Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Powerpoint
1.
2. Background and Training
• 2nd March 1886- 8th November 1962
• He was born in Oakland, California
• He’s best known as the animator of the original King
Kong.
• He was previously a news paper cartoonist and
sculptor.
• He started to make short films in 1914 (age 28)
3. • O’Brien had a variety of jobs and hobbies such as
sculpting and illustrating.
• He used to make models with his friends, which was
used as his inspiration.
• He won an Oscar at the 1950 Academy awards for the
visual effects on Mighty Joe Young
4. Overview of his Work
• He made many films, but is most known for his work
on The Ghost of Slumber Mountain and most
successful for The Lost World, King Kong and Mighty
Joe Young.
• He produced educational films with Edison, a
producer named Herbert Dawley hired him to
animate The Ghost of Slumber Mountain in 1919.
5. Worked with...
• Ernest B. Schoedsack- Producer of Mighty Joe Young
• Ruth Rose- Son of Kong writer
• “O’Brien was a genius…Kong is as much his picture
as it is mine. There was never anybody else in his
class as far as special effects went, there never was
and there probably never will be.” – Producer of King
Kong Merian C Cooper
6. • The Black Scorpion
• The Mighty Joe Young
• The original King Kong
• Son of Kong
• Creation
• The Lost World
• The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
• Morpheus Mike
• RFD 10,000 B.C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2PjgxnyyQo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5KOwpIAO5w
-You Tube videos on Willis O’Brien
7. • Willis O’Brien was a pioneer who inspired generations of
‘effect artists’.
• Later, he became a mentor to the most famous of all stop
motion animation artists, Ray Harryhausen.
• His work on King Kong changed the status of special effects
by using ‘rear projection’ which combined background live
action with foreground miniature animation to give the
impression that they were both on screen at the same time.
