Norman McLaren: Animated Musician
2014 · 26m · Canada
Directed by Donald McWilliams
Genres: animation, documentary, essay film
Tones: contemplative, whimsical
Norman McLaren's experiments creating music by drawing and etching directly onto a film soundtrack are explored, including previously unseen work from his career as an animation pioneer.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone genuflects at McLaren's altar, so a 26-minute essay doc about his synesthetic sound-drawing feels like the safest possible canonization—but I'll admit the premise (drawing music directly onto film) is genuinely strange enough that it deserves a contrarian second look.
McWilliams situates McLaren within the rigorous lineage of avant-garde cinema and sound experimentation, using previously unseen archival work to construct a formal argument about the artist's technical innovations—exactly the kind of essay film that clarifies a major figure's place in film history.
The decision to let McLaren's own hand-drawn soundtracks become the film's primary subject rather than overlay them with conventional score shows remarkable restraint, letting the singular craft choice—drawing music itself—speak louder than any talking-head explanation could.