of 72, the double-jointed model symbolizes the hyper-flexible mind which shaped his long and arrestingly innovative career. Third, being a kind of toy, it helps elucidate the filmmaker’s playful side. Second, it underscores McLaren’s deep-set fascination with the expandable kinetics of the human form and with movement in general, the inspiration behind his award-winning moving pictures. The bendable mannequin serves several purposes in the work, dramatically and thematically speaking.įirst, it early on establishes the art-school roots of the Glasgow-born filmmaker who drew image and sound directly onto celluloid to expand the boundaries of creative animation. But in addition to all the technological wizardry making this a ballet for the digital age, a small wooden body figure, the kind typically used by art students for figure drawing and appearing both at the beginning and the end of the intermissionless show, absorbs your attention. Masterminded by Canadian theatrical powerhouse Robert Lepage in collaboration with the NFB and National Ballet of Canada dancer and choreographer Guillaume Côté, the 110-minute work (whose final performances are this weekend) features 22 company dancers in addition to film, video and theatricalized special effects. Explores the stop motion opportunities beyond model rigs and puppetry.Frame by Frame, a new Canadian ballet about National Film Board animator Norman McLaren, had its world premiere at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on June 1, and with results as variable as the lines and shapes animating one his low-budget, high-impact films.Applies professional stop motion techniques that have been taught and refined in the classroom and applied to leading stop motion films, exhibiting at South By Southwest, Cannes, and more.Features interviews with industry experts that offer inspiration and insight as well as detailed explanations of the inner workings of non-traditional stop motion techniques, processes, and workflows.The companion website offers further instruction, recommended films, tools and resources for the both the novice and the expert. Interviews from experts in the field offer not only offer inspiration but also help readers learn how to apply skills and new applications. Tom Gasek’s Frame-By-Frame Stop Motion offers hands-on experience and various tricks, tips, and exercises to help strengthen skills and produce effective results. Current advances in technology and classic stop motion techniques, such as pixilation, time-lapse photography and down shooting have combined to form exciting new approaches. Despite its age-old practice, Single frame film making and stop-motion animation continues to influence media and culture with its magic. ![]() It is the ancestor to modern day special effects and animation. Single frame film-making has been around as long as film itself.
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