Sound

Pierre Schaeffer

Born August 14, 1910 · Nancy, France

Died August 19, 1995 · aged 85

Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His innovative work in both the sciences—particularly communications and acoustics—and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end of World War II, as well as his …

Known For

Antoine and ColetteAntoine and Colette · 1962
Antoine and Colette
7.21962
MovieRomanceDrama
Now aged 17, Antoine Doinel works in a factory which makes records. At a music concert, he meets a girl his own age, Colette, and falls in love with her. Later, Antoine goes to extraordinary lengths to please his new girlfriend and her parents, but Colette still only regards him as a casual friend. First segment of “Love at Twenty” (1962).
Love at TwentyLove at Twenty · 1962
Love at Twenty
6.81962
MovieDramaRomance
Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Leonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of PerfectionLeonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection · 1953
Leonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection
7.01953
MovieDocumentary
A portrait of the artist as a "sublime demon with the archangel's face", with an innovative musique concrète soundtrack.
The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard VarèseThe Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse · 1966
The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse
1966
MovieDocumentaryMusic
Edgard Varèse died on 6 November 1965, a few days before the filming of the rehearsal of his work "Déserts" which he had to attend.
Jours de mes annéesJours de mes années · 1959
Jours de mes années
7.01959
MovieDramaFantasy
An experimental short film that evokes moments in the life of a man recreated through the magic of memory. Made from documents from various sources, this film is composed of several scenes: the stages of the day and of life between joy and carefree youth, the cruelty of the working world, the horror of war. The final result is put into perspective with the birth of a child, perpetuating the cycle of life.
Run!Run! · 1963
Run!
1963
Movie
A man is relentlessly pursued by a sinister shadowy figure, whom he cannot elude. Cornered with nowhere left to flee, he faces his tormentor and is shocked to discover his identity. A nightmarish allegorical tale about the destructive tendencies in high-pressure modern society.
Animated ObjectsAnimated Objects · 1960
Animated Objects
6.41960
MovieDocumentary
The film is an apology of movement, made here by a short editing pushed to the extreme.
Electronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the WorldElectronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the World · 2022
Electronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the World
7.02022
MovieDocumentaryMusic
The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.

Movies

Antoine and ColetteAntoine and Colette · 1962
Antoine and Colette
7.21962
MovieRomanceDrama
Now aged 17, Antoine Doinel works in a factory which makes records. At a music concert, he meets a girl his own age, Colette, and falls in love with her. Later, Antoine goes to extraordinary lengths to please his new girlfriend and her parents, but Colette still only regards him as a casual friend. First segment of “Love at Twenty” (1962).
Love at TwentyLove at Twenty · 1962
Love at Twenty
6.81962
MovieDramaRomance
Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Leonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of PerfectionLeonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection · 1953
Leonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection
7.01953
MovieDocumentary
A portrait of the artist as a "sublime demon with the archangel's face", with an innovative musique concrète soundtrack.
The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard VarèseThe Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse · 1966
The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse
1966
MovieDocumentaryMusic
Edgard Varèse died on 6 November 1965, a few days before the filming of the rehearsal of his work "Déserts" which he had to attend.
Jours de mes annéesJours de mes années · 1959
Jours de mes années
7.01959
MovieDramaFantasy
An experimental short film that evokes moments in the life of a man recreated through the magic of memory. Made from documents from various sources, this film is composed of several scenes: the stages of the day and of life between joy and carefree youth, the cruelty of the working world, the horror of war. The final result is put into perspective with the birth of a child, perpetuating the cycle of life.
Run!Run! · 1963
Run!
1963
Movie
A man is relentlessly pursued by a sinister shadowy figure, whom he cannot elude. Cornered with nowhere left to flee, he faces his tormentor and is shocked to discover his identity. A nightmarish allegorical tale about the destructive tendencies in high-pressure modern society.
Animated ObjectsAnimated Objects · 1960
Animated Objects
6.41960
MovieDocumentary
The film is an apology of movement, made here by a short editing pushed to the extreme.
Electronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the WorldElectronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the World · 2022
Electronic Vibrations: A Sound Changes the World
7.02022
MovieDocumentaryMusic
The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.
La VoixLa Voix · 2023
La Voix
2023
Movie
The images of this short film are linked to the concrete music by Michel Chion, and let the monologue of Saint Antoine (Pierre Schaeffer's voice) unfold and offer itself completely. The imagery, presented in parallel pictures, is intended to be earthy and close to nature, rediscovering, when necessary, the material which is offered in a metaphor surrounded by mists. At the sound of the gunshot, concrete in the music, occurs this break in the discourse, and the image, like this gunshot, finds the Asian connotation of death. And the dream raises the human form, then a face which offers itself before disappearing in the tumults of an imaginary sea. The earth seen from the sky then the sky itself take us very far (Robert Cahen)
The Animograph, or I Was Born in a ShoeboxThe Animograph, or I Was Born in a Shoebox · 2022
The Animograph, or I Was Born in a Shoebox
8.02022
MovieDocumentaryHistory
The amazing story of the animograph, a machine created in France in the sixties by the cartoonist and self-taught inventor Jean Dejoux (1922-2015), whose creation was intended to revolutionize the animation industry.
I. You. They.I. You. They. · 1973
I. You. They.
4.51973
MovieFantasy
Little did this pretty brunette know when she applied for a babysitting job that her employer was an artist and that everything at his place differed from the outside world. What struck her the most was to find out that her boss had shrunk his wife and kept her in the fridge in order, as he said, to keep her safe from a hostile world!
O PátioO Pátio · 1959
O Pátio
6.81959
MovieDrama
A man and a woman are laying on a chess-like patio. Both are trying to reach each other in the best way they can. However, for some odd reason they don't get on their feet, they don't talk to each other, and the only sounds heard are voices coming from a radio and strange sounds that seem to indicate something's about to happen.
Etude aux alluresEtude aux allures · 1960
Etude aux allures
1960
MovieAnimation
The pace is the oscillation that results from the maintenance of a sound, the internal rhythm of its sound structure, which makes it live and change from its emission until its extinction. In this study, the painter Raymond HAINS attempts a visual transposition of this acoustic law by filming his works through fluted lenses directly attached to the camera creating optical vibration effects that animate the shapes and colors and produce a colorful rhythm.

TV Shows