Animator Review - Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger produced the very first full length animated film to be released in cinema, it was make between 1923 and 1926 in Germany. The technique in which she used was to draw figures and objects onto card, if it is a character or has moving parts then separate parts are drawn and connected later with lead hinges, then she creates silhouettes from the card by using a light box set up, then through the process of stop-motion Animation where you take a picture of small movements and combine them, to create motion. "Even though her work reduces images to their very basics, there's incredible grace, complexity and variety to the "performances" of the paper actors. It's impossible to see exactly how she accomplished it - there must have been some sort of magic involved." (O'Neil,. 2008)

(Figure 1)

This applies to me and animation because when we learn to use Adobe Animate the same principle is occurring but on a digital plane instead of a physical light box. Reiniger creates animations around Fairy tales and was heavily influenced throughout her life which lead to her into this. "Film was Reiniger’s passion: as a child she was delighted by the trick films of Georges Méliès, and later the dreamy horrors of Paul Wegener. She was also an enthusiast for the Chinese art of shadow puppetry, creating her own silhouette spectaculars for a parental audience." (Hutchinson, 2017). 

Bibliography:

Fernando Katz. 2009 The Art of Lotte Reiniger Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvU55CUw5Ck Accessed:09/10/17  

Hutchinson, P. (2017). Lotte Reiniger: animated film pioneer and standard-bearer for women. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/02/lotte-reiniger-the-pioneer-of-silhouette-animation-google-doodle [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017].

O'Neill, P. (2017). DVD review: Lotte Reiniger - The Fairy Tale Films. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/nov/29/lotte-reiniger-fairy-tale-films [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017].

Illustrations: 

(Figure 1 - The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 film. Photograph: YouTube)