Norman McLaren

William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. McLaren was also an artist and printmaker, and explored his interest in dance in his films. His films garnered numerous awards, including one Oscar, one , three BAFTA Awards and six Venice Film Festival awards. Early life Norman McLaren was born in Stirling, Scotland, on 11 April 1914. He had two older siblings, one brother, Jack and a sister, Sheena. At the age of 21, he travelled to Russia for a holiday which confirmed his communist beliefs; his father had paid for the trip in hopes of curing these beliefs. When McLaren was 22, he left Stirling and studied set design at the Glasgow School of Art. While there, he joined the Kinecraft Society; within the society, he began to experiment with different styles and techniques of filmmaking. It was also at the Glasgow School of Art that McLaren met Helen Biggar, they produced films together outside the School and sought to have their productions released nationally.