Blinkity blank

A film experiment by Norman McLaren in the use of intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. McLaren makes play with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after image on the retina of the eye. By engraving non-representational visuals directly on black, emulsion-coated films in interrupted sequence, he achieves a ‘Now you see it, now you don’t effect. The music background is in the form of semi-free instrumental improvisation, with percussive effects added by synthetic sounds scratched directly on film. (Awards: London, Cannes, Edinburgh, Berlin, Los Angeles)