Free Radicals (1958)

Display the graph that follows traditional African music's voice strains of sway, between music and graphics so mix and so gave the impression of beauty in the melting pot of musical art and graphics.

Director:

Len Lye

1 win.

Storyline

Display the graph that follows traditional African music's voice strains of sway, between music and graphics so mix and so gave the impression of beauty in the melting pot of musical art and graphics.

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Plot Keywords:

african music | avant garde | direct animation | camera less | experimental film | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Musical

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Award:

• Deuxième prix au Festival International du Film Expérimental de Bruxelles.

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Connections

Featured in Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011)

User Reviews

Interesting Concept

Displays the graph that follows traditional African music's voice strains of sway, between music and graphics so mix and so gave the impression of beauty in the melting pot of musical art and graphics.

Len Lye recalls, "I made Free Radicals from 16mm black film leader, which you can get from DuPont. I took a graver, various kinds of needles. (My range included arrowheads for romanticism.) You stick down the sides with scotch tape and you get to work with scratching the stuff out. … … You hold your hand at the right height and act is if you were making your signature. It goes on forever. You can carry a pictographic design in your head and make a little design. You can't see what you're doing because your hand is in the way. That's why those things have that kind of spastic look." There are some people that call this film original and innovative while others say it is just one of many doing the same thing about the same time. Now, I am not familiar enough with this sort of film to speak intelligently on that. I am not aware of the timeline, or which films came first. What I do know is that original or not, this is an interesting way to show the music of tribal people. We could film them dancing and that would be a great anthropological document... but there is something interesting bout turning it into both audio and visual art.

Details

Official Sites:

DVD Official DVD

Country:

USA New Zealand

Language:

None

Release Date:

1958 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

Ελεύθερες ρίζες

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Zealand Film Commission

Technical Specs

Runtime:

5 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1