{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Street Musique | image = DVD cover of "Street Musique".jpg | alt = | caption = DVD cover for the film | native_name = | director = Ryan Larkin | producer = Ryan Larkin | writer = | screenplay = | story = | narrator = | starring = | music = Rick Scott<br/>Dick Tarnoff<br/>Rick Stone<br/>Rick Watson<br/>Jim Colby<br/>Jon Van Arsdell | cinematography = | editing = | studio = National Film Board of Canada | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1972}} | runtime = 9 minutes | country = Canada | language = | budget = $45,734{{sfn|Evans|1991|p=197}} | gross = }}
'''''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",{{sfn|Evans|1991|p=197}} in which actions of the film's characters are choreographed to the music of street musicians.{{sfn|Pillon|1983|p=236}}
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.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} He would travel to each student's studio to direct them, one of which was a group of street musicians.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} 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".{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}}
thumb|right|alt=An animated depiction of a person wearing round glasses and a blue hat, with one leg and no body, and having multicoloured wings for arms. The left wing is short, and the right is long and folds overhead the individual|One of the figures in the film The film consists of five or six vaguely defined segments whose animation matches the pace of the music to which it is set.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} It begins with a photograph of a musician that is replaced by a line drawing of that photograph.{{sfn|Armitage|2011|p=77}} A transition leads to images of a man's body transforming into abstract improvisational forms using line shading and watercolours.{{sfn|Armitage|2011|p=78}}{{sfn|Previews|1976}} The figures undergo a continuous metamorphosis throughout the film.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} 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.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} Larkin said that he "ran out of ideas" and "didn't know how to end the film".{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}}
The film cost $45,734 ({{Inflation|CA|45,734|1973|fmt=eq}}) to make.{{sfn|Evans|1991|p=197}}
<!-- the film won five awards, including International Short Film Festival Oberhausen; sources required though -->''Street Musique'' won the Grand Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 1973, which included a cash prize of {{currency|2500|AUD}} from the Government of Victoria in Australia.{{sfn|The Age|1973|p=2}} The film also received the Jury's First Prize at the Berlin Film Festival of Animated Films.{{sfn|Cinémathèque québécoise|1971|p=14}}{{sfn|Cowie|1974|p=387}} 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".{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=101}} He used the prize money to support young artists in Montreal, to whom he rented his nine-room apartment for {{currency|100|CAD}}.{{sfn|Robinson|2005|p=102}}
In 2000, after having lived on the streets in Montreal and spending his nights at the Old Brewery Mission, Larkin met Chris Robinson.{{sfn|Dixon|2005}}{{sfn|Robinson|2009|p=105}} During a discussion, Larkin told Robinson that after creating ''Street Musique'', he was bereft of ideas for new projects.{{sfn|Robinson|2009|p=106}} Robinson invited Larkin to be a member of the selection committee for the Ottawa International Animation Festival.{{sfn|Robinson|2007|p=259}} The other three members were Chris Landreth, Pjotr Sapegin, and Andrei Svislotksi,{{sfn|Teninge|2000}} none of whom were aware of Larkin's identity.{{sfn|Stone|2007}} After reviewing selections, they screened each other's films.{{sfn|Robertson|2004}} Larkin was last, showing ''Walking'', ''Street Musique'', and ''Syrinx''.{{sfn|Robertson|2004}} Landreth was immediately inspired to create a documentary film about Larkin's life, which became ''Ryan''.{{sfn|Singer|2004}} The animated documentary incorporated in their entirety ''Street Musique'' and ''Walking''.{{sfn|Martinelli|2012|p=62}} Larkin's character in ''Ryan'' is animated to dance with characters from ''Street Musique''.{{sfn|Robinson|2007|p=262}}
==Awards== * International Week of Animation Cinema, Barcelona: Molinillo de Oro, First Prize, Special Techniques, 1972 * Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne: Grand Prix – Gold Boomerang, 1973 * International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen: First Prize of the International Animation Film Jury, 1973 * Columbus International Film & Animation Festival, Columbus, Ohio: Chris Bronze Plaque, 1973 * FIBA International Festival of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: Honorable Mention, 1974<ref>{{cite web |title=Street Musique |url=http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=10508 |website=onf-nfb.gc.ca |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |access-date=9 March 2023}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|2}}
==References== {{refbegin|2}} *{{cite book|title=Virilio Now: Current Perspectives in Virilio Studies|editor-last=Armitage|editor-first=John|publisher=Polity|year=2011|isbn=9780745648781}} *{{cite book|title=International Film Guide 1974|last=Cowie|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Cowie|date=1974}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/nfb-hopefuls-clutch-hot-tickets/article4115620/|title=NFB hopefuls clutch hot tickets|last=Dixon|first=Guy|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=25 February 2005|access-date=2014-02-02}} *{{cite book|title=Il documentario animato. Un nuovo genere di racconto del reale e i suoi protagonisti internazionali|last=Martinelli|first=Lawrence Thomas|location=Latina|publisher=Tunué|date=July 2012|isbn=9788897165446|language=it|trans-title=The animated documentary. A new kind of account of the real and its international protagonists}} *{{cite book|title=Reaching Young People Through Media|last=Pillon|first=Nancy Bach|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|date=1983|isbn=0872873692|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/reachingyoungpeo0000unse}} *{{cite journal|url=https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2004/Volume-27-Issue-7-July-2004-/Psychorealism.aspx|title=Psychorealism|last=Robertson|first=Barbara|journal=Computer Graphics World|volume=27|issue=7|date=July 2004}} *{{cite book|title=Unsung Heroes of Animation|last=Robinson|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Robinson (writer)|publisher=John Libbey Publishers|date=2005|isbn=0861966651}} *{{cite book|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/animation-pimp-ryan|title=The Animation Pimp|last=Robinson|first=Chris|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2007|isbn=9781435457935}} *{{cite book|title=Ballad of a Thin Man: In Search of Ryan Larkin|last=Robinson|first=Chris|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2009|isbn=9781598639087}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/landreth-ryan|title=Landreth on 'Ryan'|last=Singer|first=Gregory|date=4 June 2004|work=Animation World Network|access-date=4 January 2014}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/ryan-larkin-filmmaker-and-derelict-1943-2007/article961423/|title=Ryan Larkin, filmmaker and derelict, 1943-2007|last=Stone|first=M.J.|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=12 March 2007|access-date=2014-01-04}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.awn.com/news/canadian-animators-lead-pack-ottawa-00|title=Canadian Animators Lead The Pack At Ottawa 00|last=Teninge|first=Annick|publisher=Animation World Network|date=18 July 2000|access-date=2014-01-04}} *{{cite book|title=New Canadian Film|volume=3|others=Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinémathèque canadienne|publisher=Cinémathèque québécoise|date=1971|ref={{harvid|Cinémathèque québécoise|1971}} }} *{{cite journal|journal=Previews|volume=5|publisher=R. R. Bowker Company|date=1976|ref={{harvid|Previews|1976}} }} *{{cite news|title=Canadian film tops festival|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=beYPAAAAIBAJ&pg=3396,2640155 | page=2 | date=11 June 1973|ref={{harvid|The Age|1973}} }} {{refend}}
==Works cited== * {{cite book|last=Evans |first=Gary |title=In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan |isbn=0802027849}}
==External links== *''[https://www.nfb.ca/film/street_musique_en Street Musique]'' at the National Film Board of Canada *{{IMDb title|0236769}}
Category:Animated films without speech Category:1972 films Category:Canadian animated short films Category:National Film Board of Canada animated short films Category:Visual music Category:Films directed by Ryan Larkin Category:1972 animated short films Category:Animated films based on music Category:Canadian musical short films Category:1970s Canadian animated films Category:1972 Canadian films