History and techniques of stop motion animation

1. History and techniques of stop motion animation I will going through famous pioneers such as Ray Harryhausen, stop motion films such as the original King Kong and animators who have pushed the boundaries of stop motion!

2. Willis H. O’brien, A pioneer of stop motion Willis O’Brien was born in Oakland, California on 2nd March 1886 and died at the age of 76 on the 8th November 1962. In his life time he was famous for films such as ‘The Lost World’ and ‘King Kong’ where he animated metal models sculptured in varies felts and clay to make them look real. Willis is also famous for the film ‘Mighty Joe Young’ in 1949, where he again brought the giant ape to life with his stop motion animation skills. This film one then later remade in 1998 by Disney.

3. Fact on Willis H. O’Brien • Willis was actually convinced that his boss was going to fire him off the set of ‘King Kong’ when he noticed, during the film in motion, that the fur covering the ape puppet had been disturbed by his fingers. He then reported it to his boss who ended up congratulated him for his attention to detail. • After Willis passed away Ray Harryhausen regularly visited Darlyne Prenett, Willis second wife, until her death. • In 1928, Willis actually proposed a stop-motion version of ‘Frankenstein’ and in 1961 he then proposed a film called ‘King Kong vs. Frankenstein’ and although successful test footage was made the films never were. • His nickname was Obie.

4. Ray harryhausen, A pioneer of stop motion Ray Harrenhausen was born in LA, California in June 29th 1920 and recently died in at the age of 92 on May 7th 2013. He was and still is a famous stop motion model animator and was renowned for ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ Famous for his stop motion techniques that he used in films such as ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘Clash of the Titans’ Ray is probably most famous for his stop motion model scene in Jason and the Argonauts which I have a link to right here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmRuJByoVs

5. Facts on ray harryhausen • Ray actually contacted Willis O’Brien and showed him the Allosaur short he made. • After seeing ‘King Kong’ at the age of 13 and started his career straight from that by researching into film effects work. • The short film ‘Evolution’ was actually meant to be a stop-motion epic, but was cut short which he used as a brilliant demo reel. • Ray’s first job came with George Pal and he used his animation skills for training films in the army. • Ray landed his job with Willis H. O’brien on ‘Mighty Joe Young’ he acquired 1000 feet, of film, of unused military film. He was then employed by Warner Brothers. • Filming with Ray could often take up to 2 years due to his need to film alone.

6. Pushing the boundaries of animation, Jan Švankmajer Born in Prague on 4th September 1934, Jav Švankmajer Gained a reputation for his distinctive stop motion technique with his ability to create nightmarish and yet some how funny pictures. His trademarks include very strange effects in eating scenes and usually including very exaggerated sounds as well as using fast motion sequences when people interact of walk in scenes. He often includes inanimate objects being brought to life through stop motion

7. Facts of Jan Švankmajer • Jan studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts and the Marionette Faculty of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s. • He was temporarily banned from film making by the Czech authorities. • Made a feature film based on Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. • He has been a card-carrying member of the Prague Surrealist Group since 1969. • First experimented with film making after becoming involved with mixed media productions of Prague’s Lanterna Magika Theater.

8. Contemporary Filmmaker, Tim Burton Burton was born in California on 25th August 1858 and is now a Director, Producer, Animator, Writer and Artist! Mostly famous for his creepy and gothic horrors like his films BeetleJuice and Edward Scissorhands as well as stop-motion films such as Coralline and Nightmare Before Christmas.

9. Facts on tim burton • Tim’s talent and originality has kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. • He began drawing at a early age, going on to attend the California Institute of the Arts, studying animation after being awarded a fellowship from Disney. • Him and his wife, Helena Bonham actually live in separate houses however live next door to each other. • He has directed one music video called ‘Bones’. • His ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is the second highest grossing film of 2010 and 10th highest of all time.

10. Contemporary Filmmakers, Aardman studios Aardman Studios is a British animation studio founded on a low budget in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. However since then they have hired a lot more animator such as Barry Purves, Richard Goleszowski and Nick Park who all created their own short to earn their place on the Aardman team. Aardman Studios are responsible for some of the most brilliant stop motion films around from Chicken Run to Flushed Away as well as various Wallace & Gromit and even the film Cure of the were Rabbit and were also the original creators of Morph.

11. Facts on aardman studios • There stop motion characters, ‘Wallace and Gromit’ whose favourite cheese is ‘Wensleydale’ actually saved the Wensleydale Cheese company by pulling up their popularity who were actually struggling in the 90s. • They used the same technique Willis O’brien used to bring King Kong to life with Wallace and Gromit. • They use a special blend of clay they call ‘Aardmix’ to bring there characters to life. • “If Gromit is wagging his tail enthusiastically for 30, that’s 360 different movements”

12. Contemporary Filmmakers, The quay brothers The two identicals twins, Stephen and Timothy Quay were both born in 1947 on 17th June. Most of their work contains Dolls and Doll parts brought to life through the magic of stop motion. They have many short out there all using stop motion and include various toys/models as well as dolls and even people, well hands more like.

13. Facts on the quay brothers • They are identical twins. • They have worked in advertising for big names like Nikon and Coca-Cola as well as music for the famous British musician Peter Gabriel which was called Sledge Hammer which went as high as number 4 on the UK charts. • They were awarded the prestigious Drama Desk award for Outstanding Set Design. • They both admired Jan Svankmajer and his work and even dedicated one of their short films to him naming it The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer.