A Century of Stop Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman

by Ray Harryhausen, Tony Dalton

A pioneer shares his memories and insights on the technique he defined€¢ Completes the best-selling trilogy that began with Ray An Animated Life (€œTerrific!€€”Publishers Weekly) and The Art of Ray Harryhausen (€œHighly recommended.€€”Library Journal)€¢ Never-before-published photos!€¢ Traces the history of stop-motion animation from the 1890s through Chicken Run and beyondThis lavishly illustrated tribute to the stop-motion animation€”the technique behind special effects for more than half a century€”traces the history of the genre through the eyes of the industry€™s greatest pioneer. From crude model animations in the 1890s, through the first animated feature and into the computer age, Ray Harryhausen and his co-author, Tony Dalton, reveal the patience and ingenuity of animators and explain the development of the technology.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Film, Reference

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2008

Reviews

[Loren Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this book is actually pretty bad, but the book was obviously put together with a lot of love. It contains many fascinating details about stop motion techniques (Did you know that they used air bladders to animate the breathing of the characters in King Kong?). There are also some fun stories about the production of various movies.

There is (unsurprisingly) a pretty heavy focus on Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien in this book. I'd rather read a history with more attention paid to other artists (Harryhausen is fun, but I think he gets a disproportionate amount of attention). I found the book informative nonetheless.

The book also mentions quite a few neat sounding movies I'd never heard of.

[P J Ashcroft Klemm · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brother gave this hard cover edition to me as a gift. It is the coolest! I'll lose myself in it for hours. I think it's part two in a series but I'm not sure. This is an awesome book to have on the coffee table at all times.

[Yuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive, well researched guide to a history of stop motion supported by clear, detailed photographs and images.

[Jesse Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I constantly find myself re-reading this book at least 1-2 times a year. It's both historically informative and visually inspiring.