History Briefs: Stop Motion Animation

With the upcoming release of Wes Anderson’s stop motion animated Isle of Dogs, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the art form that has been used for over 100 years.  Its evolved over those years, and shaped the way we watch movies.  Before the introduction of CGI, stop motion animated sequences were special effects.  If you needed your hero to fight a monster before say–Jurassic Park–you went to the stop motion department to bring that scene to life.  Stop motion is still a special effect, the phrase just has a different meaning today.

Even with the growing use of CG animation, there is a place in film for stop motion animation. Stop motion is an art form that Thomas Edison used, yet still has clout today.  My first conscious experience with stop motion came from the late great Ray Harryhausen.  In first grade I was shown 1981’s Clash of the Titans in our elementary school library one rainy morning – and although I didn’t know it at the time – I had discovered my love for cinema.

Here’s a scene from Clash of the Titans that has been forever etched in my memory:

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Although this was my personal introduction into the world of stop motion, lets go back further to the first video evidence I could uncover.  The earliest video I could find was The Horse In Motion from 1878.  The video was put together in order to answer the highly debated topic of the day – Are all four of a horses hooves off the ground at the same time while galloping?  This video compiled of many still frames from multiple cameras proved that yes, all four hooves leave the ground while galloping, and stop motion cinema is born.

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Next, we jump to 1902 in a little film called Fun in a Bakery Shop produced by the one-and-only Thomas A Edison (the guy that created the light bulb):

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In 1906 we got Humorous Phases of Funny Faces – another Edison production, and the first film to feature direct manipulation animation, essentially creating moving/living people.  It’s also the earliest surviving American animated film:

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Edison and company are also responsible for the first use of claymation seen here in Dream of a Rarebit Fiend:

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From these early films we jump into what we know as Hollywood and the to one of first great stop motion animators, Willis O’brien.  O’brien is a legend for creating 1925’s The Lost World, which led to the creation of King Kong.  Here’s O’brien’s first animation:

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Here’s O’brien’s big break, a little something called The Lost World:

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Which, in turn, led to:

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Willis O’brien set the stage for the great Ray Harryhausen, who mentioned above, created some iconic work.  Studying with O’brien, Harryhausen was able to build on what he learned and take stop motion to the next level.  Here’s a great piece on Harryhausen which highlight the evolution of his work throughout his career:

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Harryhausen’s influence is felt in every stop motion artists work that’s followed.  There are absolutely magical works that take what Harryhausen did and expand on that.  One of those artists that expanding the genre is legendary animator Phil Tippett.  Here’s a great VICE piece on the animator behind such little-seen indie films Star Wars and Jurassic Park:

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Tippet made this amazing short-film Prehistoric Beast a few years back, and its intense.  For a completely stop motion film, it feels extremely lifelike.  It pays homage to Willis O’Brien’s and Ray Harryhausen, and their early work with Dinosaurs. Phil Tippett continues the traditions of his predecessors, and beyond working on the huge Hollywood-changinging blockbusters, has been putting out amazing independent content – as well as working on an incredibly ambitious project over the course of 30 years.  You can check out that project–Mad God–here:

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The first full-length American stop motion film, A Nightmare Before Christmas, came out in 1993.  The same year Jurassic Park came out, which featured one-of the most believable CG sequences (Jimmy Cameron and a few others had used it).  All-to-say, it was a passing of the torch.

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Even so, stop motion is on the rise.  An art from like stop motion has evolved over the course of a century, remains as valuable es ever.  Directors like Wes Anderson expands on those that came before him and brings his own style to the genre.  I doubt this will be Anderson’s last stop motion film.

Some of my personal favorites are below, but there are too many to include them all.

Another Henry Selick movie that shaped my adolescence:

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The first Wes Anderson stop motion brought my back to the art form that I had thought I had “grown out of” or become “too cool” for, 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox:

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And finally, the most adult themed movie on the list.  Shit, is Team America: World Police stop motion?  It’s puppets.  It is puppets, right?  I think because I forgot that movie and I’m too far into this article to add to the history.  Lets just say Team America was not a stop motion movie….  It’s hard for me to believe that Charlie Kauffman was able to direct a stop motion film with the help of the talented people at Starburns Industries (Morel Orel).  Anomalisa is a masterpiece on many levels, but the animation alone is worthy of your time:

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