ANIMATION SPOT
By Howard Beckerman
Alexander Alexeieff
Alexander Alexeieff died last week in Paris. He was 81 years of age. It was Alexeieff that had developed manual animation systems that are today reflected in elaborate electronic graphic devices. Working with his wife Claire Parker, Alexeieff created a screen incorporating thousands of tiny pins which, when manipulated in and out slightly, produced a shadow effect that, shot in stop motion, simulated moving images.
Alexeieff's invention required painstaking control and persistent concentration, but in the hands of this Russian born artist it reached a level of mastery that would have been difficult enough to attain in other more easily manipulated techniques. The effects obtained by Alexeieff were comprised of thousands of dot images representing the thousands of pins contained in the screen, much like the electronic patterns that are formed on a video screen. As each image was formed and then photographed for one or two frames, it would then be altered to create the next image.
Birds could appear to fly, figures to walk as well as depict moonlight on water or a sunrise gradually casting light and shadows over the objects in a scene. In one film, "The Nose" a character reacts as the wall of his room rolls back and a scene of horses pulling a carriage is revealed animating outside of his house. Once after months of tedious labor he learned that the roll of film that he had sent for processing had been ruined at the lab. The last image of a scene was still on the pin screen.
Alexeieff recreated his lost images by working backwards to the head of the scene. "I think God was testing me to see if the pinscreen was capable of working in reverse," joked Alexeieff. He also developed a technique that he referred to as, "illusory solids," which we know familiarly today as streak animation. He worked out patterns of movement in front of an animation camera in which the traditional shutter had been replaced by a mechanism from a still camera. The shutter was set in "bulb" position and the image was recorded on each frame as it passed the open lens. This method is followed today with the development of computerized animation stands and the results are seen nightly in the graphics that dot the television screens.
The first production utilizing the pinscreen was, "Night On Bald Mountain," which was synchronized to the music of Moussorgsky, in 1933, seven years before Disney released his version in Fantasia. Claire Parker, at that time an American art student in Paris, worked with him on this short subject. Later they were married and for almost 50 years they collaborated on films and other projects.
Their home was in Paris, but during the war years they stayed in the United States. While living just outside New York they established an association with the National Film Board of Canada. The Film Board is to day perhaps the only organization that owns a similar pin screen designed for them by Alexeieff.
Alexeieff and Parker had a perfect relationship. As he adjusted the pins on the front of the screen she controlled them from the reverse side. Alexcieff was dealing with the positive image, the one that the camera would see, and Parker readjusted the negative image according to instructions from the front.
In this manner the slight adjustments could be made continuously and swiftly. This close working relationship often shifted over into their social life where they might be conversing and one would start a sentence, the other would complete it. There always appeared to be harmony. Alexeieff was deeply saddened when Claire Parker died in October 1981.
"Night On Bald Mountain" was a year in production. At its completion it was acclaimed by artists and critics but Alexeieff realizes that there was little money in such efforts. This led him to embark on the making of sponsored and advertising films to be shown in French cinemas. Alexeieff was one of the first animators to devote his energies to this area in his adopted country, and managed to create some very fine commercials for a broad spectrum of clients.
When I met him a few years ago on one of his visits to see his three grandchildren living in the country, he was emphatic about his commercial films. "We gave them the best work we could do," he said cheerfully, "and we charged them a lot." Alexeieff was responsible for raising the standards of the French advertising films as well as their meager budgets. Money from sponsored work gave them stability and also allowed them to continue their artistic experiments. Other films that were completed by Alexeieff and Parker include, "The Nose" made in 1962, based on a story by Gogol, "Pictures at an Exhibition," 1972, another exploration of the synchronization to music by Mussorgsky with animated pin screen images and in 1980 the film, "Three Moods."
As an accomplished graphic artist, Alexeieff designed and produced the opening title sequence of Orson Welles 1962 film, "The Trial as well as designing illustrations for an edition of Russian Fairy Tales for Pantheon Press, and illustrations for an edition of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago. In the latter instance the pin screen was used to create still images for the printed page.
In this country anyone interested in seeing the films of Alexeieff and Parker can contact Cecile Starr at 50 West 96th Street. As the distributor of their films here, Cecile Starr was often in touch with the creators. In recent correspondence with Alexeieff she learned that he was deeply involved with a new film that was to incorporate live action as well as animation. He still had the interest, enthusiasm, energy and excitement about the film medium. With his passing the film remains unfinished. Though his name is still not a well known as some other film artists, Alexeieff blazed a trail of innovation that will one day be recognized for the pioneering effort that it was. Oh yes, and also for the high degree of art and taste accompanying it.
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