Lotte Reiniger
A week or so ago, Google had a Google doodle based on the work of Lotte Reiniger, a German woman who made the first feature-length animated film in 1926 using silhouette cut-outs. (This article about Reiniger includes a section about the making of the Google doodle, which is also pretty fascinating.)
Naturally I had to watch one of her movies, and lo! Netflix had her first feature film, The Story of Achmed. Or at least something approximating her first feature film; the original was lost, so this one was restored from a nitrate version found in the London Film Archives.
It's interesting - I might say interesting more than enjoyable? The animation is gorgeous (such intricate cuttings!), but I think there was a big shift in story-telling when silent films transitioned to sound, which makes it hard - for me at least - to become immersed in most silent films. I'm not quite sure what the difference is. I think they're slower-paced, perhaps because the images need to bear more story-telling weight?
But then again, I'm not sure how much of this is a change in story-telling style that was caused by the transition to sound, and how much of it is a shift that coincided with that technological change without being caused by it. Modern silent films (The Artist, Blancanieves) work fine using more modern story-telling techniques.
I wonder what children today would make of The Story of Achmed. I think ninety-nine out of a hundred would think it was boring: no dialogue, no jokes, what's this? But the hundredth might be totally transfixed.
Naturally I had to watch one of her movies, and lo! Netflix had her first feature film, The Story of Achmed. Or at least something approximating her first feature film; the original was lost, so this one was restored from a nitrate version found in the London Film Archives.
It's interesting - I might say interesting more than enjoyable? The animation is gorgeous (such intricate cuttings!), but I think there was a big shift in story-telling when silent films transitioned to sound, which makes it hard - for me at least - to become immersed in most silent films. I'm not quite sure what the difference is. I think they're slower-paced, perhaps because the images need to bear more story-telling weight?
But then again, I'm not sure how much of this is a change in story-telling style that was caused by the transition to sound, and how much of it is a shift that coincided with that technological change without being caused by it. Modern silent films (The Artist, Blancanieves) work fine using more modern story-telling techniques.
I wonder what children today would make of The Story of Achmed. I think ninety-nine out of a hundred would think it was boring: no dialogue, no jokes, what's this? But the hundredth might be totally transfixed.