Where is the CHONs Movie?

December 2, 2006 1:47 PM

I have been searching and search for the "CHONs" movie that I saw as a student in biology class. It involved dancing molectules - Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen. The molecules were singing. Does anyone have a copy of this?
posted by djacobs to science & nature (8 comments total)

Was it animated? Or live action, a la the classic Protein Synthesis?
posted by pullayup at 2:25 PM on December 2, 2006

I love this movie—I think I saw it at the Smithsonian in 1993.
posted by infinitewindow at 3:09 PM on December 2, 2006

Sounds like something the Standard Deviants would do, maybe in the video for Biology. If I remember right, there's a horrible joke about a spy introducing himself as "Bond. Covalent Bond." A very silly bunch, those educa-actors.
posted by now i'm piste at 9:06 PM on December 2, 2006

I love this movie—I think I saw it at the Smithsonian in 1993.

Yeah, this is almost definitely where I saw it.

It was animated, to my memory.
posted by djacobs at 9:14 PM on December 2, 2006

puyallup: hand animated.

Agreed, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This movie played there for years and years, and I think is still playing today. I still sometimes inexplicably find myself chanting along with it... CAR-bon, HYD-rogen, OX-ygen, NI-trogen! CAR-bon, HYD-rogen, OX-ygen, NI-trogen! CHON CHON CHON...

It's called Enter Life. IMDB says it was made in 1981.

Here's a quote from an article in the Society for Technical Communications Newsletter for December 2005, that says the film was made in 1977:
Enter Life is by Faith Hubley, America’s most revered woman animator. Faith and her husband John, who was one of the creators of Mr. Magoo and Marky Maypo in his more commercial days, worked at the forefront of American independent animation, living up to their wedding vow that they would make one personal animated film each year no matter what other sorts of commissioned animation they made to support themselves (Solomon 1989). After John’s death in 1977, Faith continued that pledge. Made in 1977, Enter Life compresses 4 billion years of evolution (getting up to trilobites) into 6 minutes. Known for her abstract and dreamlike images, Hubley presents evolution as a dance of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (CHON) atoms. This film was produced in partnership with the U.S. National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian. Advisor Kenneth Towe was apparently unaware of the fact that elements other than CHON are necessary for life. Sulfur, for example, is needed for proteins and phosphorus for nucleic acids. Perhaps the CHON song was preferable to a song with a word with all the letters, such as, say, “PONCHOS…”

Here is a website claiming to have a DVD of Enter Life along with other shorts by the Hubleys. I can't find it for free anywhere.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:06 PM on December 2, 2006

Much better, should have tried this first: here's the video at Amazon.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:11 PM on December 2, 2006

Thanks, Lobster Mitten, I've gone ahead and ordered it!
posted by djacobs at 9:52 AM on December 5, 2006

:) Awesome; thanks for prompting me to find it. I'm thinking of ordering it too!
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:32 PM on December 5, 2006