WHAT IN THE WORLD IS PINSCREEN ANIMATION? WHO CREATED IT? WHERE DID IT COME FROM? HAVE I EVER SEEN IT BEFORE?
These are some of the thoughts that raced through my mind as I came across this very rare exposed topic in cartoon animation. Im sure these same thoughts are going through your head as I introduce it. It was quite a coincidence how I even came across the subject of Pinscreen Animation. A subject that I never even heard of, captured my interest almost immediately.
Not an excessively used method of cartoon animation, Pinscreen Animation is the most unappreciated form of cartoon making. Pinscreen Animation is very time consuming and very costly. The most frequently used method of Pinscreen Animation is through Digital Pinscreen Animation. This method is extremely faster, more dependable and easily retrievable.
Chances are, you haven't witnessed Pinscreen Animation in action on television, or anywhere else for that matter, ever in your lifetime. Pinscreen Animation is so time consuming that Alexandre Alexeieff and his wife Claire Parker only created six short films in FIFTY YEARS. When I read that, I laughed because I figured that it was impossible to only make six SHORT films in fifty years but after watching this video, I found out that the statement was completely true.
Imagine having to sit and place pin after pin in the exact places at the length to create the perfect shadow to make one shaded color after another. And that is just using the colors black, white and gray. Millions of pins have to be placed in the same positions, frame after frame, with the perfect lighting to create a slow moving sequence of pictures to make a film. This could take......YEARS!
This is why Digital Pinscreen Animation became the savior of this mehtod of cartoon animation. Being able to do all of what manual Pinscreen animators could do, with just the click of a button was an unbelievable revolution.
The whole process of editing and placing an edit on Wikipedia was a very informative experience for me. I've never done anything like that, as far as creating an edit, posting the edit on an internet site and waiting for someone else to edit or approve of the edit that I posted. I felt like a true journalist. Writing about something that not many other people were interested in writing about. Having to edit, then re-edit and then re-edit agian to make sure that I wasn't commiting plagurism and so that Wikipedia wouldn't erase my edit. It was great.
The fact that my edit wasn't even edited and not one word was touched made me feel as if I'd accomplished my short term goal of the project. It felt as if I had published this topic and this document myself.
Here is the link to my edit on Wikipedia.com: Pinscreen Animation
Lopes, P.F. (1999). The Pinscreen in the era of the Digital Image. Retrived April 11th, 2007 from www.writer2001.com/lopes.htm
"Animation," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Jean, M. (2006). Pinscreen - Focus on Animation Techniques. Retrieved April 11th, 2007 from www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/techniques/pinscreen.php
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