Pas de deux, Black Long Skirt and Polycephaly
- samratnembang
- May 4, 2021
- 2 min read
Pas de deux,1968, Normal McLaren
This trippy black and white film was first introduced to me as still photos as a drawing session that a few projects ago. After that drawing session, I looked into this because I have researched about Neighbours by Norman McLaren and I liked the stills I drew up. The short film is a trippy film about a lady ballet that is looked at by a guy ballet and they dance it out in black and white. it sounds mediocre right? However I can tell you that it is 14 minutes of pure beauty. The music is hypnotic complimenting what's on screen. At the start of the film, the lady ballet is alone and dances alone while duplicating herself in the future, leaving a duplicate behind her. It's when the guy seems to see the girl mirroring herself, you experience this beautiful hypnotic effect in this film. The film reminds of so many influences. Black Long Skirt and Ashura were the first thing to pop into my head. To conclude this film was 100% dreamlike and has to be one of the most aesthetic pleasing shorts I have seen. The fact that it was made in 1968 is just speechless and it looks beyond time.
BLACK LONG SKIRT, 2010, Hoji Tsuchiya
I included this animation because it reminded me of the effect of Pas de Deux. Tsuchiya echos the paper cut-outs and creates the same kind of effect of Pas de Deux by photocopying and then layering that photocopy. I said this already on my blog but Pas de Deux just triggered this effect again and again. It's a must that I have to replicate this effect in my FMP.
Another influence I see in that Pas de Deux effect is looking at Polycephaly, which is a condition of more than one head. But mostly I was looking at mythology where gods have multiple heads such as Brahma or Asura.
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