Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

312 SECTION MEETINGS moving plates into the camera. The films shown also included foreground patterns indicative of the subject of the musical selection. In discussion following this showing, Mr. Lewis pointed out that while such films undoubtedly have a place in the general field of visible music, the lack of close correlation between visual and audible stimuli and the unvarying tempo of the changing color patterns makes them come somewhat short of realizing the full capabilities of the art. The next items on the symposium were Norman McLaren's two short films. "Dots" and "Loops." These were made in the manner outlined in the March, 1948, JOURNAL paper, "Synthetic Sound on Film," by McLaren and Lewis, and both the picture and the sound track were hand-drawn on 35-mm blank leader. The pictures, as the titles imply, are simple geometrical designs which change in form, color, and location in time with the sounds produced. In the discussion following the showing Mr. McLaren stated that the films have no purpose other than entertainment and relaxation, and that the principal value of the technique lies in the resulting close connection between the artist and the end result of his work because of the elimination of camera and recording equipment. Furthermore, sound effects not present in nature can be produced, and they can be closely correlated with the visual effect? for greatest dramatic impact. The next feature on the symposium was the United States premiere of Mr. McLaren's latest visible music film, "Be Gone Dull Care." The music for this film is not synthetic but is instead a special recording of a piano, drum, and doublebass trio playing selections varying from waltz to boogie. The visuals, however, are strictly abstract color, line pattern, shape, and texture animated to the music. Extensive discussion followed the showing and Mr. McLaren answered numerous questions regarding the technique, processing, and general philosophy of his version of visible music. The latter formed a natural introduction to Mr. Potter's portion of the symposium, which he gave under the title, "Abstract Visuals with Music." He pointed out that music is purely an abstract type of art and that if it can be combined with equally abstract forms in an attractive manner, something of fundamental importance in tomorrow's screen and sound entertainment has been created. Such abstract art forms may be used over and over without losing their appeal. Mr. Potter stated that one of the few things powerful enough to make music and abstract visual displays belong together is movement, and that so far as information to the brain is concerned, sounds move just as definitely as visible things do. A pitch change is like visible movement across the field of view, and loudness changes correspond to visible movement toward and away from the observer. This basic concept has been employed in the sound spectroscope now being employed for speech studies; it shows on the scope screen an instantaneous picture of the various frequency components in complex sounds, with frequency on the horizontal axis and component intensity indicated by the vertical displacement. The picture and the sound, if it is of a musical nature, are visible music and are generally considered an acceptable combination, even though the picture is completely inartistic and only two-dimensional, because they inherently belong together.