Animation in the 20th Century

Willis H. O'Brien:

In his spare time, O'Brien used to work on sculpting and illustrating and his natural talent led to him being employed first as a draftsman in an architect's office and then as a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Daily News. While having a successful time as an architect, he still dabbled in making fictional character models such as cavemen and dinosaurs. He then, with the endorsement and support of a San Francisco exhibitor, went on to make his first short animated movie: The Dinosaur and the Missing Link in 1915. Impressed by the film,  Thomas Edison hired him to work in the Edison Company, animating prehistoric short films.

Ray Harryhausen:

Inspired by Willis O'Brien, Harryhausen experimented in the production of animated shorts using the similar techniques of stop-motion animation. O'Brien even critiqued his models/work and encouraged him to take classes in graphic arts. Again, drawing inspiration from O'Brien, he merged stop motion with live action using the same technique of rear projection. Some of his more popular works being Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981).

Jan Svankmajer:

His early influences being puppetry, Svankmajer also uses stop motion and is known for his surreal and slightly nightmarish animations. He uses techniques like fast-motion sequences when people walk or interact and his sounds in his works are exaggerated; giving an eerie feeling to these actions. Many of his movies involve adding life to inanimate objects through stop motion. A prime example of this surreal animation of animate objects being Food (1992) and one of his more creepy works being Alice (1988).