George Pal
George Pal was a "rare individual who had a vision and was able to follow it through; and did so without disrupting everyone's life", as described by the people work worked closely with him.
At first, Pal used cigarettes for an animated advertisement. He managed to sell the idea to a French company, which then went on to be a huge success, which made him very famous. Paramount pictures signed Pal to a long term contract to create a series of Puppetoons that were not for advertising. He created his puppets by using wooden structures with different limbs attached that created the illusion of expression and movement. He produced dozens that impressed them so much that they allowed him
to try feature films.
His first film was in 1949 with "Destination Moon" which was a great success and won an academy award for special effects. His second film, "When Worlds Collide", was also a success and won another academy award for special effects. While filming, there were a few problems with the studio system due to people working a lot slower compared to what Pal was used to in his own studio. "War of the Worlds", "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" and "The Time Machine" were the successful films that he continued to make through out the 50s and 60s which were also very successful. However, his last two films- "The Power" and Doc Savage" in 1968 and 1975- were not very successful at all, due to fantasy films becoming quite unpopular at the box office.
No comments:
Post a Comment