Synchromy (1971) by Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren (1914–1987) was born in Stirling, Scotland and attended The Glasgow School of Art at age 22. He immediately distinguished himself with home-made films, winning an award at festival. One of the judges was head of the General Post Office (GPO) Film Board. He hired McLaren, who moved to London. After four films, and with WWII in the offing, he moved to New York on a scholarship, thereafter accepting an invitation to Canada. He excelled at the National Film Board (NFB), not only through his body of work, but by forming an animation department of young people.

From his earliest days McLaren had experimented with scratching a soundtrack directly onto the optical track of the film. But "Synchromy" is a pure fusion of sound and image like none other in his catalogue. Strips of card one by 12 inches were drawn with rectangles that would create different frequencies when run through the projector at film speed. The visual track of "Synchromy" is identical; the viewer sees the shapes they hear. (The colours are arbitrary.)

Watch a high-quality video at the NFB.