ALEXEEFF, ALEXANDRE

born Aug. 5, 1901, Kazan, Russia died Aug. 9, 1982, Paris, France original name (Russian) Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Alekseyev French motion-picture animator and an authority on the theory and technique of animation. He invented the pin-screen method of animation with his collaborator, later (1941) his wife, the animator Claire Parker. Alexeeff spent his childhood near Istanbul and studied at the school for naval cadets in St. Petersburg. After the Russian Revolution he studied painting in Paris and worked at the Chauve Souris Theatre there, where he designed sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes and Ballets Suedois. Alexeeff 's and Parker's first film using the pin screen was Une Nuit sur le mont chauve (1933; Night on a Bare Mountain). In pin-screen animation, a vertical metal surface is perforated by millions of holes into which headless pins are inserted; the pins are depressed to create shadows, and changes in the position of the pins are filmed frame by frame. Le Nez (1963; The Nose) and the titles to Orson Welles's Le Procs (1962; The Trial) were other Alexeeff pin-screen productions. Alexeeff made greatly admired commercials by photographing swinging pendulums to which a light source was attached. He also made experimental and theatrical cartoons and illustrated books, using both wood engravings and still photographs of pin screens.