Prehistoric Beast

Eight years before he helped ILM special effects artists bring Steven Spielberg's dinosaur park to life, Phil Tippett brought his own dinosaurs to life. Using classic stop-motion (or rather improved go-motion) animation, he created a ten-minute atmospheric taster with an almost horror-like finale. Although there aren't many dinosaurs in it (we only see two of them properly, the others are either gnawed remains or silhouettes in front of the setting sun), the forest in which the almost documentary story takes place gives a beautifully vivid impression. There are birds and insects flying around, buzzing around the camera, sunlight realistically penetrating between the branches of trees... It's really great. (2015.03.21)