Prehistoric Beast
Encyclopedia
Prehistoric Beast is a ten minutes long experimental animated film
fully conceived and made by Phil Tippett
in 1984. This sequence is considered as being the first film produced by the Tippett Studio
, founded by Tippett himself in 1984. Being made with the so called go motion
animation technique Prehistoric Beast prior served to Phil Tippett to make special effects sequences for the 1985 full length documentary Dinosaur!
, first aired on CBS
in the United States
on November 5, 1985.
by a Tyrannosaurus
. A Tyrannosaurus is busy eating a dead dinosaur that night and finishes. Next morning, a herd of Monoclonius is seen grazing. One member wanders into the forest to find more food. It finds a field of flowers and starts to eat and eat. It wanders in further and starts to be hunted by the same T-Rex. It steps on a twig, which makes the Monoclonius wary. It lets out a trumpet to signal the herd. It keeps walking further into the forest. It soon stumbles upon the meal from the T-Rex. It starts to get really scared, while the T-Rex sneaks up from behind. It attacks and bites hard on the Monoclonius back. It breaks free and stabs the T-Rex in its shin, enraging it. The T-Rex manages to corner the Monoclonius near some trees. The herbivore lets out one last cry before it's killed with one deadly bite. The Monoclonius herd start to call out for their missing member, not knowing that it has been killed. The T-Rex is next seen trying to find a place to sleep and digest its meal.
(1980), animating the tauntauns seen in the movie, and his experimental work on Prehistoric Beast and Dinosaur! served to the animated dinosaurs sequences he made some years later for Jurassic Park
(1993).
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
fully conceived and made by Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett is a movie director and an award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design and character animation.-Early career:...
in 1984. This sequence is considered as being the first film produced by the Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio is a visual effects company specializing in computer-generated imagery for movies and television commercials. Phil Tippett founded the studio in 1984, which employs effects artists who work with his partners Jules Roman and Craig Hayes....
, founded by Tippett himself in 1984. Being made with the so called go motion
Go motion
Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation, and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett.- History :Tippett and Industrial Light & Magic created the go motion technique for the first time for some shots of the tauntaun creatures and AT-AT walkers in the 1980 Star Wars...
animation technique Prehistoric Beast prior served to Phil Tippett to make special effects sequences for the 1985 full length documentary Dinosaur!
Dinosaur!
Dinosaur! is an American television documentary about dinosaurs. It was first aired on CBS in the United States on November 5, 1985. Years later, in 1991, another documentary entitled Dinosaur!, not related with that one, was hosted on A&E by CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.-Content:Directed by...
, first aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 5, 1985.
Content
This short film depicts the chase and predation of a MonocloniusMonoclonius
Monoclonius was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the Judith River Formation of Late Cretaceous Montana and Canada. It is often confused with Centrosaurus, a similar genus of ceratopsian . Monoclonius was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876...
by a Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
. A Tyrannosaurus is busy eating a dead dinosaur that night and finishes. Next morning, a herd of Monoclonius is seen grazing. One member wanders into the forest to find more food. It finds a field of flowers and starts to eat and eat. It wanders in further and starts to be hunted by the same T-Rex. It steps on a twig, which makes the Monoclonius wary. It lets out a trumpet to signal the herd. It keeps walking further into the forest. It soon stumbles upon the meal from the T-Rex. It starts to get really scared, while the T-Rex sneaks up from behind. It attacks and bites hard on the Monoclonius back. It breaks free and stabs the T-Rex in its shin, enraging it. The T-Rex manages to corner the Monoclonius near some trees. The herbivore lets out one last cry before it's killed with one deadly bite. The Monoclonius herd start to call out for their missing member, not knowing that it has been killed. The T-Rex is next seen trying to find a place to sleep and digest its meal.
Prelude of a full length documentary
Prehistoric Beast was only released in specialized animation festivals, but it convinced Robert Guenette and Steven Paul Mark to request Tippett's skills in order to transform it in a full length documentary. They then asked Tippett to realize new sequences with other dinosaur species, and the Prehistoric Beast material was added to the new one, resulting on Dinosaur! in 1985. Tippett had already participated in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
(1980), animating the tauntauns seen in the movie, and his experimental work on Prehistoric Beast and Dinosaur! served to the animated dinosaurs sequences he made some years later for Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
(1993).
Digital re-release
On April 6, 2011 the Tippett Studio had published on its Youtube official channel a digital restoration of the short.Trivia
- An excerpt of Prehistoric Beast was used in the educational CD-ROM Microsoft DinosaursMicrosoft DinosaursMicrosoft Dinosaurs: An Interactive Journey into the World of Dinosaurs is a discontinued educational program by Microsoft Home, published in 1993. It contains, among other things, an excerpt from Phil Tippett's short film Prehistoric Beast....
. - In the 1933 movie King KongKing Kong (1933 film)King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
a StegosaurusStegosaurusStegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
attacks the movie characters and after having killed it by gun fire one of the characters identifies it as being "a dinosaur, a prehistoric beast". An excerpt from this scene is shown in the final 1985 documentary Dinosaur!, as a reference to Prehistoric Beast, the short sequence by which it was preceded.