Pinscreen animation

The technique was invented and developed by Alexandre Alexeïeff and his wife Claire Parker in their own studio in Paris, between 1932 (first tests) and 1935, when Claire Parker registered in her own name the Brevet d´Invention nº 792340 at the Direction de la Propriété Industrielle, Ministère du Commerce et de L´Industrie, République Française, Paris 1935.

The films have short running time, because the device is difficult to use, and have a monochrome nature, due to the images being created using shadows over a white surface.

Due to Cecile Starr (friend of Alexeieff and Parker, and distributor of their work in the US) most insisting intervention talking to Norman McLaren that the opportunity should not be missed to preserve Alexeïeff's knowledge, this demonstration was filmed, and later released by the NFB as Pin Screen.

This film, along with "Pinscreen Tests" (1961), appear on disc 7 of the Norman McLaren: The Master's Edition DVD collection.

French animator Justine Vuylsteker was one of the artists selected for the intensive four-week residency on the Épinette.

The pins do not move easily, presenting some resistance to movement in order to avoid unintended dislocation and thus image error.

Groups of pins are pressed and protruded with different tools, from specially created ones to more mundane, such as lamp bulbs, spoons, forks, and even Russian Matryoshka dolls.

Individually, the pins are relatively cheap; however, it is not uncommon that a million or more may be used to complete a single screen, quickly increasing the cost for manufacture.

Because of the cost and labor-intensive animation process, several computer programs have been made with the goal of simulating the images generated by a physical pinscreen.