Lotte Reiniger

        Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animations, including The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) which was one of the first animated feature films, manage to incorporate a great amount of detail into characters who are only visible in outline. Indeed, there is so much depth to each frame that watching Reiniger's films seems to be like watching fairy tale illustrations come to life. 

        Although similar to and inspired by Chinese shadow puppetry, Reiniger created her animations using cardboard cut outs manipulated these figures frame by frame rather than in live action. The result is delicate movements which perfectly compliment the intricate style. The silhouette images, when combined with the colour tinting and fantastical backgrounds Reiniger applied to the films, create a wonderfully magical and ethereal atmosphere appropriate to their subject matter, which ranged from interpretations of One Thousand and One Nights to Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Magic Flute by Mozart.

        Yet while the beautifully intricate figures and magical stories may appeal to younger audiences, the fact that many of the characters' faces remain anonymous means that a contemporary audience remains somewhat separated from the story. As it is usual now for animated figures to have highly articulate and expressive faces which clearly communicate their character and intentions, Reiniger's shadowy figures can even be seen as slightly sinister. However, as many of the stories on which Reiniger based her animations had a sting in their tail, particularly the Grimm's Fairy Tales, perhaps it is appropriate that the silhouettes maintain a slight edge, in order that the moral of the tale remains memorable.