Famous animators

Willis OBrien
Willis OBrien was born in 1886 and through his life he had many jobs
including a guide to palaeontologists in Crater Lake region and as a
sculptor and illustrator. While working as a sculptor he realised that he
could animate them in a similar way to more traditional animation. He
knew he wasnt the first to do this, but still created a reel to attempt to
get a movie funded. Despite the models beginning to melt under the
studio lights, the movement being jerky and the film being about a minute
and a half long, he was funded $5,000. In the vein of his tester film and
inspired by his love of dinosaurs and palaeontology, he created the
comedic story Dinosaur and the Missing Link in 1915.The film was later
seen by Thomas Edison who acquired the rights to the movie and hired
OBrien. This caused a rise in stop motion animation and created classic
movies such as Clash of the Titans and King Kong which have had several
remakes over the years and inspired generations. Obriens work started
the trend of stop animation which today is most popularly continued by
Aardman animation which now uses much more detailed movements and
has developed a more cartoony style than OBriens more realistic style.

Hayou Miyazaki
Miyazaki was born in the town of Akebono-cho in Bunky, Tokyo, the
second of four sons born to Katsuji Miyazaki. His father was director
of Miyazaki Airplane, which made rudders for A6M Zero fighter planes
during World War II. During the war his family was evacuated
to Utsunomiya and later to Kanuma in Tochigi Prefecture where the
Miyazaki Airplane factory was located. In April 1963, Miyazaki got his first
job as an animator job at Toei Animation, working as an artist on the
theatrical feature anime Watchdog Bow Wow and the TV anime Wolf Boy
Ken. Miyazakis first film that he both wrote and directed was Nausica of
the Valley of the Wind which received critical appraisal with 4 award
nominations and won all of them. Nausica of the Valley of the Wind also
contains many themes which would become Miyazaki staples such as a
strong female protagonist, the environment, anti-war and aviation
amongst others. All of these themes havent always been present in every
piece of his work, usually only two or three, such as his most famous work

Spirited Away which contains a female protagonist but no anti-war

messages. Spirited away is also notable for making more traditional
animated movies popular during a time when CGI animated movies
dominated.