A Filmmaker Explains How He Built A Modern-Day Multiplane Camera To Recreate Traditional Animation Effects

Zach Tolchinsky, a filmmaker whose work we’ve previously profiled on the site, was recently commissioned by Biola University to build a multiplane camera for its film students.

The multiplane camera was a revolutionary piece of animation equipment first developed by Lotte Reiniger and later refined by the Disney Studio’s Bill Garity. It allows for multiple pieces of artwork to move past the camera at different speeds and distances from one another, creating the optical illusion of depth (or parallax) in a two-dimensional image. The effect is what gives the classic early Disney features a lush cinematic feel, like this iconic shot from Pinocchio (1940):

Tolchinsky documented the process of building his modern-day multiplane camera and has created a video explaining how he put it together with materials bought on Amazon and a hardware store, and then set up a control interface with Dragonframe stop-motion software.

The video also includes an interview with Disney historian J.B. Kaufman, who adds valuable historical context to the project:

“We as a community have to do everything that we can to keep original animation techniques alive,” Tolchinsky summarized in the video. “I’m going to keep using it because I love the result and it makes me happy. And it also makes me feel connected to the history of animation.”