Animationasaurus

dinosaurs have a long and storied history in stop motion animation. from the earliest days of film including Buster Keaton's Three Ages and Willis O'Brien's contributions to The Lost World and King Kong, as well as Harryhausen's life long devotion to the creatures, dinosaurs have been inextricably linked to the the medium-- since no footage of them has ever existed and they died off years ago, a particular style had to be appropriated to showcase the creatures in reimaginings. it just so happens that stop motion seemed to be the most apt.



the following is another film from my very early childhood that i still recall stimulating my mind and my imagination -- Dinosaurs: A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time! is a special video designed for classrooms to begin to introduce the prehistoric world to young students. it stars a young Fred Savage in the live-action sequences, but, of course, the most interesting part is the 17 minutes of stop motion animation that Will Vinton and his crew contributed. originally a short piece in 1980, it was incorporated into the educational film in 1987. the chalkboard animation is as impressive as the claymated parts of the inspiring film. its just plain fun to watch (with some great voices to boot of the classroom kids that are listening/watching the presentation).



the end of the t-rex sequence is particularly inventive/scary. yikes!