Film Language Tag: silhouette animation

An animation technique where characters are shown only in silhouette; a variation on cutout animation with an appearance similar to shadow puppets. In most cases, opaque cutouts are filmed against a backlit surface, resulting in a black silhouette image against a solid background. The technique was pioneered by Lotte Reiniger, notably in Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed, 1926). Kroon, R. W. A/V a to z: An encyclopedic dictionary of media, entertainment and other Audiovisual terms. McFarland, 2014.