Montage of the Schufftan Process

The Schufftan process is one of several special effects methods an educated film student should know about. It is named after Eugen Schufftan (his name is spelled differently [Anglicized] in different textbooks). Included here is a simple montage of the steps in creating this special effect process, one of the earliest special effects methods in cinema.
    Later we will study matte processes, similar to the Schufftan process, and which has largely replaced it.
    Already we have studied the following special effects methods:
    1. Fast motion ("undercranking" to make the subject move faster at regular projection speed).
    2. Slow motion. ("overcranking" to make the subject move slower at regular projection speed).
    3. Superimposition (double exposure).
    4. Stop motion (timed exposure): frame-by-frame shooting, the basis of animation (Disney, etc.).
    5. Multiple exposure (superimposition of many images).
    *"Undercranking" is a term that comes from early non-electrical cameras, which were "cranked" or wound by hand. So by undercranking, one wound the film more slowly; by overcranking, one would the film faster. In each case, when projected, the image would have the reverse effect: the slowly (under) cranked subject would move fast and the overcranked subject would move slow.
    **Double or multiple exposure used to be done in the camera but is now usually done in the lab(oratory).

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