Neighbours (film)
Encyclopedia
Neighbours is a 1952 anti-war film
by Scottish-Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren
. Produced at the National Film Board of Canada
in Montreal
, the film uses the technique known as pixilation
, an animation technique using live actors as stop-motion objects. McLaren created the soundtrack of the film by scratching the edge of the film, creating various blobs, lines, and triangles which the projector read as sound.
, live peacefully in adjacent cardboard houses. When a flower blooms between their houses, they fight each other to the death over the ownership of the single small flower.
The version of Neighbours that ultimately won an Oscar was not the version McLaren had originally created. In order to make the film palatable for American and European audiences, McLaren was required to remove a scene in which the two men, fighting over the flower, murdered the other's wife and children.
During the Vietnam War
, public opinion changed, and McLaren was asked to reinstate the sequence. The original negative
of that scene had been destroyed, so the scene was salvaged from a positive print of lower quality.
NFB founder John Grierson
, who had invited McLaren to the NFB to form its first animation unit, would ultimately disparage Neighbours and McLaren's attempt at political cinema:
, who had worked with McLaren on Two Bagatelles, a pair of short pixilation films made prior to Neighbours. While Neighbours is often credited as an animated film by many film historians, very little of the film is actually animated. The majority of the film is shot with variable-speed photography, usually in fast motion, with some stop-frame techniques. During one brief sequence, the two actors appear to levitate: this effect was actually achieved in stop-motion; the men repeatedly jumped upward but were photographed only at the top of their trajectories. Under the current definition of an animated short, it is unlikely that Neighbours would qualify as either a documentary short or an animated short.
McLaren followed Neighbours with two other films using a similar combination of pixilation, live action, variable speed photography and string-puppets. The first, A Chairy Tale
(1957) was a collaboration with Claude Jutra
and Ravi Shankar
. The second, Opening Speech by Norman McLaren (1960) was made for the International Film Festival of Montreal, and starred McLaren himself.
and an Academy Award, the latter for which it was nominated twice, for Short Subject (One-reel)
and for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Strangely, it was in the Documentary category that this short, stylized drama won its Oscar. A press release issued by AMPAS states that Neighbours is "among a group of films that not only competed, but won Academy Awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories."
This film has been designated and preserved as a "masterwork" by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada
, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada’s audio-visual heritage.
In 2009, Neighbours was added to UNESCO
's Memory of the World Programme
, listing the most significant documentary heritage collections in the world.
's video for their first single, "Rest in Peace
", from their third album III Sides To Every Story
was closely modelled after Neighbours. The NFB took legal action and the matter was settled out of court, with withdrawal of the video from circulation.
Anti-war film
An anti-war film is a film that emphasizes the pain, horror, and human costs of armed conflict. While some films criticize armed conflicts in a general sense, others focus on acts within a specific war, such as the use of poison gas or the genocidal killing of civilians . Some anti-war films such...
by Scottish-Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
. Produced at the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, the film uses the technique known as pixilation
Pixilation
Pixilation is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet...
, an animation technique using live actors as stop-motion objects. McLaren created the soundtrack of the film by scratching the edge of the film, creating various blobs, lines, and triangles which the projector read as sound.
Plot
Two men, Jean-Paul Ladouceur and Grant MunroGrant Munro (filmmaker)
Grant Munro O.C. is a Canadian animator, filmmaker and actor.-Early life:He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has one sister and a brother . Brian Munro spent his adult life in the Canadian Forces, serving with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry...
, live peacefully in adjacent cardboard houses. When a flower blooms between their houses, they fight each other to the death over the ownership of the single small flower.
Controversy
Neighbours has been described as "one of the most controversial films the NFB ever made". The eight-minute film was politically motivated:
"I was inspired to make Neighbours by a stay of almost a year in the People's Republic of China. Although I only saw the beginnings of Mao's revolution, my faith in human nature was reinvigorated by it. Then I came back to Quebec and the Korean War began. (...) I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war." — Norman McLaren
The version of Neighbours that ultimately won an Oscar was not the version McLaren had originally created. In order to make the film palatable for American and European audiences, McLaren was required to remove a scene in which the two men, fighting over the flower, murdered the other's wife and children.
During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, public opinion changed, and McLaren was asked to reinstate the sequence. The original negative
Original camera negative
The original camera negative is the film in a motion picture camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure....
of that scene had been destroyed, so the scene was salvaged from a positive print of lower quality.
NFB founder John Grierson
John Grierson
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.-Early life:Grierson was born in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland...
, who had invited McLaren to the NFB to form its first animation unit, would ultimately disparage Neighbours and McLaren's attempt at political cinema:
"I wouldn't trust Norman around the corner as a political thinker. I wouldn't trust Norman around the corner as a philosophic thinker. That's not what Norman is for. Norman is for Hen HopHen HopHen Hop is a 1942 drawn-on-film animation short by Norman McLaren, in which a hen gradually breaks apart into an abstract movement of lines, as it dances to a barn dance...
. Hen Hop. That's wonderful. And so many other things. That's his basic gift. He's got joy in his movement. He's got loveliness in his movement. He's got fancy in his changes. That's enough"
Pixilation
The term 'pixilation' was created by Grant MunroGrant Munro (filmmaker)
Grant Munro O.C. is a Canadian animator, filmmaker and actor.-Early life:He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has one sister and a brother . Brian Munro spent his adult life in the Canadian Forces, serving with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry...
, who had worked with McLaren on Two Bagatelles, a pair of short pixilation films made prior to Neighbours. While Neighbours is often credited as an animated film by many film historians, very little of the film is actually animated. The majority of the film is shot with variable-speed photography, usually in fast motion, with some stop-frame techniques. During one brief sequence, the two actors appear to levitate: this effect was actually achieved in stop-motion; the men repeatedly jumped upward but were photographed only at the top of their trajectories. Under the current definition of an animated short, it is unlikely that Neighbours would qualify as either a documentary short or an animated short.
McLaren followed Neighbours with two other films using a similar combination of pixilation, live action, variable speed photography and string-puppets. The first, A Chairy Tale
A Chairy Tale
A Chairy Tale is a 1957 animated short film co-directed by Norman McLaren and Claude Jutra, and starring Jutra and a most uncooperative chair....
(1957) was a collaboration with Claude Jutra
Claude Jutra
Claude Jutra was a Canadian actor, film director and writer. The Prix Jutra are named in his honor because of his importance in Quebec cinema history. He was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec....
and Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
. The second, Opening Speech by Norman McLaren (1960) was made for the International Film Festival of Montreal, and starred McLaren himself.
Awards and honours
Neighbours is the winner of both a Canadian Film AwardCanadian Film Award
The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually except in 1974 when Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation that year....
and an Academy Award, the latter for which it was nominated twice, for Short Subject (One-reel)
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...
and for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Strangely, it was in the Documentary category that this short, stylized drama won its Oscar. A press release issued by AMPAS states that Neighbours is "among a group of films that not only competed, but won Academy Awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories."
This film has been designated and preserved as a "masterwork" by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada
Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada
The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada was a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada’s audio-visual heritage, and to facilitating access to regional and national collections through partnerships with members of Canada's audio-visual community...
, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada’s audio-visual heritage.
In 2009, Neighbours was added to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Memory of the World Programme
Memory of the World Programme
UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme is an international initiative launched to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, the ravages of time and climatic conditions, and willful and deliberate destruction...
, listing the most significant documentary heritage collections in the world.
Derivatives
ExtremeExtreme (band)
Extreme is an American rock band, headed by frontmen Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt, that reached the height of their popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Among some of Extreme's musical influences are Queen and Van Halen...
's video for their first single, "Rest in Peace
Rest in peace
"Rest in peace" is a short epitaph or idiomatic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has died. The expression typically appears on headstones, often abbreviated as "RIP"...
", from their third album III Sides To Every Story
III Sides to Every Story
Footnotes:"Peacemaker Die" is not included on the Republic of Korea edition."Don't Leave Me Alone" is available exclusively on the vinyl and cassette editions of the album, as well as on the Extragraffitti compilation album , "Tragic Comic" single, "Stop The World" single, and as a separate...
was closely modelled after Neighbours. The NFB took legal action and the matter was settled out of court, with withdrawal of the video from circulation.
See also
- History of Canadian animationHistory of Canadian animationThe history of Canadian animation involves a considerable element of the realities of a country neighbouring the United States and the competition from Hollywood.-1910s-1950s:...
- List of stop-motion films
- Academy Award for Documentary Short SubjectAcademy Award for Documentary Short SubjectThis is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
- List of Canadian films
- List of Quebec films