When Art, Math and Philosophy Collide (Ages 5-8)
This playlist provides educators with a selection of films that explore mathematical themes of patterns and repetition, represented through art, sound and moving images. Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici.
This playlist provides educators with a selection of films that explore mathematical themes of patterns and repetition, represented through art, sound and moving images.
Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici.
Sélection
-
The ClockmakersRenaud Hallée 2013 4 minIn this experimental animated short from Renaud Hallée, we travel inside a mysterious mechanism made up entirely of revolving gearwheels, triangles and lines. In this whirling, hypnotic world, dozens of tiny gymnasts leap, somersault and twist through the air. Their spirited acrobatics trigger both narrative and musical sequences that are mesmerizing and, at times, dizzying. Half-figurative and half-abstract, The Clockmakers is a playful creation that is sure to captivate and dazzle its audience.
-
M.C. Escher: Sky and Water 1Gayle Thomas 1998 3 min
This short animation mixes traditional and computer animation to explore one of M.C. Escher's most famous works, the woodcut Sky and Water I (1938). Accompanied by a stunning soundtrack, this mesmerizing film playfully explores and deconstructs the optical illusion within one of the Dutch artist's most recognizable pieces. This film has no dialogue.
-
Norman McLaren: Animated MusicianDonald McWilliams 2014 26 min
Not only did Norman McLaren create his own film imagery, he also made his own music by drawing, etching and photographing patterns directly onto the sound track area of the film, becoming a pioneer of electronic music long before the invention of the synthesizer. Norman McLaren: Animated Musician celebrates this exploration and presents much never-before-seen work by this master of cinema.
-
PerspectreIshu Patel 1975 6 min
Ce film d'animation illustre les aspects toujours nouveaux des choses vues selon le mode de la perspective. Bâti sur un jeu de formes géométriques richement colorées qui se répondent suivant le principe de la division, de l'étalement ou de l'imbriquement, Perspectre est un subtil exemple de ce phénomène de la perspective, phénomène d'observation courante auquel toutefois la force d'évocation propre au film d'animation ajoute un caractère insolite. Cela tient sans doute à ce que l'observation qui en est faite en exploite les facettes les plus diverses. Film sans paroles.
-
Lines HorizontalNorman McLaren et Evelyn Lambart 1962 5 min
An experiment in pure design by film artists Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Lines, ruled directly on film, move with precision and grace against a background of changing colors, in response to music specially composed for the films. Lines - Horizontal is accompanied by American folk musician Pete Seeger on wind and string instruments.
-
MosaicNorman McLaren et Evelyn Lambart 1965 5 min
This short experimental animation tempts the eye with gradually unfolding yet increasingly complex movement, colour and sound. Reminiscent of the mid-20th-century style of “op art,” McLaren and Lambart’s film follows a single tiny square as it divides and multiplies, eventually forming a colourful, hypnotic mosaic set to the animators’ precise and deliberate musical orchestration.
-
SpheresNorman McLaren et René Jodoin 1969 7 min
This animated short by Norman McLaren and René Jodoin is a play on motion set against a background of multi-hued sky. Spheres of translucent pearl float weightlessly in the unlimited panorama of the sky, grouping, regrouping or colliding like the stylized burst of some atomic chain reaction. The dance is set to the musical cadences of Bach, played by pianist Glenn Gould.
-
Lines VerticalNorman McLaren et Evelyn Lambart 1960 5 min
An experiment in pure design by film artists Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Lines, ruled directly on film, move with precision and grace against a background of changing colors, in response to music specially composed for the films. Lines - Vertical is accompanied by composer Maurice Blackburn on the electronic piano.
-
RythmeticNorman McLaren et Evelyn Lambart 1956 8 min
An animated film by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart that endows arithmetic with lively humour. The screen becomes a numerical free-for-all as digits meet in playful encounter, add and subtract, jostle, attack and elude one another.
