''The Tesla World Light'' (French: ''Tesla : lumière mondiale'') is an 8-minute 2017 black and white avant-garde film by Montreal director
Matthew Rankin
Matthew Rankin is a Canadian experimental filmmaker. He is most noted for his 2014 film '' Mynarski Death Plummet'', which was a shortlisted Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards and a s ...
J.P. Morgan
JP may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell
* ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine
* ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper
* Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band
* ''Jurassic Park ...
to continue funding his
World Wireless System
The World Wireless System was a turn of the 20th century proposed telecommunications and electrical power delivery system designed by inventor Nikola Tesla based on his theories of using Earth and its atmosphere as electrical conductors. He clai ...
and his love for a pigeon. Rankin has stated that "everything in the film is drawn from something
esla Esla or ESLA can refer to:
* Əşlə, Azerbaijani municipality
* Esla river
The Esla is a river in the provinces of León and Zamora in the northwest of Spain. It is a tributary of the Duero River that starts in the Cantabrian Mountains and i ...
wrote or said." The film uses excerpts of Tesla's actual letters to Morgan, which the filmmaker found in the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
; even a reference to Tesla falling in love with an "electric pigeon" was based on an interview with Tesla, according to Rankin. The film is produced by
Julie Roy
Julie Roy (born May 11, 1973) is a Canadians, Canadian producer of animated films, who since 2014 is the executive producer of the French animation studio at the National Film Board.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 ...
.
Technique
To make the film, Rankin combines pixilation with a technique called "light animation," which involves moving a light source in the frame to produce light rays—a technique that he felt suited Tesla and his own experiments with electrical currents. Rankin estimates he used as many as 15,000 sparklers to produce such effects, along with fluorescent lamps, flashlights and LEDs. A shot of Tesla reading in front of his Tesla coil was made with an illuminated windmill, which was spun to create vivid rings of light.
Rankin's avant-garde approach was influenced by what he read in Tesla's autobiography, where the inventor reported seeing abstract shapes of light when feeling strong emotions. This led to Rankin to believe Tesla may have been prone to
synesthesia
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who re ...
and inspired the filmmaker to adopt a
visual music
Visual music, sometimes called colour music, refers to the creation of a visual analogue to musical form by adapting musical structures for visual composition, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods o ...
approach, drawing on visual references from such artists as Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Walter Ruttmann and Oskar Fischinger.
He worked with sound artist Sacha A. Ratcliffe, who recreated a device of Tesla's known as a Tesla Spirit Radio. "It is a very strange device that can receive and transmit the sound of light waves. The effect is totally fascinating. The intensities and textures of the sound vary according to the light vibrations, and Sacha created much of the background sound in the film with this bizarre machine. So it’s a film that’s completely composed of light, from the images to the soundtrack," Rankin said.
Release
''The Tesla World Light'' had its world premiere in official competition on May 23 at the
2017 Cannes Film Festival
The 70th Cannes Film Festival took place from 17 to 28 May 2017, in Cannes, France. Spanish film director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar was the President of the Jury for the festival and Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and ...
Annecy International Animated Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...
.
At the
2017 Toronto International Film Festival
The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...
, the film received an honourable mention in the Best Canadian Short Film category. In December, TIFF named the film to its annual Canada's Top Ten list of the ten best Canadian short films.
The film won the
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
for
Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...
at the
6th Canadian Screen Awards
The 6th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 11, 2018, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2017.