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See a stop-motion legend at work in The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
Before there was Ray Harryhausen to dazzle us with stop-motion creations there was Willis O’Brien. Known mostly for bringing the original King Kong and Mighty Joe Young to life, O’Brien was a pioneer of movie effects.
Today’s picture is a nice shot of a young O’Brien at work on 1925’s The Lost World, the very first feature film to feature stop-motion creatures. Specifically he’s working on an Agathaumus.
The man is a legend and this is a great look at his early career.
Thanks to William Forsche for the image, which is credited to James N. Doolittle. Enjoy and click to embiggen!
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Tomorrow’s behind the scenes pic is a madhouse!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page One
Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page Two!
Readers Talkback
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I am awesome
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Too bad we're moving pixels instead of clay these days. I think Netflix has The Lost World streaming. Great flick. Thanks, Quint. Top notch per norm.
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Aug. 3, 2011, 7:25 p.m. CST
Imagine seeing KING KONG in 1933. That was a million times more mindblowing than AVATAR 75+ years later.
by golden tribw
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Agreed
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Aug. 3, 2011, 7:44 p.m. CST
King Kong wouldn't have been possible without the contributions of Linwood Dunn.
by v3d
Google him. Truly an unsung hero of special effects.
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Aug. 3, 2011, 7:45 p.m. CST
King Kong.......2001......Star Wars.......Jurassic Park
by thelordofhell
Films that made the jaw drop and changed the game
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It's still a mindblowing experience today!
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at some kind of revival theater where this movie was playing. ah, it's fun to reminisce.
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... Is an essential read regarding the man's career. Great pics, personal stories.
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Aug. 3, 2011, 8:03 p.m. CST
Sadly this talk back will see only a tiny fraction of the "talk" that is garnered discussing:
by v3d
web shooters Sarah Palin Spike Lee Avatar 3D wings on helmets and other less cool subjects than the Man who created KONG.
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I was really hoping this thread was about him.
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Aug. 3, 2011, 8:46 p.m. CST
FUCK KING KONG, MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (ALSO MADE IN 1933 AND ALSO STARRING FAY WRAY, DIRECTED BY MICHAEL 'CASABLANCA' CURTIZ) IS SUPERIOR!!!FACT!!!
by CreepyThinMan
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So cool. And look at how great that model is.
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It's Willis O'Brien! I could've spent twenty paragraphs talking about this guy.
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Aug. 3, 2011, 9:14 p.m. CST
It would be neat to print that out with a large format printer and frame it and put it on your wall
by MooseMalloy
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Thanks
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Thanks for the tip on this guy! I looked up his bio and just ordered a book on Amazon he participated in. I love studying the old school FX as nowadays it's pretty much down to a study of what plugins you used on Shake or somesuch nonsense :(
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Great shot.
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who got shafted by Edison and died a pauper. Edison was eating good when this happened; having sold all Meles' films as his own.
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I thought it was going to be the old one that O'Brien ripped in half that you see everywhere. (I believe that one has him working on an Agathaumas, too, but for a different film.) I love that model (which I think was done by Ricardo Delgado, since some of us are flinging around names). It's the spitting image of that Knight painting it was based on, which, in fact was based on just fragmentary fossils which were probably just Triceratops. One of my favorite pieces of paleoart. I could go on, but I'll spare you all. (And now the nerd returns to his hole.)
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Aug. 4, 2011, 5:35 a.m. CST
I like that he is wearing a shirt and tie to work. Casual clothes casual attitiude.......
by harryknowlesnothingaboutfilm
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Compare and contrast the pic above with this one from the excellent site "Kong Is King" http://www.kongisking.net/kongfiles/110604.html
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Aug. 4, 2011, 7:21 a.m. CST
nice read (if you can call it that) at the link jimbocop. Thanks.
by harryknowlesnothingaboutfilm
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I own a copy of Charlton Heston's autobiography. It is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Chuck takes no crap from anyone, but he does it like Superman; fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American way.
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Aug. 4, 2011, 7:47 a.m. CST
I hate every ape I see from Chimpan-A to Chimpanze...might as well do it today before everyone does tomorrow...
by harryknowlesnothingaboutfilm
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I'm thinking that your posts should have "IMHO" as your signature. KING KONG is considered superior to MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM by the vast majority. Would you bet your bits and pieces that a survey of 1000 critics, filmmakers, and talkbackers would rate KING KONG second to MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM? I'm guessing no. So it's only a "fact" to you.
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Aug. 4, 2011, 9:46 a.m. CST
One day we will all be replaced by computer generated imagery made by nerds seated at desks.
by AsimovLives
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Aug. 4, 2011, 9:46 a.m. CST
---"One day we will all be replaced by computer generated imagery made by nerds seated at desks."---
by AsimovLives
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Ok, that was such a random thing to read in a post about Willis O'Brien, I have to ask: what's the story behind the *worst*?
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Aug. 4, 2011, 10:22 p.m. CST
From the days when you had to be an artist, full-on, and no one could hide behind a computer or software program.
by kevred
Everything meant more and took more conviction of decision in previous days - shooting, editing, effects, even writing had much less "undo" ability. Getting the initial material was harder, changing it was harder still. (Same applies to most areas of the arts, including music.) We get crazy visual extravaganzas with hours of DVD extras these days, but do we get better art? I don't think so.
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Really, I appreciate the artistry behind model work, but I'm not sue why people consider it awesome and CG crap. Most model work looks like models. It's just as unreal as CG. It just looks unreal in a different way. For every convincing model scene you can show me, I can show you a dozen convincing CG scenes.
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