"Children Have the Right to Film" is a 1999 interview by Daniel Chamberlin. It originally appeared in URB magazine.

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Children Have the Right to Film

Scotland's Boards of Canada (Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin) make downtempo techno out of samples of smiling children and their tripping teachers, melodic lullabies, tones and rhythms as chilly and deep as a summer loch. Much of the atmosphere created in their music springs from an elaborate, far-from-kitschy use of sampled motifs from both television programs and the '70s-era documentaries produced by the National Film Board of Canada (hence the name1). Not surprisingly, original video footage has accompanied some of their live sets alongside soundtracks from obscure children's programming.

How does your film collective, Music70, relate to Boards of Canada's music?

"Sandison: We started making short films as kids in the '80s, when we were also starting to play gigs and write our own music. So we wrote music for the films. We made abstract movies with our friends, so our music became pretty abstract too. Then it got to the point where we were making film music before the films had been created, so we'd get this gang of friends to make a movie around some recordings we'd done. Now our work is a hybrid of those things."

You've name1d yourself after a Canadian film documentary organization. What aspect of documentaries made such a noteworthy impression?

"Sandison: Documentary soundtracks have always influenced us to some extent, not the ethereal, meaningless [sounds] that you often hear, but the bizarre music that composers can get away with in that context. Public information films fascinate us. We've also been inspired by composers of feature film music like Walter [Wendy] Carlos. Certain soundtracks are very special, like the one for Picnic at Hanging Rock. We're also influenced by experimental filmmakers, particularly animators like Jan Svankmajer."

Do you plan on releasing any of your visual work outside of broadcast during live performances?

"Marcus Eoin: Yeah, that'll happen because much of our film work isn't appropriate for live situations. Now we're working on films combining live action with music and animation - it's like anti-Disney!"

• Michael Sandison's Top Ten Films

1. Be Glad for the Song Has No End
2. Picnic at Hanging Rock
3. The New Numbers (unknown)
4. Heavenly Creatures
5. Dark Star
6. The Elephant Man
7. Dandelion Seed (unknown)
8. Followers
9. A Man Escaped
10. Revolution (unknown)

• Marcus Eoin Sandison's Top Ten Films

1. Papillon
2. Ice Core Drilling (unknown - thought to perhaps be an NFBC film)
3. The Invention of Destruction (unknown)
4. Zabriskie Point
5. Alice
6. The Andromeda Strain
7. Jesus Christ Superstar
8. Diagram (unknown)
9. Capricorn One
10. The Wizard of Oz

interview by Daniel Chamberlin, February 1999.

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