''Hen Hop'' is a 1942

drawn-on-film animation Drawn-on-film animation, also known as direct animation or animation without camera, is an animation technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock, as opposed to any other form of animation where the images o ...

short by

Norman McLaren William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a caseb ...

, in which a

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

gradually breaks apart into an abstract movement of lines as it dances to a

barn dance A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building. The term “barn dance” is usually associated w ...

. One of a number of drawn-on-film animated works created by McLaren, ''Hen Hop'' was animated by inking and scraping

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

, with colour added optically afterwards. To make ''Hen Hop'', McLaren spent days in a

chicken coop Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chicke ...

to capture what he called "the spirit of henliness." The film was produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

Reception

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

was reported to have exclaimed "at last something new" upon viewing this film. Dutch animator

Gerrit van Dijk Gerrit van Dijk (5 December 1938 – 4 December 2012) was a Dutch animator, film maker, actor and painter. Biography Gerrit van Dijk was born in a pious Catholic family in the village of Volkel, in the municipality of Uden. He studied as a fift ...

, reproduces part of the film as well as quotes from McLaren about making ''Hen Hop'' his 1997 work, ''I Move, So I Am''.

References

External links

Watch ''Hen Hop'' at NFB.ca
(Requires

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

) 1942 films 1942 short films 1942 animated films 1940s Canadian films 1940s animated short films Drawn-on-film animated films Canadian animated short films Animated musical films Visual music Abstract animation National Film Board of Canada animated short films Animated films about chickens Films set in Canada Films set on farms Films set in 1942 Animated films without speech Films directed by Norman McLaren {{short-animation-film-stub