| Street Musique | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for the film | |
| Directed by | Ryan Larkin |
| Produced by | Ryan Larkin |
| Music by | Rick Scott Dick Tarnoff Rick Stone Rick Watson Jim Colby Jon Van Arsdell |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 9 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Budget | $45,734[1] |
Street Musique is a 1972 animated short film by Ryan Larkin produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). It is a line animation of "music as performance",[1] in which actions of the film's characters are choreographed to the music of street musicians.[2]
Soon after returning from the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970, for which his animated short film Walking had been nominated, Larkin was loaned by the NFB to a Vancouver art school, where he stayed for eight months conducting animation workshops.[3] He would travel to each student's studio to direct them, one of which was a group of street musicians.[3] These street musicians were the origin of the idea for the film, as Larkin had stated that "they would make a great focal point for my abstract images".[3]
The film consists of five or six vaguely defined segments whose animation matches the pace of the music to which it is set.[3] It begins with a photograph of a musician that is replaced by a line drawing of that photograph.[4] A transition leads to images of a man's body transforming into abstract improvisational forms using line shading and watercolours.[5][6] The figures undergo a continuous metamorphosis throughout the film.[3] Chris Robinson stated that the film's awkward ending is indicative of Larkin's creative hesitancy, as the last image is a figure waiting for music.[3] Larkin said that he "ran out of ideas" and "didn't know how to end the film".[3]
The film cost $45,734 (equivalent to $304,441 in 2023) to make.[1]
Street Musique won the Grand Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 1973, which included a cash prize of A$2,500 from the Government of Victoria in Australia.[7] The film also received the Jury's First Prize at the Berlin Film Festival of Animated Films.[8][9] Larkin was fond of the Melbourne International Film Festival award because Street Musique "was a ten minute film up against all kinds of complicated feature films".[3] He used the prize money to support young artists in Montreal, to whom he rented his nine-room apartment for CA$100.[10]
In 2000, after having lived on the streets in Montreal and spending his nights at the Old Brewery Mission, Larkin met Chris Robinson.[11][12] During a discussion, Larkin told Robinson that after creating Street Musique, he was bereft of ideas for new projects.[13] Robinson invited Larkin to be a member of the selection committee for the Ottawa International Animation Festival.[14] The other three members were Chris Landreth, Pjotr Sapegin, and Andrei Svislotksi,[15] none of whom were aware of Larkin's identity.[16] After reviewing selections, they screened each other's films.[17] Larkin was last, showing Walking, Street Musique, and Syrinx.[17] Landreth was immediately inspired to create a documentary film about Larkin's life, which became Ryan.[18] The animated documentary incorporated in their entirety Street Musique and Walking.[19] Larkin's character in Ryan is animated to dance with characters from Street Musique.[20]
- ^ a b c Evans 1991, p. 197.
- ^ Pillon 1983, p. 236.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Robinson 2005, p. 101.
- ^ Armitage 2011, p. 77.
- ^ Armitage 2011, p. 78.
- ^ Previews 1976.
- ^ The Age 1973, p. 2.
- ^ Cinémathèque québécoise 1971, p. 14.
- ^ Cowie 1974, p. 387.
- ^ Robinson 2005, p. 102.
- ^ Dixon 2005.
- ^ Robinson 2009, p. 105.
- ^ Robinson 2009, p. 106.
- ^ Robinson 2007, p. 259.
- ^ Teninge 2000.
- ^ Stone 2007.
- ^ a b Robertson 2004.
- ^ Singer 2004.
- ^ Martinelli 2012, p. 62.
- ^ Robinson 2007, p. 262.