Paddock Arts

Tunnel Book

 

The 6th grade learned about a unique camera developed by Walt Disney that called a multi-plane camera.  The multi-plane camera was used to get more three dimensional effects in their animated films.  It has been used throughout their films to allow the camera to zoom into an area of the picture while keeping the rest of the picture (foreground, middle ground) in the correct perspective/scale.

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The students looked at how artists use this concept in art work called a tunnel book.  A tunnel book is a sculptural book with accordion sides and no spine.  The pages are attached to both sides of the accordion and set one behind the other.  It is a lot like a diorama made inside a shoebox except that the pages are made of paper cut outs so the reader can view through the holes, with an almost telescopic effect. The scene can be opened out for viewing or folded flat for storage.

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Imagining we were animators setting up a photo shoot, the children picked out a story, fairy tale or folk tale they were familiar with and planned their tunnel book based on a specific scene from that tale.  They had to dissect the image so that they had four separate planes within their final art piece.  As you can see the results are pretty amazing.