Willis O'Brien was a pioneering special effects artist born in 1886 in Oakland, California. He created his first film featuring stop-motion animation in 1915 called "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link" with a small budget of $5,000. His most famous works were 1925's "The Lost World" and the 1933 hit "King Kong", which mixed live-action footage with stop-motion animated creatures and became a classic film. O'Brien developed highly complex animatronic puppets and armatures to bring his stop-motion creatures to life for the films. His work had a massive influence on later stop-motion artists like Ray Harryhausen and the technique continued to be used in films for

1. Willis O’ Brien
1886 - 1962

2. History
• Willis O’ Brien was born in Oakland, California. He
left home in 1897,at just eleven years old, he went
on to create his first movie, ‘The Dinosaur And The
Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy’ in 1915 with a
budget of just $5000.
• He eventually managed to secure an animation role
in Harold H. Hoyts, ‘The Lost World’.
• In 1933, he made the highlight of his career with the
RKO hit, ‘King Kong’. Which mixed live action
footage as well as stop motion creatures. Which
turned into an unforgettable cinema classic .
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_O%27Brien

3. The technology
On a set he had a selection of
animatronic puppets which he
would glue animation of in time
with the footage of actors and
actresses in real time
The Armatures used where often
extremely complex the one too
your right is from King Kong and
was designed to be operated
under the water line using the
water to cover the switches and
controls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King
_Kong_(1933_film)

4. His most famous movies
His two most famous Films are the
Lost World 1925 and King Kong
1933
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLVt6bMJ8
Ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmixe-
Dii0Y

5. His influence to stop motion
• His influence to stop motion is massive , The lost
World is said to have inspired Ray Harry
Hausenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryha
usen
• King Kong has gone on to be remade twice and
has been a box office smash on both occasion
• Over the next 70 years stop motion went from
strength to strength and is still used in some
motion pictures today.