Film commentary: Nocturn
A very original animation technique.Painting on a lampshade that is rotated at each exposure after the paint is applied. Shapes and colours follow one another, leaving the viewer free to invent his or her own story.
Let yourself be lulled by the magnificent movement of shapes and colours in this abstract animation film.
Watch another film by the director on this site
Life WaterQuestion the film: Nocturn
Understand the story, the theme, express your sensibility and exercise your critical thinking skills."Every work of art is the child of its time and, very often, the mother of our feelings"
Wassily Kandinsky, (1866-1944)
1 The shapes are abstract but sometimes evocativeWhat do the shapes remind you of?
Open answer.
Jeff Scher lives and works in New York and makes experimental films that are often abstract.
Each of the images in the film is a painting in its own right.
2 Doesn't this make you think of other modern or contemporary artists?
In particular, of the New York painters who completely abandoned the representational image and worked with geometrically shaped flat colours?
The painters of the "Color Field Painting" movement, such as Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Mark Tobey (1890-1976), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997).
Extensions
- Discover the director's other creations Jeff Scher's films.
About the director Jeff Scher, born in 1954, is a New York-based filmmaker, animator and painter. His work is experimental and his films are like paintings in motion. As in a dream or a memory, shapes and colours follow one another in a frenetic rhythm and leave the viewer free to invent his own story.As with Norman McLaren's films, these movements of abstract images allow the imagination to run wild, and in this sense are perfectly suited to young children.
Jeff Scher's work is held in several world-renowned museums, including the permanent collections of MoMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Download a PDF of the film's educational activities
Created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the CNC.Viewing the film with the family, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in the classroom.
Composing an abstract fresco (Plastic arts) (Cycle 1, 2 and 3)
Educational activities proposed by Olivier Defaye based on the film Nocturn.
Discover other educational sheets created with the support of the Ministry of National Education and the CNC...
Theme
AbstractionGenre and keywords
Narrative, experimental, colour, rhythmRecommended age
3 years.Duration
3 min 26 s.Title
NocturnDirector
Jeff ScherMusic
Shay LynchProduction
Jeff Scher in 2016, USA
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