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Canadian Film Encyclopedia

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Now Is the Time


Year: 1951
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 3 min
Director: Norman McLaren
Producer: Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart
Animation: Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada, British Film Institute

Now Is the Time, an early experimentation in 3-D animation by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart, is one of two films (see also Around Is Around) commissioned by the British Film Institute for the Festival of Britain in 1951. McLaren and Lambart conducted single-frame animation using photographed paper cutouts and images drawn directly on film. Stereoscopy was achieved by photographing and drawing two visuals (one for the left eye, one for the right eye) with controlled displacement of the elements in relation to each other. McLaren also employed a hand-drawn soundtrack composed and recorded on two separate channels.

Now Is the Time received a Special Award at the Canadian Film Awards in 1952.