Symmetry (1966)
1966 · Animation · 10 min · dir. Philip Stapp
- Animation
Synopsis
"Stapp was one of the greatest animators working in the 1950-1975 era, using stylized, often pointillist abstract imagery, in a floating world sometimes surrealist, at other times reminiscent of Japanese "ukiyo-e" illustration. His spectacular 'Symmetry' is his greatest film, a fantasy of dancing images breaking apart, spinning, and converging." -Academic Film Archive of North America
Synopsis from TMDb
Details
- Director
- Philip Stapp
- Studio
- Sturgis-Grant Productions Inc., National Science Foundation
- Released
- 1966-01-01
- Running time
- 10 minutes
Cast & crew
- Philip Stapp Director
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · A masterpiece... · DeadMediaArchive · 2014-08-14
...and I don't say that lightly. Using the frame space as if an overhead stage, and interpreting the notion of editing as contained within both the frame and the shot - ala McClaren and Jodoin, Bute, Whitney and the Cornwell's - Stapp makes an-almost-too-beautiful and perfectly harmonized work here. While instructive about its subject, the theme is merely a jump-off point to an endless series of imaginative and even philosophically evocative flourishes. Originally copyrighted by the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, at the end of the epoch of hand-drawn animation. Computers were just then…
★★★★★ · r or s · not u · 2017-12-28
having a background in stereochemistry i feel this is a great visual paradise of relaxation. it is more than a symmetry film, it is art. just the musical direction with the forms is an art in itself. bravo!!
★★★ · Rather interesting and dynamic short art film · kerriganm · 2017-03-15
Is it educational? Well, it got a grant from the National Science Foundation or some such, and it informs us at the end that it's intended for education. And I suppose if you don't really understand symmetry and the different ways something can be symmetrical, it is. To me, it was art film exploring the theme of symmetry- that is, it's a silent (no dialogue) film filled with many different symmetrical abstracted formsin motion. There is a lot of movement in the film, which is clever- symmetrical forms tend to feel restful and static, which could make for a boring film. But the symmetrical…
