Shadowmation is a patented animation process () created by

Mitchell Kriegman Mitchell Kriegman (born June 4, 1952) is an American television writer, director, producer, consultant, story editor, author, composer and actor. He is the creator of ''Clarissa Explains It All'' (1991) for Nickelodeon, ''Bear in the Big Blue Ho ...

. It uses realtime virtual sets and

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

style team puppetry (some puppets are controlled by up to three puppeteers), thus combining live action animatronic characters with computer generated animation in real time, high definition

virtual environment A virtual environment is a networked application that allows a user to interact with both the computing environment and the work of other users. Email, chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Onlin ...

s powered by

video game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

s. The resulting effect combines all the advantages of animatronics, the expressiveness of live performance, and the limitless freedom of computer animation. The end result is a distinctive and compelling immersive visual experience. Wainscott Studios, NY is the home base for the process.

Examples

Shadowmation is a relatively new technique, but has so far been used in several prominent children's television shows, including Disney's ''

The Book of Pooh ''The Book of Pooh'' is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; th ...

'', PBS's ''It's a Big, Big World'', and CBC Television and

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were e ...

' '' Wilbur''. The Jim Henson Company's ''

Bear in the Big Blue House ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...

'' utilized this technique for its opening sequence. This technique was also used in ''

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' is a 1999 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Gary Halvorson in his feature film debut. This was the second film to be based on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', after '' ...

'' for the song "Take the First Step".

References

Animation techniques Puppetry Animatronics {{animation-stub