Categorisation:
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- Disney had introduced Technicolor’s three-color system with “Flowers and Trees” in 1932, but most movies were still shot in black and white. Len Lye’s “Rainbow Dance” in 1936, a colour film experiment, abandoned total abstraction.
- The film was a unique move at the time, with pop jazz tunes paired with the artist’s colourful abstract animations that set the format for the music video.
Form and Function:
- This is a fun, free-wheeling and light-hearted, pioneering work of colour animation. The jazz score is upbeat, and the colour is vibrant, making for a successful advertisement for the GPO.
- The animated shorts of the 1930s are almost free of film grain, each colour photo is very stable, and the perfect combination of movement and colour music also reflects Lye’s belief that movement can be part of the artistic language.
Process:
-From the Len Lye Foundation-
- “Tired of naturalism, Lye mixed live action with cartoon symbols, and combined positive and negative footage.”
- “Lye filmed well-known dancer Rupert Doone in black and white, then added colours as the footage was developed and printed. He also added a variety of painted and stencilled patterns. Rainbow Dance is full of striking effects such as figures that leave behind a trail of coloured silhouettes as they move (like Duchamp’s painting “Nude Descending a Staircase”).”
Formal Elements:
The film was made by colourful printing of footage combined with drawing directly on film. The bouncy music drives home the message heard at the end of the film, promoting the GPO (General Post Office): “The Post Office Savings Bank puts a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for you. No deposit too small for the Post Office Savings Bank.”