Shadow Puppets
Shadow puppetry is considered one of the oldest forms of puppetry in the world. It began 1,000's of years ago in China and India. In China the shadow plays are often folk-tales and legends of the past, many based on Chinese opera themes. In Indonesia shadow plays are an integral part of traditional culture. The plays are taken from two religious epics where there is often a struggle between good and evil. In Western Europe shadow puppetry enjoyed popularity during the 1800's when the art of cutting silhouettes out of paper was fashionable. In 1926 German shadow puppeteer Lotte Reiniger made the first full length animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmet. She hand-cut beautiful opaque silhouette figures that were moved on an animation table. Traditional shadow puppets are flat and made of leather. Areas within the puppet are punched out with sharp knives. These areas suggest facial features and help define clothing. They are controlled by long rods and moved behind a white translucent screen made from paper or cloth. A lamp on the puppeteer's side of the stage provides the light: the audience on the other side sees the moving shadows. Cut-out areas within the figures allow light to shine through. Shadow puppets have been made with three-dimensional wire heads and cloth bodies. Contemporary shadow puppeteers might employ a host of specialised lighting effects, including various theatrical lighting instruments, overhead projectors, reflected light, projected films, head lamps and hand-held lights.
I decided to research the history of shadow puppetry to look at how shadows were represented through performance. I also wanted to find out how they did different effects. I was able to find out how shadow puppets started and how they progressed. They started off by representing good and evil and showing people folk and cultural tales. They place lights on the outside of the cut outs to make it stand out from behind the white backdrop. I looked at this for inspiration for my own video as I am using shadows to represent isolation. I also wanted to look at how different features can change the shape of the shadow as it is something I am going to have to tackle in when filming my video.
