I have a new favorite iPhone application and it’s not a new game or a clever utility—it’s the National Film Board of Canada’s app. Sure, there’s YouTube but the NFB has put together a really slick collection of thousands of short films that has made this animation nerd and new commuter very, very happy. iTunes link

While we’re on the topic, the very first film I looked up after installing was Neighbours by Norman McLaren in 1952. Let me type that again for emphasis: 1952.

“In this Oscar®-winning short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.”

The film was created to speak against anti-militarism and against war, but I was first taken by the style of animation, dubbed ‘pixilation’ by Grant Munro (one of the two men in the film.) According to the Oracle:

The majority of the film is shot with variable-speed photography, usually in fast motion, with some stop-frame techniques. During one brief sequence, the two actors appear to levitate: this effect was actually achieved in stop-motion; the men repeatedly jumped upward but were photographed only at the top of their trajectories.

Fun fact: the soundtrack of the film was made by McLaren by scratching into the edge of the film.

Full disclosure: it gets a little disturbing towards the end, so click through to watch.