 Its structure was influenced by Schoenberg's serial principles.James spent 3 years working on "Variations on a Circle" (1942), which lasts some 20 minutes, and was made with 8mm film.James and John created their series of Five "Film Exercises" (John #1 and #5; James #2, #3 and #4) between 1943 and 1944, for which the brothers won a prize for best sound at the 1949 Brussels Experimental Film Competition.