Oskar Fischinger, Volume 1

Synopsis: Oskar Fischinger discovered cinema at the age of 20 from the German avant-garde animators (Eggeling, Richter and Ruttman) and began his own visual experiments in 1921. From 1929 to 1934 he composed his well-known series of Studies (Studie 1-13) based on the rhythm proper to moving images, illustrations or visual counterpoints to musical compositions (Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven). An inventive experimenter, Oskar Fischinger performed his own original research, including different animation techniques, 3D, optical sound and color, developing the Gasparcolor process in 1933. His work had a significant influence on the development of abstract animated film.

This video is a compilaton of 7 of his films:
MURATTI GREIFT EIN, 1934 color, 2’
SPIRITUAL CONSTRUCTIONS, 1927 b/w, 7’
STUDY N°7 , 1931, b/w, 2’30"
STUDY N°8, 1931, b/w, 5’
KREISE, 1933, color, 2’
ALLEGRETTO, 1936, color, 3’
MOTION PAINTING N°1, 1947, color,
Language: English
Country: Germany
Year of release: 2003
Year of production: 1931-1947
Documentation: Accompanying booklet by W. Moritz.
Subjects: Media studies
Keywords: animation films; avant-garde film & video

Title: Muratti greift ein
Synopsis: 1934 (colour). An advertising film in which animated cigarettes perform a Busby Berkeley-like dance routine.
Duration: 2 mins
Title: Spiritual constructions
Synopsis: 1927 (b/w). A "silhouette" film in which two drinking companions become surreal shape-shifters
Duration: 7 mins
Title: Study No. 7
Synopsis: 1931 (b&w). White shapes, initially resembling sheets of paper, fly about a blackened void accompanied by Brahms’ "Hungarian Dance No. 5’".
Duration: 3 mins
Title: Study No. 8
Synopsis: 1931 (b&w). Dukas’ ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ provides the background for this film in the ‘Studies’ series of charcoal drawings in which simple shapes move with the music
Duration: 5 mins
Title: Kreise
Synopsis: 1933 (colour). Circles. Fischinger’s first colour film, commissioned as a commercial for a theatre and advertising agency.
Duration: 2 mins
Title: Allegretto
Synopsis: 1936 (colour). Made as an insert for Paramount’s "The Big Broadcast of 1937", rejected as being too abstract. It is a celebration of American life as seen throught he eyes of an immigrant.
Duration: 3 mins
Title: Motion painting No 1
Synopsis: 1947 (colour). Fischinger’s most complex work, the culmination of fourteen years’ experiment with colour, as much about motion as a meditation on symbolic forms.
Duration: 12 mins

Name: Moviemail
Web: https://www.simplyhe.com/3000-moviemail External site opens in new window
Phone: 0844 848 2000
Address: Simply Home Entertainment
PO Box 7741
Ringwood
BH24 9FA
UK
Notes: As of December 2016 the Moviemail web presence is incorporated within the Simply Media website

This record has been viewed 575 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council