Norman McLaren Audiovisual Aesthetics

Henrique Roscoe
Escola de Belas Artes – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - August, 2018
henrique@1mpar.com

Abstract

Norman McLaren was one of the pioneers of Visual Music, having produced dozens of films
in this area since the 1930s. McLaren is also one of the artists in Visual Music with a greater variety
of aesthetic ideas about synchronization between sound and image, expressed in quite diverse ways
in his vast filmography. The artist has worked with both abstract images and figurative film footage
using various techniques for the production of his films like: cameraless animation, direct painting
on the film, stop motion, etc. Perhaps the most important aspect of his work is the creative
audiovisual relationships that McLaren made, going beyond a mere visualization of music, reaching
transmedia relations between sound and image, where the pair constitutes an inseparable unity. This
synchronization goes from direct correspondences where each sound corresponds to an image, until
relations where what matters is the sensation that the audiovisual set causes in the spectator, in
which the artist uses more sophisticated creative strategies, in an expanded and fluid way, where the
elements maintain a dialogical, but not explicit relation.
In this paper, we will try to systematize some of the aesthetic solutions used in his work,
with emphasis on his film 'Begone Dull Care', demonstrating the broad creative potential of the
artist. This film will be specifically addressed as an example for a deeper analysis of the insertion
of each visual element and its relation to sound. The aesthetic aspects of his work will be analyzed
mainly based on the systematization made by Kandinsky in his books 'Point and Line to Plane'
(KANDINSKY, 1977), and 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art' (KANDINSKY, 1997), as well as
authors such as Tom DeWitt and Brian Evans, who performed analyzes of Visual Music works
under an aesthetic approach. Kandinsky spoke about the power of shape and color, where each
element would have the potential to cause a different sensation in the viewer through its internal
resonance. He carried out in his works an analysis of the sounds and of what each of them suggests,
besides possible relations between color, shape and sound. Our analysis will also be based on texts
left by McLaren that deal with technical and artistic issues developed by him in his works.

Concepts, Limitations, Invention

Norman McLaren was responsible for some of the most inspiring and important animations
in the twentieth century, created using his own techniques and perfecting some invented by other
artists, McLaren developed a particular language based on principles of Visual Music, where images
are essentially treated according to the sensations caused in the spectator, in a dialogical relation
with the sound, in audiovisual compositions with a high degree of complexity, poetics and vitality.
Like all animators, his feedstock is movement. But movement always had capital importance in his
films, being placed even above the own characters. McLaren said that "animation is not an art of
drawings that move, but rather the art of movements that are drawn" (SCHAFFER, 2005); a
choreography of elements on the screen, dancing to the sound of music. Perhaps for his passion for
movement, the artist had emphasized the use of abstract images in his works, despite having made
films with various types of figurative elements. Abstraction enables greater dynamics and variety of
animations; allows making movements that would be impossible for a realistic character to perform,
amplifying the potentialities of the composition. Abstract shapes can move in a variety of ways,
without the need to follow laws or physical limitations, and thus can faithfully represent any
animation thought by its creator. Through his training in painting, McLaren achieved a high power
of abstraction, of converting real images into elementary forms, eliminating superfluous elements
and reaching the essential characteristics of characters who could thus play their role fluidly on the
screen through the intricate choreographies drawn by him. Thus he could highlight the most
important characteristic of film: movement. Although working with social themes and figurative
elements in several of his films, McLaren claimed to prefer works in which he could express his
feelings through abstract shapes, where he could get rid of all the elements that distracted the
viewer’s attention in order to achieve more quickly what he wanted to say. In addition, reducing
scene elements to their essential components had a practical reason, since it greatly facilitated the
already overly laborious process of frame-by-frame animation used in most of his works. Even in
films in which he used figurative elements, Norman found a way to make movements not
naturalistic in order to cause a certain strangeness in the viewer.
His relationship with music is also a defining characteristic throughout his work. The artist
always sought a proximity to sound, treating it not as an accessory for the images, but as a
fundamental element to build an indivisible audiovisual unit. McLaren treated sound and image in a
transdisciplinary way, making assemblies where there are no hierarchies among the elements; where
all contribute to an integrated and dialogical result. In this case, the sum of the audiovisual elements
gives rise to a third, which is more than the sum of its parts: it is a unit that has strength due to its
cohesion, far beyond a simple combination or coupling of disparate elements. McLaren said that if a
person worked with music, he would probably be a good animator, precisely because of his likely
interest in motion, in the flow of elements in time and space. Just as music unfolds over time
through melodies, rhythm, harmony, the animated images would have these same characteristics.
This question is especially valid for Visual Music, where the dance of the images on the screen is
intended to create sensations in the viewer in the same way as music, and not be hostage to words or
classic narratives.
Another important feature in his work was his closeness to the medium – the film. McLaren
sought to maintain a relation with the film similar to that which a painter has with the canvas or the
sculptor with the marble: the closer and more direct this relation was, the more satisfactory would
be the result. The traditional process of filming and revelation took a while and cooled the artist's
relationship to his work, while the painting done directly in the film left the creativity alive,
allowing the artist a much greater control of the result through eventual changes of direction during
the process. Thus, McLaren decided not to use a camera in most of his works in order to obtain this
dynamism, fundamental for achieving the desired results. The fact of working so directly with the
media generated controversial results: if on the one hand it brought the artist closer to his feedstock,
on the other created a series of technical limitations for the animator. Painting frame by frame
thousands of images in such a small size limited drastically the artistic possibilities. But McLaren
did not care about that; on the contrary, he liked boundaries; he even said that he preferred to work
with a high number of technical and artistic limitations than to have total freedom. The difficulty of
the serial drawing led him to think in a more pragmatic way in order to achieve his results,
eliminating superfluous elements and thus achieving a unity in the final result. This unity was
achieved through a balance between opposing poles: between a simple, repetitive structure and
something with a lot of diversity, which dispersed the viewer's attention. Technical limitations
actually constituted a challenge for McLaren, who stimulated him creatively. The animator not only
worked with the tools that existed in his time, but created his own, in order to achieve his goals and
overcome the boundaries found in the animation process. That is: technical limits never hindered
Norman's creativity; on the contrary, it meant that he needed to constantly change his way of
working, find solutions to the problems that arose and develop new techniques in order to express
his artistic feelings and convictions. In this way, it is impossible to speak of the poetic aspect of his
works without thinking about his technical basis, which is often the inventive spark that gives shape
to a new creation.

Kandinsky and McLaren

Kandinsky was an abstract Russian painter who, in addition to having built a solid career in
the History of Art, left several texts in which he tried to lay the foundations of a new type of art,
based on abstract geometric elements and the relations between them. In two fundamental books –
'Concerning the Spiritual in Art' (KANDINSKY, 1977) and 'Point and Line to Plane'
(KANDINSKY, 1997) – Kandinsky traced a genesis of abstract painting, demonstrating the intrinsic
power of forms, colors and movements, ideas that served as inspiration for artists in various fields.
In his theories, Kandinsky sought a spiritual character in art, somehow close to the approach that
McLaren followed in most of his abstract films. Each element has an internal resonance and it must
be taken into account within a composition in order to achieve a kind of non-objective art, focused
on the power that each form emanates and their mutual relations within the frame. Kandinsky said
that painters who were limited to a mere imitation of nature would always fall below this, and that
the true artist, who is able to unite technique and spirituality, is the one who seeks in the abstract
forms his substrate. He said that abstraction was a new stage for art, free from the imitation of
exterior elements and turned to the inside of the artist, expressing his feelings through the sum of
the characteristics proposed by each pictorial element. For Kandinsky, each shape and color
suggested a specific sensation to the viewer. Starting from the most primordial element – the point –
he traced a genealogy of forms and their internal characteristics, passing through the line until
arriving at more complex shapes and at the plane, that sustains and orders the composition.
Besides being a painter, Kandinsky was also a musician, thus the relation between sound and
image also had great relevance for him. The artist thought of several types of analogy between color
and timbre of musical instruments, and associated colors to specific geometric forms. For him, each
instrument suggested a color, as well as each shape, and so correspondences could be made. In
addition, he has demonstrated, in both his texts and in his paintings, the possible correlations among
the various shapes within the composition. But Kandinsky worked with a static medium – painting
– and this limited his possibilities, making him seek alternative ways to try to insert movement into
his works. Because he had a background in music, when he discovered abstract art he realized that
both had a solid and deep connection and started to try to insert music's attributes into painting.
Despite having at his disposal a static media, the artist attempted to suggest movements within the
composition through the internal characteristics of each element. He sometimes used titles extracted
from the musical universe in his works, but the question of colors and the internal resonance of
forms was more important in his quest to insert some kind of movement into his works. With
several points in common – the use of abstract forms, the search for unity and balance in the
compositions, the spirituality found in the feelings suggested by each form, the attempt to ally
image to the sound – Kandinsky and McLaren approach in a natural way and enable a fertile
dialogue as we overlay McLaren's animations with the relations proposed by Kandinsky in order to
understand the power of forms, colors and movements. A dialogue based not only on technical
objectivity, but on the aesthetic synthesis between technique and spirituality, allowing us to find
beautiful relationships when we try to analyze McLaren animations from Kandinsky's point of view.
This meeting will be held in this article through the analysis of the film 'Begone Dull Care', which
offers almost infinite relationships between sound and imagery elements, both unfolding in time
through the movements choreographed by McLaren.

Technique and Creativity

In Norman McLaren's work the technique is directly related to the aesthetic development, as
well as the final results of his animations. The artist not only used existing techniques but developed
his own, from limitations that forced him to invent new outputs for problems that he encountered
during the production of his works. For McLaren, both technical and creative boundaries were the
engine of his creativity and paved the way for original works, after finding solutions to dodge these
barriers. The relationship between technique and art should be symbiotic, not just a tool for
producing a job. In some of his animations, the discovery of a new technique was often the starting
point for the artist who, accepting the limits and challenges presented by a new way of producing
his art, sublimated all problems by means of unique and original works, impossible to be achieved
without the use of this technology.
The most important technique used by McLaren in his works was Direct-drawing frame by
frame on the celluloid. This time consuming technique, which demanded thousands of drawings for
making a film, was important to him because it brought him closer to the media in which he was
working, providing a more direct and unified result. Without having to undergo long filming and
revelation processes, the result appeared in the hands of the animator almost instantaneously,
allowing for corrections and adjustments when necessary. The drawing-on-film technique also
allowed the artist a greater rhythmic precision by working together with the sound, extracting the
maximum of possibilities of audiovisual relations. In addition, this way of doing was also cheaper,
because it required fewer apparatuses for its creation: practically a brush, dyes and the film itself,
besides a moviola to gauge the result. The production method was relatively simple and consisted
basically of two ways: additive or subtractive. In additive form, using paintbrushes and ink, the
animator adds pictorial elements to a blank film, frame by frame, creating movement through the
succession of small variations. In the subtractive composition, the film layers were scratched in
order to create the images. In both cases, the work was arduous and time-consuming, requiring a lot
of technique and patience from the animator. However, the results were extremely satisfactory. The
hand-painted images had a strong connection with its author, clearly showing the personality of the
animator. Almost as a signature, each artist thus had a unique way of expressing himself, unlike the
homogeneity afforded by camera shots or similar techniques such as stop motion. Direct painting
had previously been used by artists like Len Lye and Oskar Fischinger in their respective works.
However, McLaren's creative ability was able to enhance it and develop variations from it, resulting
in unique visual results. In an example of derivation of the initial technique, Norman found a
solution that led to a new aesthetic result, from the problem generated by the lack of marking on the
frames when he used the black film. Because in the black film he could not see the edges of the
frames, it was difficult to perceive the limits of the frame to be drawn. McLaren then decided not to
care about these limits, extrapolating them through the use of images that crossed several frames,
achieving innovative aesthetic results.
Another technique borrowed and improved by McLaren was that of Graphical Sound. From
pioneering studies in this area by Pfenninger and Fischinger, the artist had consistently explored
complex audiovisual relationships, as in his film Sincromy, in which the image displayed on the
screen is the same drawn on the soundtrack. Using this technique, McLaren achieves interesting
results in the field of Visual Music, for he had the possibility to synchronize precisely sound and
image, when necessary. The use of synthetic sound also had connection with the abstract images
aesthetics, which were not related to naturalistic sounds. Even when using figurative images, this
artificial way of creating sound allowed a distancing of reality, a factor that interested McLaren.
This method still gave the animator a quick return in terms of audiovisual synchronicity, which
could be easily adjusted as sound and image belonged to the same media.
In addition to the procedures for direct-drawing, McLaren also used a wide range of camera
techniques to produce his films. One of these procedures, called Cut-out, was used in films such as
'Le Merle', in which he deconstructed the character into several cut-out elements on paper and
animated them frame by frame, photographing each variation. This technique has a very different
result from direct-drawing, resulting in cleaner images and more precise animations, forming an
interesting contrast and adding a different aesthetic to the animator's repertoire. McLaren also flirted
with 3D animation in the 1950s, in a quest to insert depth into his films. The artist thought of
several original methods to achieve a three-dimensional view of his animations, among them the
use of a mirror system, the drawing of different images for the left and right eye, and the delay of
some frames in the sequence of images seen by one of the eyes. Unfortunately, in order to be
watched, the few films created by him using these ideas needed complex equipment and did not
reach a broad audience.
Another idea conceived by McLaren to solve a problem was the one that resulted in the
technique called Chain-of-mixes (DOBSON, 1994). From the problem of the lack of precision of
frame-by-frame animation in reproducing images that demand slow movements and the enormous
amount of frames needed to compose this type of animation, Norman invented a paradoxical
method. He reduced the animation to still images, filmed them for a few seconds by a camera in
shots started and finished with fades in the image. After each shot, he added some changes and
filmed again. The final result – which could only be visualized after the end of the whole process –
was composed by the overlapping of these many takes, generating a smooth and continuous
movement.
Turning now to the animations in which McLaren used camera effects to get innovative
results, we have the techniques of Pixellation, Multi-images and Blurring (DOBSON, 1994), all of
which offer the animator new aesthetic potential later applied in his films. Pixellation consists of
using the camera to take still pictures, breaking the continuity of the action and achieving unusual
results. In his film 'Neighbors', for example, by photographing the actors as they jumped and
repeating this action after changing their position, he would give the impression that they were
flying (DOBSON, 1994. p. 186). This technique also allowed McLaren to create a distancing from
reality, building a magical universe that matched his other abstract works. The Multi-image
technique consisted of the simple repetition of the same image, superimposed so as to leave a trace
over time. McLaren used this technique in an original way with very interesting aesthetic results in
his film 'Pas de Deux', in which dancers moved on the screen, multiplying and reuniting themselves
in an impressive ballet of movements and textures. Blurring was another technique used by the
animator in some of his films with the intention of creating a more ethereal atmosphere by the use
of long exposure.

Aesthetic, Technique and Poetry in Begone Dull Care

In order to analyze how the techniques used by Norman McLaren are materialized in
aesthetic experiences for the viewer, we will analyze in detail one of his main films, realized in
partnership with Evelyn Lambart: 'Begone Dull Care'. As we saw earlier, technique and poetic
operate side by side in McLaren's work, with the intention of constructing aesthetically interesting
works, as well as reflecting an important spiritual side, a mode of expression of the artist's inner
feelings. 'Begone Dull Care' is the expression of these feelings through the audiovisual sensations
provided by its constantly changing elements. We will see initially the techniques used by him in
this film and later we will make a freer and poetic analysis of the diverse audiovisual relations
created throughout this animation.
Two primary aspects that characterize this work are the use of the direct-drawing technique
and the synchronicity between sound and image, operated creatively in the most diverse ways. In
this work, McLaren did not seek to create meanings or to pass on some social message, as he did in
some of his films; in 'Begone Dull Care' the sensations provoked by the imbrication between sound
and image are what matter, making the film an extremely well done example of Visual Music.
Despite being composed of a multitude of images generated by different techniques, this animation
has defined and precise relationships between sound and image, which can be decomposed into
small parts, as well as its music. In a broad division, the film is comprised of three very distinct
parts: the first one, with the delimitation of a musical theme that will be repeated along the
animation; a break, based on another tempo, much slower and with fewer elements; and the final,
faster and with a profusion of characters, both sonorous and visual taking turns on the screen.
The creative process was initiated by the music, as indicated by McLaren in his notes,
present in the book 'On the Creative Process' (MCWILLIANS, 1991). He invited the Jazz group
Oscar Peterson Trio and together they produced a dialogue of constant exchanges that lasted four
days during which the musical structure and some internal composition details were established. In
this process, sound ideas served as inspiration for visual elements and vice versa, as McLaren also
showed the musicians his conceptions for some images takes, for them to create the music, in an
improvisational and symbiotic mixture between the two media. After the song was composed, it was
"measured, note by note, phrase by phrase. The measurements were transferred to a "dope-sheet"
which charted the music on paper. The measurements were numbered, and these numbers were
marked on the 35 mm celluloid, between the sprocket and along the edge of the film"
(MCWILLIANS, 1991, p.82). They used two different 35 mm types of film: clear films in the first
and third parts, on which McLaren and Lambart painted, and the second in black emulsion coated
film, receiving opposite treatment, having the ink removed from the film by the artists.
Once the medias were defined, McLaren and Lambart begin to effectively paint the frames,
in a variety of ways: using brushes of different sizes, pieces of fabric, various types of dye, dust,
etc. in order to obtain diverse results. Sometimes they would paint the two sides of the film with
different colors and afterwords remove parts of them and thus insert elements of different color in
the animation. Often the artists ignored the divisions between the frames and an animation stretched
across several frames, yielding results quite different from traditional animation. For example: long
vertical lines and overlapping textures with much larger sizes than each frame separately gave a
greater continuity to the scenes. This procedure was opposed to the horizontal pattern of music
notation, creating a vertical counterpoint that dialogued in a certain way with the sound structure.
However, the metrics of music were always respected and the images were synchronized precisely
with each phrase or musical note, according to the intention of the artists. As the music is quite
rhythmic and percussive, the images often appear for just a few moments on the screen, making it
necessary to use a large number of pictorial variations, even when the music repeats the same
melody. In some cases, the animators created similar scenes, adding new colors or elements, so as
not to make the film monotonous. As a result, there is not a single image repeated along the whole
composition.
 The second part of the animation contrasts completely with the other two, being composed
of subtle movements of white dots and lines on a black background. In this section McLaren used
another type of film and technique to animate its forms, as he reports in his notes:

While running in a moviola interlocked with the soundtrack, it was engraved on by a sharp-pointed
knife. If the knife touched the film very lightly, the intermittent motion of the film in the moviola gate,
made the knife bounce, so that little clear dots were created on each frame; if pressed harder the knife
made larger dots with a faint tail; if pressed really hard, it made a more or less vertical line. Thus, the
knife-point was made to slide and move on the surface of the film; my hand pressed, guided and, as it
were, made it “dance” to the rhythm of the music. The total painted and engraved film was used as a
master positive, from which was made a colour negative. Initial release prints were then struck from
this negative. (MC WILLIANS, 1991. p. 83)

Using this technique, McLaren manages to establish a break in the film dynamics, avoiding
the monotony that could be established by the continuous sequence of notes for a long period of
time. When the third part begins, another rupture takes place, this time with a drastic increase in the
music tempo and the use of textures and other elements that keep the screen always full of elements,
moving towards a climax by the end of the animation. All these techniques applied by McLaren and
Lambart throughout the film always have a reason to be used: they are not loose within the
animation, but play an important role in its cohesion and unity. Even when several layers of images
are applied, each using a specific technique and several modes of overlays, their connection with
the music always harmonizes the audiovisual relationship and creates meaning for the spectator.
McLaren discovered early in his career that depending on the tempo of the animation, the head of
the viewer can create different relations between sound and image, even if they are not fully
synchronized. So, in some moments of this film, when several textures populate the screen, these
animations are not always in perfect sync with the sound, but the speed of the rhythm breaks gives
birth to audiovisual relationships in the viewer's head, always creating a sense of synchronicity.

Audiovisual Poetics

Norman McLaren and Kandinsky shared some ideas about art, especially questions
concerning abstract images and the intrinsic and spiritual power of forms and colors. Watching the
film 'Begone Dull Care' we can find several of these relationships, based on the aesthetic
audiovisual relations traced by McLaren throughout this animation. It is possible to draw parallels
between Kandinsky's theory by paying attention to what each shape, color, or movement is
suggesting during its on-screen presentation: a straight or curved line; a rounded or pointed pictorial
element; an opposition of colors that denotes a contrast also present in the music melody; the
linking of shapes and colors to each musical instrument; among an infinity of other relations, some
predicted by its creator, others appearing naturally in an unpredictable way through the sum of the
audiovisual elements. These relations, based on Visual Music principles, are presented throughout
the film creating a symbiotic unity between sound and image, through the most diverse forms of
correspondence, analogies and counterpoints. The end result can not be considered music illustrated
by images or animations followed by a soundtrack, but a transmedia amalgam in which its
constituent elements can no longer be separated: everything is part of a whole, a unit that transcends
the sum of the parts.
The freedom given to the images is only made possible by the choice of a specific musical
genre that allows dynamic potentialities of relationships, which change frequently in the course of a
composition: Jazz. The character of improvisation proper of this musical style is perfectly
transferred to the images, which seem to participate in the game, in some moments synchronically,
in others serving as the basis for some instrument or becoming the protagonist, in sections that
could be considered as images "solos", a frequent practice of Jazz, where each instrument has a
moment of prominence during the performance. Extrapolate the boundaries of the frame symbolizes
quite well this freedom granted to the images; a technique used by McLaren in other animations
here gains an extra justification, going beyond the frame and mixing with other images in
harmonizations either improvised or precise, accentuating specific moments in music. Although at
times the use of textures moving randomly on the screen causes an impression of arrhythmia, this
can also be understood as a syncope, type of musical treatment very characteristic of Jazz. At other
times the correspondence is direct, and sound and image play riffs, short audiovisual loops in
perfect sync, shortly after following their own paths.
Despite speaking of technique, precision and synchrony, many of the perceptible
relationships in this work can not be accurately stated. On the contrary, the very rustic way in which
the animations were made opened the way for inaccuracies, a characteristic quoted by McLaren as
welcome, for total perfection would be boring, monotonous. For him, a film must strike a balance
between the perfect but dull unity and a high level of disruptive diversity: the artist's aim would
then be to find diversity within unity, through variations that avoid uniform repetitions, always in
order to make the film unpredictable and surprising for the viewer. Thus, there is always room for
exceptions in the intermedia dialogs in his animations. We will now analyze some of these relations
by means of a poetic and imprecise bias, highlighting moments in which McLaren's practice
dialogues with Kandinsky's theory in a virtual conversation between two masters of Visual Music
translated into words.
First Part

In the film opening, where the credits are displayed in several languages, piano and bass
appear, interspersing in sync with the editing cuts. Then the song begins [0'40"], and the two
instruments continue the dialogue, each one now acquiring its own forms: the piano is shown
through a great number of elements simultaneously displayed by colored textures, while the bass is
composed of dark red and black rounded forms, precisely synchronized with the notes played. Here
we can see a first analogy to Kandinsky in the relation of equivalence between light colors / treble
and dark colors / low. The softness of the bass sound is portrayed in round shapes, also close to the
author's proposal for curved lines: greater softness, weight and maturity contrasting with straight
lines, which have more assertiveness, youth and lightness. We can also see a direct relation between
the rapid change of textures and the large number of notes performed at the end of each piano
phrase. The drums enters emphatically [0'50"] in the form of horizontal and vertical black and white
lines, alternating its melody with the piano, which is now represented by fluid forms moving
vertically. The bass enters this conversation [0'55"] as protagonist and gradually leaves the scene to
become integrated into the ensemble, through a fade out. Finally, a descending melody on the piano
[0'59"], synchronous to the movement of black shapes moving down the screen, make the turn to
the beginning of the main melody. At [1'00"] a melodic sequence begins consisting of the
interchange between two phrases: one comprised of triads (beginning and ending on the same note)
and the other by more complex melodies. On the screen, black and white pointed shapes change
position in sync with the movement of melodic trills and are interspersed with freer animations
composed of several elements such as diagonal lines, straight and curved lines, scribbles, etc.,
denoting the greater complexity of these sentences. After each trill of the melody’s first phrase the
forms get closer, until they merge into a visual legato. A new part begins [1'19"] by sharp drum
notes, again visualized in lines, this time colored and following the sequence: horizontal, vertical,
horizontal / vertical, diagonal to the left and diagonal to the right, interspersed with interventions of
the synchronized bass in its characteristic forms, previously presented. The lines position and angle
in this part refers to the sensations suggested by Kandinsky: hot dynamics = vertical lines; cold rest
= horizontal lines; diagonals = a union between hot and cold, alternating between the dramatic
discordant of the right and the harmonious lyricism of the left, that closes a cycle in the
composition, returning to the main melody. We could think here of a tonal issue, where the
horizontal lines would be the tonic, the vertical ones the subdominant and the diagonals the
dominant, in a game of tensions and resolutions.
At [1'28"] the main melody returns, now in colored, blue and red shapes that follow the
same logic as its first insertion. Then [1'38"] a sequence alternating black piano chords – on a
composite background with a gradation between red and blue – with bass phrases, piano melodies
and a drum turn that takes us to the piano solo. Before, however [1'52"] there is a short melody of
horizontal and diagonal lines moving along the X axis in a melodic crescendo in which the forms
mix and grow until filling the whole screen. The piano solo [1'57"] is a landscape made up of
several colorful textures that move on the screen extrapolating the boundaries of the frame,
reminding the freedom of musical improvisation. The solo is at times broken [2'17"] by chord
interventions of the piano vertical lines and by the drums complex shapes, where each note
corresponds to an image. The shrill character of the drums is represented by more pointed, red,
white and blue forms. The end of this solo [2'37"] is marked by fast piano melodies, keeping its
vertical images but now moving more dynamically, interspersed by bass phrases, represented by
black forms on a dark blue background and piano chords. The first piano chords [2'44"] show a red
shape with its position synchronized with the melody vertically: treble on top and right; low on the
bottom and left, following in its movement the harmonious diagonal of Kandinsky. The second
piano entrance [2'50"] shows a blue figure moving randomly across the screen in line with the
diversity of notes played by this instrument. At [2'55"] there is a brief breach in the profusion of
notes: a central vertical white line along with two others that go towards the center perform the
transition to a new moment comprised of explosions of colors and concentric lines interspersed by
textures and diagonal lines, which give rise to the original melody [3'09"]. In its third appearance,
the main melody is now composed of elements connected to each other during the trills, becoming
scattered during the response phrases. Another moment of vertical freedom of the images and varied
notes on the piano marks a crescendo until a turn [3'24"] in unison of all instruments, followed by a
closing [3'28"] where vertical lines converge to the center, condensing all the images and making
the transition to the second part of the animation. In this closing, the melody tends towards more
low notes, analogous to the increasing darkness of the screen.

Second Part

This part is marked by a radical transition in visual and sound terms. The tempo drops
dramatically and the music is reduced to subtle and sparse notes. The images consist of white
vertical dots and lines, which dance on the screen following the piano notes. In a ballet of shapes
that approach and distance from each other, generating a multiplicity of tensions between the
elements, melodies keep being built, always with few notes. The absence of colors highlights the
more sober and cool character of this part, a feeling shared by the low notes. Here we can draw a
parallel with the ontogeny of forms constructed by Kandinsky in 'Point and Line to Plane'
(KANDINSKY, 1997). Thinking about an evolutionary lineage of images, the author begins with
the point, the most fundamental and concise element in imagery terms. It is the beginning and the
end; an indivisible being that unites silence to the word, with great transforming potential. Through
movement a line is born, adding a temporal dimension to the point. The line is the "moving point
trail," a "leap from the static to the dynamic" (KANDINSKY 1997: 49). This transformation gives
rise to an enormous amount of possibilities of shapes, tensions and resonances, each one derived
from the position, form and movement of the lines within the plane. In the second part of McLaren's
animation, the point is the shorter duration of the note, which turns into line when it has its duration
extended in time, leaving sonic and visual traces. As with MIDI notation, the lower the note
duration, the smaller its size, and long notes are represented by larger lines, proportional to their
duration. In this part of 'Begone Dull Care', this analogy is almost always present, but offers some
variations, in order to remove the monotony of obvious direct correspondences.
Starting with a dance between two elements [3'33"] following melodies played by low notes
spaced in time, sound and image evolve in a sequence of relationships with softness and subtlety,
leaving open spaces for silence. At times, two images act side by side on the screen, varying the
tension between them according to their horizontal distance. The sound is reason for
approximations [3'48"] and detachments [3'53"]. At times one element "pushes" the other off the
screen, following a descending melody [3'57"]; in others one seems to swallow its [4'08"] pair. In
some parts, the images seem to reflect the musicians gestures, moving fluidly through the frame.
Sparse points appear dithering the screen along with melodies with more notes [4'11"] [4'20"] until
they become lines: first two, then three, then a horizontal sequence from right to left, synchronized
with the descending melody played by the bass. Short melodic traces [4'47"] join again a pair of
elements that alternate between point and line [4'51"] and later multiply themselves [4'58"], moving
and leaving the screen one by one, erased by the bass notes [5'25"]. Then, chords with high sustain
accumulate many lines on the screen [5'29"], preparing the entrance of the third part.

Third Part

A new break initiates the third part [5'42"]. Now with up-tempo, a background consisting of noisy
white textures accompanies the bass line and serves as the basis for piano melodies that follows
next. After a duel between the left and right sides [5'50"], one white and the other black pushing
themselves, there is a double solo, of the piano and a black streak that weaves on the screen [5'57"],
creating visual melodies in counterpoint to the sound, which becomes very treble, and dialogues
with the volatility of the wave motion of the streak. In its solo, this stripe decomposes itself in
several lines, then in color objects in constant mutation, always accompanied by textures that fill the
background, with a similar function to the base played by musicians as support for a solo. A short
audiovisual riff [6'08"] is the cue for the entrance of gestures portrayed by black structures that
sweep the screen as the bassist's right hand manipulates the strings of his instrument [6'12"].
Suddenly, the textures turn into a blue background, and thorny structures [6'19"] or shapes that
remind us nails [6'22"] follow the melody, repeating a phrase three times and resolving into an exit
to the right of the screen. The spiky shapes drawn on the screen dialogue with the treble notes of the
piano, following the relations predicted by Kandinsky. Then [6'30"], sound and image enter into a
new riff, this time in an unstable pendular movement, which alternates lyrical and dramatic
diagonals until getting resolved in a horizontal movement to the right, which takes away all the
colors. Black and white shapes then take over the screen [6'40"], in a rich relationship with acute
piano melodies. Always maintaining a vertical line as the common thread, forms expand in several
ways: creating sequences of horizontal strings; dividing into several lines; emphasizing more
accentuated notes by means of complex wavy structures; expanding in lines and contracting in a
central point, following the duration of notes on the piano [6'49"]. After this complex dialogue
between piano and intermittent images, a new, more fluid part begins, composed of textures that
navigate on the screen in varied modes. At times, sound and image come into loops [7'02 "] [7'12"],
soon to follow after their own moves, pushed by two notes of the snare drum. The profusion of
sound and visual elements keeps growing toward a climax through varied textures and frenetic
melodies. A final piano riff, coupled with an increase in complexity, number of colors and size of
shapes on the screen [7'36"], followed by a staccato that abruptly breaks the audiovisual sequence
ends the film.

Final Considerations

The analysis here proposed intends to show that in Norman McLaren's work sound and
image interact in an extremely closely way, weaving varied types of relationships, more direct in
some moments, in others becoming part of a more fluid and abstract dialogue, but always looking
for a transmedia interweaving, which makes the audiovisual elements inseparable. More than a
simple sum of sounds and images that overlap on the screen, the animator creates audiovisual cells
that have a high level of cohesion, combining visual and sound sensations that contribute to the
unity of the final result. We have attempted in this article to demonstrate the poetic way in which
these relationships take place, exemplified by the film 'Begone Dull Care', where its author creates a
great multiplicity of possible audiovisual relationships. As McLaren thought, we sought throughout
the article to ally technique and poetry, where the former serves as support for the latter. Not
surprisingly, in our analysis and description of the chosen film, sound attributes are mixed with
visual ones, and terms of one area are often borrowed in order to describe relations that occur in the
other. Our analysis is permeated by technique, but it is not always accurate; it always gives room for
the poetry of imprecision. Such is the work of McLaren, a constant dialogic mixture between sound
and image, technique and poetry, aiming to create unique sensations to the spectator. Norman
presents us singular moments in world of animation, taking Visual Music to a level of excellence
achieved only by a few, through creative audiovisual relationships that go far beyond simple direct
correspondence between different medias. Prioritizing the beauty of motion, be it sonorous or
visual, McLaren works with the unspeakable in the work of art, achieved in his works through the
sensations created by the sum of the internal resonances of his abstract characters.

[Online version of the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svD0CWVjYRY]

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