Norman McLaren
1914-1987
Norman McLaren was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). McLaren was born in Stirling, Scotland and studied set design at the Glasgow School of Art. His early experiments with film and animation included actually scratching and painting the film stock itself, as he did not have ready access to a camera. His earliest extant film, Seven Till Five (1933), a "day in the life of an art school" was influenced by Eisenstein and displays a strongly formalist attitude. McLaren's next film, Camera Makes Whoopee (1935), was a more elaborate take on the themes explored in Seven Till Five, inspired by his acquisition of a Ciné-Kodak camera, which enabled him to execute a number of 'trick' shots. McLaren used pixilation effects, superimpositions and animation not only to display the staging of an art school ball, but also to tap into the aesthetic sensations supposedly produced by this event. Grierson, who was at that time head of the GPO Film Unit, hired him for the GPO as soon as McLaren completed his studies. After making a few films for the GPO in London, McLaren moved to New York City in 1939, just as World War…
Films