Lotte Reiniger, The Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926, Germany 65 min) - Movie Review Example

Scene Analysis The Adventures of Prince Achmed Lotte Reineger’s the Adventures of Prince Achmed was produced in 1926. The Fairytale animated drama based on the 1001 Arabian Nights, which is a Middle East classic story with the animation, based on the adventures of Prince Achmed. The Adventures of Prince Achmed as produced by Reineger is considered a masterpiece because of the use of Shadow puppets in front of the camera. It is the oldest surviving animation film ever made. In the Adventures of Prince Achmed, Reineger made the invention of animated figures using cutouts and shadowing them in front of a camera.

Reineger manages to paint and show the fight between good and evil in the animation in which the good triumphs. An analysis of the War scene is important in enabling us understand Reineger’s revolutionary manner of filmmaking. The War Scene comes at the climax of the film. The whole movies features Prince Achmed who is goes to war with an evil magician in order to save his sister and his queen to be. A witch and an army of genies help him. The war scene like the rest of the film is silent. In this scene, the witch calls an a group of genies to help her fight demons.

The background of the scene is green and the shadows of the demons are black in color. The genies appear as a lighter shadow with no exact outline or a blurred light moving in and out of the demons, which change from silhouettes of snakes, scorpions, and dragons to vultures. The Vultures or the demon fights each other as the genies encounter them. The following shot shows the demons floating and changing from vultures, cockerel, and vulture to a dragon and a fish in air. The shot that follows shows the silhouette of Achmed and the witch watching the fight between the two demons.

The camera then focuses on the demons fighting each other. The camera employs both panning and tracking shots and then back to a static shot in the shots described above. A still shot of the demon throwing a fireball to another demon is shown with a zoom shot on the subject of war. The still shot shows the two demons exchange fireballs while doing intricate maneuvers which show them floating in air. The next shot is another cut shot of a still shot showing Achmed and the witch looking at the fight.

The fiery war takes center stage with the demons getting out of the view of the camera and the still shot is concentrated on balls of fire thrown at each other by the two demons fighting each other. A still shot showing the silhouette of Achmed and the witch is shown but with a black background while their silhouettes are illuminated with light making them to look like brighter shadows. The still shot that follows shows one of the demons being destroyed by a fireball. The shot then concentrates on Achmed and the witch who are in shock.

The scene ends with Achmed and the witch receiving a cup from the winning demon or genie. They raise it up in victory. The animation is entertaining and at the same time effective in showing the creative nature of Reineger’s pioneering work. The scene uses different aspects of camera shots, with panning and direct focus used. The scene employs still focus of the camera in capturing each shot with cuts in its transition, which indicates the still upcoming genre of animation. Lighting and the panchromatic effect in the scene helps to create the shadow puppet that give the outline of the figures used.

The intricate nature of the scene and the high creativity of Reineger is seen through his use of dark objects and the very light ones. The genie, which helps the protagonist in the war, is made of lighter shapes while the dark mass represents the demons. This is creation by Reineger helps to contrast the evil and the good in the society. The forces of the dark and the good are shown to be engaged in a battle that is both messy and chaotic but the audience can still follow the action amid the chaotic scenes.

The transition from one shot to another is done by panning the camera quite quickly from right to left then back to right. The camera is focused on the object of its focus for a longer time to capture the action. Using puppets, and panning and still camera shots, the scene manages to capture effectively, Reineger’s reconstruction of The Adventures of Prince Achmed as written in the 1001 Arabian Nights. Work Cited Reiniger, Lotte "Adventures of Prince Achmed" 1926