Lotte Reiniger, born in 1899 and died in 1981, was a German
film director. She was the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation and was
also responsible for having invented a predecessor to the first multiplane camera.
She used this camera for more than 40 of her films, and the later to come
multiplane camera would be used in works such as Snow White. By creating
the predecessor to the multiplane camera, she preceded the work of Walt Disney
by a decade. Her interest in silhouette puppetry began as a child with her
fascination with the Chinese arts of paper. She even built her own puppet
theatre so that she could put on shows for her family and friends, drawing on
the superstructure that Gardner claims to account for creativity in Creating
Minds. Gardner emphasizes the importance of the relationship between the
child and the master, which Reiniger executes through her young fascination with
silhouette puppetry and her later pioneering of silhouette animation as well as
her supportive friends and family referring to Gardner’s ‘relationship between
an individual and other persons.’
While Reiniger was the pioneer of silhouette animation, she
was also the first to make a feature-length film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed,
in 1926 which was quite the feat. However, she is not credited with this accomplishment.
Instead, Disney was given credit for inventing the feature-length animated film
with Snow White which was released to the public in 1938, over a decade
after Reiniger’s Prince Achmed. It’s important to note that production
for Snow White began in early 1934, so Prince Achmed had already
been out for years before the film Snow White was even conceived by Disney.
Unfortunately, because Reiniger used silhouette animation and silhouettes aren’t
considered cartoons, Disney was still credited with inventing the feature-length
film. In other words, you could say that Reiniger, the creator of silhouette animation, lived in the shadows of Disney.
As for creating the films themselves, Reiniger was nearly a one-woman
show. She would cut all of the puppets by herself, draw the storyboards, and
devise the plots and characters. If a figure needed to make a complex or supple
movement, it would have to be built using 25-50 separate pieces, then joined
together with a fine lead wire. If a character needed to appear in a close-up,
a separate, larger model of the head and shoulders had to be built – as well,
possibly, as larger background materials to stand behind it. While Lotte did
all of the behind the scenes work, when it came time to make the productions,
she worked alongside her husband, Carl Koch, who usually ran the camera and
occasionally also helped move the puppets with her. For larger projects like Prince
Achmed, she had a staff of five. Lotte’s close work with her husband and
her small staff are perfect examples of collaboration. It would be interesting
to compare Reiniger’s staff of five to however many people worked on Snow
White. (Okay, I looked it up: over 750 artists worked on the sketches
alone, not even accounting for the rest of what needs to happen to make a
film.)
Reiniger’s distinct art style set her apart from other artists
in the 1920s and 1930s, especially in terms of characters. In the 1920s,
characters relied on facial expressions to express emotions or actions.
Reiniger’s characters, on the other hand, used gestures to display emotions and
actions. While Reiniger’s characters are not always biologically correct, they
are able to express a fluidity that is very important to her style of
expressionism.
Later, under Hitler’s rule in Germany, Reiniger was forced
to make propaganda films for Germany, working under harsh and limiting
conditions to please the German state. During this time, around 1944, her work appeared
to be creatively stifled. However, after a period of seclusion after her
husband’s death in 1963, Reiniger returned to her work with renewed interest
and passion. This period of seclusion could also be referred to as a sort of
incubation period for Reiniger, something that helps the flow of creativity, as
she went on to make three more films before she died.
Although not many know of Lotte Reiniger’s work, it has been
referenced in several famous works. Disney’s Fantasia uses Reiniger’s
style in the opening scene. Her cut-out animation style was used in the credits
of the 2004 film Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Reiniger’s
style of animation was also used perhaps most notably in Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows – Part I, when animator Ben Hibon used her style in the
short film “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” So while I still feel Reiniger has
been robbed of fame as the pioneer of silhouette animation and maker of the first
feature length film, her work can still be seen in pop culture today.
It's very interesting that Reiniger's contributions to the film industry seem to have been completely overshadowed by her successor Disney. It makes me wonder how many other creatives we credit for success and innovation in their field even if they may not have been the first. I think it would be hard to find a big C creative who did not build on the work of previous artists or who did not include the contributions of other individuals within their field. History seems to remember the biggest names I guess.
ReplyDeleteI found it really interesting how you noted Reiniger's creative process might've been stifled after having been forced to create Nazi propaganda — it makes sense seeing as the works she was creating were not from her own process, but rather something forced from the government. I also liked how you pointed out her short "incubation" after her husbands death led so some revival in her creative process. It suggests that creative juices can flow easier after a small break.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting and innovative creative style to look at -- definitely an example of divergent thinking and creative problem solving in terms of Reiniger's approaches to showing emotion or closeups with her characters. I also do find it intriguing that Disney is so very famous when she preceded his 'revolutionary' work by so many years. It definitely makes me wonder if her gender had any impact on how well-known she became (or rather did not become).
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