A Matter of Form
1984 · 3m · Canada
Directed by René Jodoin
Genres: animation, experimental
Tones: contemplative, whimsical
A single point expands into lines and geometric forms across the screen to Schubert's Military March. Shapes multiply until colour fills the frame.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Jodoin's doing the thing everyone expects from '80s experimental animation—point to line to form—except he's somehow made it *less* interesting by actually finishing the thought, letting color smother what could've been genuinely weird.
A precise articulation of the National Film Board's experimental lineage: Jodoin builds from first principles with classical rigor, each geometric accumulation a deliberate note in Schubert's score, demonstrating how constraint breeds clarity.
The magic isn't the expansion itself—it's the decision to let Schubert's tempo *dictate* the rhythm of shape multiplication, so form and sound become indivisible, turning a simple premise into something hypnotic through sheer synchronization.