[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
Dinosaur Films
Looking back at the history of dinosaur adventure films, I believe
there's a common denominator at work determining whether or not they are
successful. The story and script are, of course, important, but I believe
passion about the subject must be present. Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen,
and Phil Tippett form a school or clade, if you will, of artists who have
been deeply involved in creating the most successful examples of this genre
which include some of the classic films of all time. Willis O'Brien was a
fossil hunter in his early days. He consulted with Barnum Brown. His
collaboration with Marcel Delgado resulted in dinosaur figures that still
haunt and astonish. It's heartbreaking to see the late photos of O'Brien in
front of his gorgeous watercolor renderings of amazing dinosaur sequences he
was trying to sell to 20th Century Fox during preproduction for the 1960
version of "The Lost World" which was ultimately filmed with live lizards. He
loved this stuff. Same thing with Harryhausen. The influence of Chas.R.Knight
is always present even in his mythical creatures. Phil Tippett at Berkeley
constantly consulted with folks like Mike Greenwald, Jaques Gauthier and Rob
Long. Working with Randy Dutra (who's making quite the name for himself in
wildlife art circles these days), Tippett brought dinosaurs in film into the
modern age in "Prehistoric Beast" and "Jurassic Park". I believe I've said
before that Tippett was an early collector of Doug Henderson's art. All these
artists LOVED dinosaurs. When people who didn't got in charge the films were
stillborn. It became a matter of just turning the crank. DV