Cut!: How Lotte Reiniger and a Pair of Scissors Revolutionized Animation

by C.E. Winters, Matt Schu (Illustrations)

Long before Walt Disney, a young woman revolutionized the landscape of animation using light, a pair of scissors, and her imagination. STEM meets the arts in this nonfiction picture book biography about Lotte Reiniger.

In the 1920s, when young women had limited opportunities, Lotte Reiniger used her curiosity and ingenuity to change the landscape of animation forever. Inspired by the films of her youth, and encouraged by teachers and mentors working in film at the time, Lotte Reiniger honed her skills in cutting out paper silhouettes to use in stop-motion animation.

Eventually, her talent and her drive led her to invent the multiplane camera, which allowed her to give her animation depth of field. With her small team, Lotte designed and directed the oldest full-length animated film in existence.

Features extensive backmatter, including a timeline of Lotte Reiniger's life, an author's note, and sources.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, Nonfiction, Art, Childrens, Biography Memoir, History

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2023

Reviews

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't as detailed as Out of the Shadows: How Lotte Reiniger Made the First Animated Fairytale Movie, but it's a nice introduction to this little-known figure's pioneering work in animation. I appreciate how the author's note makes it clear that Reiniger deserves credit for inventing certain techniques before Walt Disney did, even though he created them without knowledge of her work and wasn't stealing her ideas.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

You think you know Movie History? Stop and forget it!

Did you know that Lotte Reiniger revolutionized animation?

Who would guess that Lotte's love of storytelling Shakespeare with Shadow Puppets would revolutionize animation?
As one of the unsung women in cinematic history, Lotte grew up with limited opportunities. However, she took her passion and talent for creating cut-out style stories and would go onto create stop-motion animation in the early days of cinema.
She and a small team would also go onto create the FIRST full-length animated film, making it the oldest animated film in history. YOU GO GIRL!

Exquisite illustrations and a compelling timeline give you a glimpse into Lotte's life and career, lovingly gifted to us by C.E. Winters and illustrator Matt Schu.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid introduction to her life and work. The works cited page is solid, including Lotte's own memoir and writings on animation. My one complaint is that the lady as drawn in the illustrations doesn't look much like Lotte Reiniger. She wore patterns and colors, and often had her hair in a bun.

[Emily]

Good fNF for school age learning about silhouettes

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art and I learned a lot about Lotte Reiniger.

[John Mullarkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lotte Reiniger’s name does not create images in one’s mind like that of Walt Disney, Max Fleischer, Chuck Jones, or William Hanna/Joseph Barbera, but like George Mieles it should be included under the topic of pioneers in early animation. I had never heard of Lotte Reineger prior to reading this wonderful picture book biography about her life and career. Lotte’s passion was filmmaking. This was back when the trade was in its early stages. To be more specific, without giving too much away, Lotte was an artist living in Germany and designer of paper silhouettes. Her gift was magical - she could make anything out of paper and scissors and when combining with her filmmaking prowise, turned her artwork into motion - using what we would later call stop-motion animation. This technique allowed her to actually make animated films based on classic fairy tales. Her story takes some fascinating turns, including being a successful woman in a male-dominated field, and her development of the multiplane camera - allowing the user to shoot the action from above, giving depth to the “action” - a practice and technique soon to be commonplace by animation studios in the “Golden Age” of animation (late 20’s - 40’s). Of course, like so many artists, writers, and people of science living in Europe at the time, Lotte’s life and work were turned upside down by World War II. Much of her work in films was “lost” even though she continued to work after the war. This is a great book on a multitude of levels and will appeal to a wide variety of readers - the story is unique, well-researched and written; it is a great book to read aloud - to ALL ages; it serves as an example of narrative nonfiction; it is great in a STEM setting - particularly to young people interested in filmmaking and animation. The artwork embellishes the story by using darker and richer hues (it gives it a classic film look). It should also be mentioned that like so many great non-fiction picture books currently available, there are endnotes, a timeline, and source information that can inspire readers to further explore the work of Lotte Reineger.

[Carina Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just could not resist reading this short picture book. Although I had never heard about Lotte before. And only bought this book because of my love for the author, Cat Winters. This was such a short story, but I am glad that I read it.

I'm giving it four stars, as it was stunning, but not fully a story for me, haha. But I so enjoyed getting to know about Lotte and her history. It was fully fascinating. All the illustrations were gorgeous too; Matt Schu did such a great job.

I shall not write much more about this story, as this picture book was really short. It had great writing and a good story. I knew nothing about Lotte Reiniger before, but now I'm curious about her. I so loved reading about how she made movies with scissors, cutting out paper silhouettes. I loved all of the illustrations. Cut! How Lotte Reiniger and a Pair of Scissors Revolutionized Animation tells the story of how Lotte came to be such a great filmmaker, ending up making at least 60 of her unique movies. You should all read this story too, to get to know about Lotte.

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This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books, here: https://carinabooks.blogspot.com/2023...

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been on a Lotte Reiniger binge lately! As with the previous book these are great introductions into a pioneer of animation history. The past one to me had a more simplified sing song way to its verses probably meant more for a younger grade schooler, while this one details quite a bit more and feels more for an older grade school (like a 4th or 5th grader). That previous book also was more of an overview of her work; along with her displaying her determination to continue working on her lovely silhouettes and shadows animation under troubling times. This one actually highlights how she got to where she became a filmmaker with her trips to the theater with her grandmother, the director Paul Wegener giving her a chance and teaching her in film, and her financier/ producer Louis Hagen for when she made her 1st full length animated film. Between 1923 and 1926 it even goes over Lotte developing and utilizing the tricktisch (trick table), the name for the rudimentary beginning device known also as the multiplane camera. There are bits that were also in the previous book, but I do like these little odd highlights such as learning that she helped on Paul Wegener's movies and created her first collaboration short called The Ornament of the Loving Heart in 1919. Her diligence and creativity really shines through here. Quite a few sources are referenced in the back pages (including an audio interview) so I'm definitely going have to check those out!

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover art of this picture book biography of Lottie Reiniger brings to mind a revolutionary and that is exactly what she was. Inspired by movies she saw as a child in 1920s Germany, Reiniger revolutionized animation in her quest to tell stories with paper silhouettes. Reiniger's art began with a puppet theater and ended on movie screens across the world. Readers are introduced to the mechanics of stop-motion animation and learn how problem-solving led Reiniger to invent a multiplane camera. Creativity and perseverance are highlighted in the straightforward account of Reiniger's life and art. The book's illustrations play with light in a way that is reminiscent of Reiniger's animation. Winters has included a timeline covering the main events in Reiniger's life, an author's note, a list of sources, and a small glossary of German words and phrases used in the book.

Highly recommended for K-3.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for her! So glad she's becoming better known; WD didn't do everything, even the US didn't do everything. Includes back matter. Makes the 'magic' engineering clear.

Compare to the Newbery book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I, personally, give it only three stars because I'm just not that interested in the subject, and would have liked to see more examples of her work (more still from her films?) to help it come alive for me.

[K Gover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done. Story of not worldly known Lotte Reiniger the first creator of a 65 minute motion silent picture, among 60 other animatedmovies. She started out in Germany doing Scherenschnitte puppet theaters. Using her scissors, shadows and a creative Tricktisch table that made layers of shadows for settings and characters, her work was amazing.

Criteria
Timeline: yes
Author's Note:yes
Primary Source/Summary of Source: yes
Text Level- good for MS
Quotes: no

Topics: biography, picture book, narrative style
Yes
No RS

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done and really like the artwork. If I hadn't already read Out of the Shadows, I would have been wowed. But that one takes a more thorough and nuanced approach explaining Lotte's achievements alongside some of the problems with her portrayals of characters like Prince Ahmed (leaning into stereotypes) and also the fact that her films were primarily for adults not children. Back matter includes a timeline, author note, sources and a very small glossary of German words.

[Blanco Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lotte Reiniger was a pioneer in animation: creating the multipane camera, storyboarding, and a full-length animated feature film yet she has often been overlooked and overshadowed by Walt Disney.

I am excited that Reineger now has multiple picture books written about her art and her accomplishments. The two that I have read, including this one, have been nicely illustrated, and informative, and encouraged me to research and view her animated works online.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second picture book biography I've read on Lotte Reiniger, a pioneer in animation. (Out of the Shadows by Fiona Robinson was the other.) I think this one is more accessible to kids. Great story of a woman who used her scissors to cut images and then learned to animate them, inventing the multiplane camera. Stop-motion animation is pretty popular with my students, and here is one of the founding stars. A fun and interesting read.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the early 20th century when Lottie was young, she saw her first motion picture in Berlin. She was really good at scissor cuts, or Scherenschitte. Lottie used her figure to make shadow puppets. She went to study animation with Paul Wegener. Challenged to make a feature-length animated movie with shadow figures, Lottie designed a wooden tower to hold several layers of glass which added depth to the images with a camera above and a light below.
Back matter 2 pages

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as detailed as "Out of the Shadows," by Fiona Robinson, "Cut!" does a nice job introducing Lotte Reininger as a pioneer of animation. An Author's Note points out how Lotte's achievements in 1920s Germany are often eclipsed by credit given to Walt Disney's animations, which were created almost a decade later in the 1930s.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picture book introduction to the life and legacy of Lotte Reiniger, an innovative German artist who used paper silhouettes to create animated films and proved there was a market for full-length animated movies.

Interesting, but I feel like the illustrations could have done more.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book biography of the German artist who created the multiplane camera used in animated movies was informative, but slow moving. The book was slow to catch my daughters interest, but she enjoyed it by the end. She even looked up some of Reiniger's films online.

[Kelly]

A great story, child appropriate, will never be as good as Out of the Shadows because that illustrator used Lotte Reiniger's style to illustrate her book. This book was done digitally. But I'm not recommending it for any awards because it's just not the same.

[Gabrielle Stoller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to embrace this more than I did (I mean creating stop animation with paper and scissors is pretty impressive. But it wasn't a favorite. However, it is sad that Lotte's story was not widely shared or known.

[Brooklyn Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a biography that teaches students how scissors and paper cutouts began the animations that they know and love today!This book teaches lessons such as embracing creativity, perservenace and the fact that any person can leave their footprints in history.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific biography of an early innovator in animation who used cut paper silhouettes in her work. We follow Lotte's passion for paper cutting and storytelling from childhood through her professional career. Lovely, silhouette laden illustrations by Matt Schu.

[Sarah Batchelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much about early animation and a filmmaker I had never heard of before - Lottie Reiniger. I also learned about the folk tradition of Scherenschnitte. (I love that word. It means scissor cuts). A form of paper art that Lottie used for storytelling.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book that will be great for upper elementary level kids who are interested in film and animation (I was one of those kids!).

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. It encouraged me to look up the movies made by Lotte Reiniger (which can be found on Youtube!). The book made me curious to learn more so I'd say it was wonderfully written.

[Holly Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating narrative nonfiction about stop motion animation. I can imagine it part of a unit on video creation. A precursor to WeVideo. Or even in a unit on narrative nonfiction. Very well done.

[Abbigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed by this one. It had great resources and extra information at the back of the book, but I wish there would have been a few real photos of Lotte.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

All about Lotte Reiniger and her contributions and achievements in the field of animation and film-making.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biography a little known woman

[Christine Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about Lotte and hope her story become more known!