Norman McLaren Quotations

I like black and white films. I don't exactly know why - probably because there is a stylization which is removed from actual life, unlike a color film.

So people will come along and do new things and sometimes return to the spirit of an earlier age.

And so my militant philosophy is this: to make with a brush on canvas is a simple direct delight-to make with the movie is the same.

By drawing or exposing two or more patterns on the same bit of film I can create harmony and textual effects.

Well rounded forms gives smooth sounds; sharper or angular forms give harder and harsher sounds.

The process of art evolving is always one which has fascinated me.

The number of strokes to the inch controls the pitch of the note: the more, the higher the pitch; the fewer, the lower the pitch, the size of the stroke controls the loudness... the tone quality is the most difficult element to control, it is made by the shape of the strokes.

Unless it's done superbly, as in the Japanese film Gate of Hell, color can be a very distracting element.

I have tried to preserve in my relationship to the film the same closeness and intimacy that exists between a painter and his canvas.

If I find a film dull, I find it infinitely more entertaining to watch the scratches.