Animators (and storyboarders, layout artists, illustrators etc) are still taught to prioritise the clarity and readability of the character's silhouette, although they're usually working with a three quarter view (between side profile and front-on) rather than a profile like the shadow puppets here. Still I can't help thinking this film would be a good object of study.
Some of the forest scenes remind me of the original King Kong in their use of dark foreground shapes and framing devices to give an impression of scale.
100 years old, yet its copyright only expired five years ago—in the United States. In Europe and other life+70 regions, the film will remain copyrighted past 2050, even though Lotte Reiniger died nearly half a century ago!
Animators (and storyboarders, layout artists, illustrators etc) are still taught to prioritise the clarity and readability of the character's silhouette, although they're usually working with a three quarter view (between side profile and front-on) rather than a profile like the shadow puppets here. Still I can't help thinking this film would be a good object of study.
Some of the forest scenes remind me of the original King Kong in their use of dark foreground shapes and framing devices to give an impression of scale.
https://youtu.be/j6DaB0Is4jM?t=1720
https://youtu.be/1vNv-pE8I_c?t=72
100 years old, yet its copyright only expired five years ago—in the United States. In Europe and other life+70 regions, the film will remain copyrighted past 2050, even though Lotte Reiniger died nearly half a century ago!
Amazing film. (I discovered it via "1001 Movies to See Before You Die.")
Copies are on YT:
https://youtu.be/7V_8aFQUfBw
https://youtu.be/AbXjEoD_dIE
https://youtu.be/j6DaB0Is4jM
It can also be watched in full on Wikipedia, as is the case with many films that are public domain in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Prince_Achme...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TJvNBO1fw
17 min documentary showing Reiniger's technique/process
I’m shocked I never heard of this before.
Just watched the first couple minutes of The Adventures of Prince Achmed and it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.
> it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before
It's a filmed shadowpuppet performance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_play
Starevich was doing stop motion animated films in 1912: "The Beautiful Leukanida" or "The Cameraman's Revenge".
It's The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015532/
IIRC, that's the movie they play on loop at the kids section of Landesmuseum in Zürich.
I wonder if she knew of Henri Rivière and his "Ombres Chinoises."
https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/henri-riviere-master-printm...
The Shadow Theatre at "Le Chat Noir" was fairly famous, no?
Amazing story!
I was unaware of her.
Thanks!