Model animation

Model animation is a form of stop motion animation designed to merge with live action footage to create the illusion of a real-world fantasy sequence.

Works

Model animation was pioneered by Willis O'Brien, and it was first used in The Lost World (1925). His work also includes

• King Kong (1933)
• The Son of Kong (1933)
• Mighty Joe Young (1949)
• The Black Scorpion (1957)
• The Giant Behemoth (1958)

Picking up the model animation baton from O'Brien, and refining the process further, introducing color and smoother animation, was his protégé, Ray Harryhausen. Assisting O'Brien in Mighty Joe Young in 1949, Harry went on to do model animation (and other special visual effects) on a series of feature length films, such as:

• The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
• It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
• Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
• The Animal World (Opening Dinosaur sequence, with O'Brien, 1956)
• 20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
• The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
• First Men in the Moon (1964)
• One Million Years B.C. (1967)
• The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
• Clash of the Titans (with Jim Danforth, 1981)

The third generation of model animators featured such notables as Jim Danforth, David Allen, and Phil Tippett.

See also

• List of stop-motion films
• Go motion