Scissors make films: Lotte Reiniger on creating her magical animations

Scissors play an extremely crucial part in the organization of making movies, and if it were not for the editor’s merciful usage of them, the audiences in the image theatres would have a strenuous time.

You all understand this by bitter experience, so I will not bore you by informing you once again that cutting is one of the most necessary parts of movie work. What I want to do is to explain to you my own little routine of producing movies with scissor cuts made from paper. The editor of Sight and Sound believed that this would be of interest to readers, therefore I will inform you my experience– and might it be a caution for everybody!

I will try to respond to the 2 concerns which I am almost constantly asked by individuals who enjoy me making the shapes. : How on earth did you get the concept? And, second of all: How do they move, and why are your hands not seen on the screen?

The response to the very first is to be discovered in the brief and easy history of my own life. I never ever had the sensation that my shape cutting was a concept. It so took place that I might constantly do it rather quickly, as you will see from what follows.

I might eliminate shapes nearly as quickly as I might handle to hold a set of scissors. I might paint, too, and check out and recite; however these things did not surprise anybody quite. Everyone was amazed about the scissor cuts, which appeared a more uncommon achievement. The shapes were quite applauded, and I eliminated shapes for all the birthdays in the household. Did anybody caution me regarding where this course would lead? Not in the least; I was motivated to continue.

Now I was really keen on the theatre and acting. Carrying out plays in a little flat made rather a confusion, so it was an excellent relief to all when I started to utilize my shapes for my play-acting, building a little shadow theatre in which to phase Shakespeare. There was peace for a brief time; then came the movie. I had actually declined to discover an occupation, and I now had one desire– to make movies at all expenses.

This was an issue, however the fairies should have pitied me and assisted me. At this time, Paul Wegeneran excellent star and artist, remained in Berlin. He produced a variety of lovely and uncommon movies, and his aspiration was to use to the complete the possibilities of the cam for the advancement of the movie. His movies The Student of Prague The Golem and lots of others were a directing star for lots of artists in movie production whose names have actually now ended up being popular.

Wegener saw me cutting shapes behind the phase in Reinhardt’s theatre, and he ended up being interested. He liked my shapes; he believed they revealed an uncommon sense of motion. He for that reason presented me to a group of young artists who had actually begun a brand-new technique movie studio. Here I initially started to photo my shape figures, simply as illustrations are photographed for the animation movie, and I achieved success in making a movie with my shadow figures.

This remained in 1919, and the work was so intriguing that from that time I have actually hardly ever done anything else. In the meantime I wed among the artists, and we began collaborating, as we have actually continued to do till today time. That is my story.

And now the 2nd concern: how do the figures move? The strategy of this kind of movie is really basic. Just like animation illustrations, the shape movies are photographed motion by motion. Rather of utilizing illustrations, shape marionettes are utilized. These marionettes are eliminated of black cardboard and thin lead, every limb being cut individually and accompanied wire hinges.

A research study of natural motion is extremely crucial, so that the little figures appear to move simply as males and females and animals do. This is not a technical issue. The backgrounds for the characters are eliminated with scissors too, and developed to offer a unified design to the entire image. They are cut from layers of transparent paper.

When the story is all set, the music picked, and the sound track tape-recorded, then the work for the photo itself starts. Figures and backgrounds are set out on a glass table. A strong light from below makes the wire hinges, and so on, vanish and tosses up the black figures in relief, while the background looks like a basically wonderful landscape in keeping with the story.

The video camera hangs above this table, looking down at the photo organized listed below. By ways of a wire contrivance the movie in the cam can be moved one frame at a time. After the very first picture, the figures are moved into their next position, and the entire photographed once again. And so on.

The crucial thing at this phase is to understand just how much to move the figures so that a natural impact might be acquired when the movie is gone through.

The synchronisation in between sight and noise is protected by thoroughly determining the sound track, and preparing a really precisely exercised circumstance, in which the variety of shots are computed according to the musical worth. These estimations are the basis for the photo which is then fastidiously photographed.

There stays a bargain to state about the creative issues of this kind of movie, about its future and about its worth. I am material to leave these matters to those individuals whose occupation it is to trouble about such issues.

I feel that I do much better to focus on making the movies– and on making as numerous as my best of luck enables. Each brand-new movie raises brand-new issues and concerns, and I can just intend to live enough time to do justice to them all.