Siena

This short animation was created using tests created in the production of A Chairy Tale (1957) by master of animation Norman McLaren. Flocons is set to the music of Tchaikovsky and features none other than Canadian filmmaker Claude Jutra, who plays a character imprisoned in the celluloid on which McLaren paints directly. Flocons aims to celebrate the 100th anniversary, in 2014, of Norman McLaren’s birth.

A stereoscopic animated film based on the techniques used by McLaren in Now Is the Time. Both the sound and the visuals were hand-drawn directly upon the film.

A detailed retrospective of the animation film at the National Film Board of Canada, of the techniques employed, and of the men and women who used and sometimes invented them. Documentary footage explains the techniques, and clips from NFB films illustrate the often spectacular results. Topics include Norman McLaren, hand-drawn-on-film and pixillation techniques, the "sing-along" animated songs of the 1940s, Alexandre Alexeieff's pinscreen, and Evelyn Lambart's fairytale improvisations.

In this short film, Norman McLaren is literally caught by his own film tricks. As he attempts to welcome an audience, he is frustrated by an animated microphone with a will of its own.

This short film brings together animation workshops led by award-winning independent animator Caroline Leaf. The film, which discusses and demonstrates Leaf’s artisan's approach to narrative filmmaking, explores 3 techniques she pioneered during her 20-year tenure at the NFB: sand, paint-on-glass and scratch animation.

In this short experimental film, animator Jacques Drouin explores and highlights both sides of Alexeïeff-Parker’s pinscreen. Led by the repeated harmonies of a rondo for harpsichord by François Couperin, the film shows the filmmaker hurling himself into a hand-to-hand tussle with his own favourite instrument. Positioning the camera and lighting to reveal the relief formed by the pins, Drouin continually pivots the screen so that the viewer can glimpse the images hidden behind this mysterious screen.

This short film paints a portrait of Oscar®-winning filmmaker Co Hoedeman (The Sand Castle, Ludovic). It focuses on 3 aspects of his life – family, farm, and studio. We see excerpts of his work and watch him create a new animation clip.

In this short animation film, Norman McLaren presents the first 3 of the 5 categories of motion: constant, accelerated and decelerated. Various types of acceleration and deceleration are demonstrated, and examples are shown of how these types of motion may be applied in regard to gesture, gravity and perspective.

This film is part of a series of television programs including interviews with the directors of short animated films as well as the films themselves. This video includes 2 animated shorts: Quilt (by Gayle Thomas), an animated tribute to patchwork quilting and Scant Sanity (by John Weldon), an exploration into the nature of the mind and reality in which a person seeking job counseling receives psychiatric treatment instead, thereupon becoming convinced of the reality of his own internal world.

This publicity clip for Canada Post is Norman McLaren's first film for the NFB. For this animated short, McLaren drew symbols by pen onto clear 35 mm stock, which was then superimposed on a photographed painted background. Benny Goodman's rendition of Jingle Bells provides the accompaniment.

The NFB’s 10th Academy-Award winning film.

This Oscar®-winning animated short from Chris Landreth is based on the life of Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator who produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Ryan is living every artist's worst nightmare - succumbing to addiction, panhandling on the streets to make ends meet. Through computer-generated characters, Landreth interviews his friend to shed light on his downward spiral. Some strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.