George Pal was a pioneer in the field of stop motion thanks to his work with puppets. He realised that if he were to use puppets he could use any camera to create his animations. The wooden puppets known as puppetoons were unlike any animation to date. These wooden models had a variety of heads and limbs that could be moved and changed in order to create motion and change the characters’ expressions. This was important to stop motion as previously animations were often drawn 2D animations or animated objects. Pal’s puppets were an alternative to this as he could create the 3D models and animate them himself, giving him as much creative freedom as possible by creating the set, the puppets and the animation.
(A Puppetoon episode by George Pal)
Stop motion was developed to be used in TV and film. King Kong was one of the first films to use stop motion in. In previous years it was used like a toy is used for entertainment. Using stop motion in film an TV was a huge develeopment as it opened up the options to film makers as they could add in effects to films that previously couldnt be done. King Kong also introduced developed armatures underneath the models.