Way before Willis H. O'Brien put the king in Kong, this marble sculptor created with the help of a local news cameraman his first film, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy," in April 1915. He used claymation with stop-motion to tell the story of a caveman, in love with a cave woman, and his attempt to prove his worth to her in a dishonest way by claiming to kill the missing link.
O'Brien, who had run away from home at 11 to take a variety of jobs, including a ranch hand, a cowboy, and a professional boxer, gravitated towards the arts by taking up marble sculpturing while serving as an assistant to the head architect to 1915's San Francisco's World's Fair. Fascinated by dinosaurs, he tinkered around with clay models at that time. He created, with the assistance of a cameraman, a six-minute claymation film, complete with human and animal movements.
His creativeness he displayed in the clip was unique in that, while claymation animation was seen in movies in the past, O'Brien's film was entirely composited of clay figures and typography.
He followed up his "Missing Link" film a year later with 1916's "Prehistoric Poultry." Although half the length as his debut experimental movie, "Pountry" shows a deeper sophistication in movement of his characters. Both of O'Brien's movies were shown to friends and other animated lovers in private settings.
Thomas Edison was shown O'Brien's clips and was impressed by his technological advancements on screen. He had his company hire him to produce a series of dinosaur animated films for young viewers. The Edison Company released his two movies in 1917, which were followed up by several other originals. O'Brien's work in the next decades would both amaze and scare audences worldwide, including his work on 1933's "King Kong," his most famous film.
O'Brien, who had run away from home at 11 to take a variety of jobs, including a ranch hand, a cowboy, and a professional boxer, gravitated towards the arts by taking up marble sculpturing while serving as an assistant to the head architect to 1915's San Francisco's World's Fair. Fascinated by dinosaurs, he tinkered around with clay models at that time. He created, with the assistance of a cameraman, a six-minute claymation film, complete with human and animal movements.
His creativeness he displayed in the clip was unique in that, while claymation animation was seen in movies in the past, O'Brien's film was entirely composited of clay figures and typography.
He followed up his "Missing Link" film a year later with 1916's "Prehistoric Poultry." Although half the length as his debut experimental movie, "Pountry" shows a deeper sophistication in movement of his characters. Both of O'Brien's movies were shown to friends and other animated lovers in private settings.
Thomas Edison was shown O'Brien's clips and was impressed by his technological advancements on screen. He had his company hire him to produce a series of dinosaur animated films for young viewers. The Edison Company released his two movies in 1917, which were followed up by several other originals. O'Brien's work in the next decades would both amaze and scare audences worldwide, including his work on 1933's "King Kong," his most famous film.