Eugen Schüfftan
Eugen Schüfftan ( Eugen Schüfftan; born July 21, 1893 in Breslau, † 6 September 1977 in New York ) was a cinematographer and inventor. Together with Ernst Kunstmann, he developed the Schüfftan method ( a mainly -used in the film of the 1920s mirror trick method that has been used especially for the display seemingly monstrous scenes in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis (1927 ) ).
Life
Schüfftan began his career as a painter in Berlin Impressionist paintings, then turned to Expressionism and worked as an architect and decorator.
To film the artist came in a roundabout way. His fascination with the camera and camera techniques led him in 1923 that was later named after him mirror trick procedure consistent with Fritz Lang's film epic Die Nibelungen became famous in 1924 and in Lang's Metropolis (1927 ) first came to be used in a large scale: allowing the arrangement of one or more partially transparent mirror to represent miniature models behind actors as huge buildings.
The process did not sit by in the U.S.. Eugen Schüfftan was first technical director at the " German mirror GmbH & Co. ", but gave up his post after a few years to the film architect Fritz Maurischat to dedicate himself to working as a cameraman. In 1930, he was directed by Robert Siodmak and Billy Wilder cinematographer in the documentary film People on Sunday. Schüfftan later emigrated to France and finally to the U.S. where he could continue his massively restricted in the Third Reich work.
In 1962 he was awarded an Oscar for Best Cinematography for the film The Hustler. His animation techniques came later, among others, in the films Ulysses and in Captain Sindbad used.
Eugen Schüfftan died on September 6, 1977 at the age of 84 years in New York.