MY FAVORITE ANIMATED SHORT: BEGONE DULL CARE

I saw this years ago in a film theory course I took at Texas. It immediately blew me away. Of course, I'm a sucker for a cool jazz soundtrack, but the images are thoroughly in the modern art style I love so much, which makes sense because it was made in 1949, and the animation technique is like nothing I've ever seen, before or since: the animator, Norman McLaren, literally painted on blank film stock, and scratched lines into the film's emulsion, which created, when projected, an utterly unique look. But enough of my yammering. Go check it out right now--it's pretty short, so it won't take away much of your valuable day; actually, I think the video cuts out a bit early, but it's still well worth viewing.

Click here for Begone Dull Care.

But you'd better hurry. I was going to run this last fall when I first found it on Youtube, but within a week or so of my discovery, it had been pulled for violating the "Youtube user agreement." Apparently, somebody doesn't like to take "no" for an answer, so it's back up, but who knows for how long?


A screen capture from Norman McLaren's Begone Dull Care

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