Editing Stop motion (section)

====Willis O'Brien's early films====
[[File:The Dinosaur and the Missing Link.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=3|''The Dinosaur and the Missing Link'' (1915)]] 
[[File:Agathaumas.ogv|thumb|Excerpt from ''The Lost World'' (1925); animation by Willis O'Brien]]
[[Willis O' Brien]]'s first stop-motion film was ''[[The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy]]'' (1915). Apart from the titular dinosaur and "[[missing link (human evolution)|missing link]]" ape, it featured several cavemen and an ostrich-like "desert quail", all relatively lifelike models made with clay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/00694020/|title=The dinosaur and the missing link, a prehistoric tragedy|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> This led to a series of short animated comedies with a prehistoric theme for Edison Company, including ''Prehistoric Poultry'' (1916), ''R.F.D. 10,000 B.C.'' (1917), ''The Birth of a Flivver'' (1917) and ''Curious Pets of Our Ancestors'' (1917). O'Brien was then hired by producer Herbert M. Dawley to direct, create effects, co-write and co-star with him for ''[[The Ghost of Slumber Mountain]]'' (1918). The collaborative film combined live-action with animated dinosaur models in a 45-minute film, but after the premiere it was cut down to approximately 12 minutes. Dawley did not give O'Brien credits for the visual effects, and instead claimed the animation process as his own invention and even applied for patents.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Webber|first=Roy P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=le9QoR0JyEYC&q=%22The%20Dinosaur%20and%20the%20Missing%20Link%22%20clay&pg=PA10|title=The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments and Unrealized Projects|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-1666-0|language=en}}</ref> O'Brien's stop-motion work was recognized as a technique to create lifelike creatures for adventure films. O' Brien further pioneered the technique with animated dinosaur sequences for the live-action feature ''[[The Lost World (1925 film)|The Lost World]]'' (1925).