Alexandre Alexandrovitch Alexeïeff was a Russian Empire-born artist, filmmaker and illustrator who lived and worked mainly in Paris. He and his second wife Claire Parker are credited with inventing the pinscreen as well as the animation technique called totalization, which involves filming a moving object at long exposures to capture the trace of its motion, making it appear as a solid object. In all, Alexeïeff produced 6 films on the pinscreen, 41 advertising films, and illustrated 41 books. The pinscreen was created in 1931 for their short film Night on Bald Mountain. Alexeïeff, then an engraver, wanted to bring to life the blurring and gradations he loved in his prints. In 1931, he devised a network of pins penetrating a white surface which, when lit at an angle, cast shadows of varying lengths depending on the protrusion of the pins. Using tools of all shapes and sizes, an image is created by pushing the pins in or out until the desired tone and shape are achieved, with the exact negative appearing on the reverse side. Photographed frame by frame, the resulting images are modified according to the artist’s inspiration and come to life when projected at 24 frames per second. Three Moods is the last film made by filmmakers Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker. In 1980, it brought to a close fifty years of an artistic and romantic relationship centred on the invention of this instrument and a new animation technique.

Length: 80′