Research - Lotte Reiniger

Charlotte Reiniger, more commonly known as “Lotte” Reiniger, was born in 199. Reiniger was a German film director and Silhouette Animator.

(The Adventures of Prince Achmed, 1926)

Silhouette Animation Is a style of animation where only the silhouettes of objects landscapes and characters are visible. This method plays with the effects of shadows and shadow tones to give a sense of distance and solidity. Lotte Reiniger’s method were a mixture of cut-out animation and stop motion, and Lotte, alongside her husband and fellow animator, Carl Koch, used this animation to bring to life various films including that of ‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed’.

As with the still shot above, black is used to create the foremost, more defined scene while the (later tinted) background consists of more faded shades to imply distance. This use of layering also helps give this 2D animation an almost 3D feel as a scene further back moves much slower than that in the foreground as happens in reality.

This form of animation is not as commonly used now almost a century later but Lotte's style animation exists and can be very effective as a form of animation, although digital methods of creating the same effect are usually used and are deemed more appropriate.

Personally I really like this style of animation I like the sort of simplicity behind the concept, and I really like the effect I has. I think Lotte's work has been very influencial not just to be but to animation as a whole.

I think that the later added background tinting adds to the effect and I think that this animation can still be very effective even in todays society, and with to days technology we can create a modernised version. This type of animation really suits me in an artistic and digital way. 

This above is an example of digital silhouette animation used in 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.