Pinscreen animation facts for kids

Pinscreen animation is a special way to make animated movies. It uses a unique device called a pinscreen. Imagine a screen covered with thousands of tiny pins that can move in and out. When light shines on the screen from the sides, these pins cast shadows. By pushing the pins in or out, artists can create amazing pictures using different shades of gray. This technique creates very unique visual effects. However, it takes a lot of time and effort, so it's not used very often.

How Pinscreen Animation Started

The pinscreen device was invented in the early 1930s. A French artist named Alexandre Alexeïeff created it. He was an engraver, illustrator, and filmmaker. Alexeïeff wanted to make animated films that looked like his detailed engravings. So, he came up with the pinscreen to achieve those special textures.

What is a Pinscreen Device?

A pinscreen looks like a white board with many tiny holes. Each hole holds a small pin that can slide back and forth. Lights shine on the screen from its two vertical sides. This makes the pins cast shadows.

If all the pins are pushed completely into the screen, they don't cast any shadows. The screen then looks completely white. If all the pins are pulled out as far as they can go, they create total darkness. The artist can push each pin just a little bit out. This makes its shadow shorter or longer. This way, they can create images with many different shades of gray.

How Pinscreen Animation Works

To make a movie, the artist creates one picture (or "frame") on the pinscreen. They carefully arrange the pins to form the image. Then, a camera takes a picture of that frame. After the picture is taken, the artist changes the pins slightly to create the next image. This new image is also photographed.

This process is repeated for every single frame of the movie. When all the photographed frames are played quickly one after another, it creates the illusion of movement. It's like a flipbook, but with shadows!

Famous Pinscreen Movies and Artists

Alexandre Alexeïeff and his partner Claire Parker made the first pinscreen animated movie. It was called "Night on Bald Mountain" and was finished in 1933. They made another film, "En passant," in 1943 for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Years later, the NFB got its own full-sized pinscreen. In 1972, Alexeïeff and Parker returned to the NFB. They taught workshops on pinscreen animation to many filmmakers.

One of the most famous pinscreen animators from Quebec is Jacques Drouin. He made several movies using this technique:

• "Trois exercices sur l'écran d'épingles d'Alexeïef" (1974)
• "Mindscape" (1976)
• "Nightangel" (1986) – co-directed with Bretislav Pojar
• "Ex-child" (1994)
• "A Hunting Lesson" (2001)
• "Imprints" (2004)

With "Mindscape," Drouin developed his own unique pinscreen style. It was different from Alexeïeff's. Drouin also added color to his pinscreen images in "Nightangel." He did this by filtering the light sources. More recently, animator Michèle Lemieux made "Le grand ailleurs et le petit ici" using the NFB's pinscreen.

Images for kids

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  A pinscreen used for animation (Baby Screen model)

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  A close-up view of a Baby Screen pinscreen

See also

In Spanish: Animación de pantalla de agujas para niños