King Kongo

King Kong is a crucial part of film history, born out of the

trends of the time. Films set in the jungle with explorers trying
to find the unknown, scientists pretending to find something
new and dangerous, or a mystical discoveries of lost wonders.
These films were films such as Tarzan of the Apes and The
Lost World, they tried to push boundries but not as much as
King Kong did. They used mixtures of live action and stop motion by legendary Willis H. O'Brien.

The first classic monster picture that spawned the rest is

not simply a venerable old cinematic relic that one is
obliged to give a passing mention to. "King Kong" was
created to grip and thrill like no movie before, and these
basic principles hold surprisingly true today.- Almar
Haflidason, bbc.co.uk
King Kong is the true start of the big monster flick and the most
practical effects there after have been inspired from this, into
the world of CG films that we have today. It has inspired and
brought about some of the big monster films even a large chunk
we see in modern cinema. We see this ideal of thrill and shock and the out right goal to make people wonder what if, bringing a feeling of what if a monster attacked my home town. This is why
people flock to see well done monster movies even the truly rubbish ones , people just have a love
for monster films, like Pacific Rim and Clover Field and the other big classic Godzilla which is at
this very moment getting a face lift .

This remarkable film received no

Academy Awards nominations - it
would have won in the Special Effects
category if there had been such a category. The film contained many revolutionary technical innovations for its
time (rear projection, miniature models
about 18 inches in height, and trick
photography, etc.), and some of the
most phenomenal stop-motion animation sequences and special effects ever
filmed (by chief technician Willis
O'Brien, famed for his first feature film
The Lost World (1925)).NA
the climatic scene

Willis H. O'Brien you can expect this

movie to have some of the best practical
effects in the business. Willis H. O'Brien is one of the best in the field of animation, his stop motion
effects are what brought this film to life and make it what it is. If they didn't have such scenes as the
T rex fight or King Kong climbing the building the movie might not of been the same. You also
cant ignore Willis H. OBriens ability to add realism to his characters and how he pays attention
to every detail, adds an effective sense of realism to all characters.

The film has no deep plot and does not try to be smart. It is straight to the point and effortlessly story driven. It plays out like a comic book to add fear and wonder. Actors all play these very stereotypical roles which relate to the time it was filmed: in cinemas hay day. This meant films didn't
have to be smart they just had to entertain, as if some one had gone to the theatre to watch a play or
pantomine. All the characters over do their stereotypes like the brave masculine sailor, the really
useless heroin , the gritty director who just wants his shot and the slightly racist asian chef. This sort
of character acting works though as they are all entertaining and do their roles fine. They help make
this a simple story to follow even King Kong is made simple-they did not feel the need to make
King Kong connect with the audience, you still feel bad for him event though they just keep him
simple. The heroin may get annoying with her shear uselessness but she just sticks to what a audi-

ence at that time would expect so she just spends most her time screaming and needing a man.

It often seems as though Ann Redman, who goes through more terror than any of the other
characters in the film, would faint, but she always appears to be able to scream. MORDAUNT HALL.. (1933).

this film is beautifully filmed, it uses beautiful sets which where made on big sound stages but are
done so well they actually make you feel like you are on location. there are occasional mistakes and
weird moments, like a couple of the boulders bounce weirdly but these can be ignored
because of the amount of detail there is in other aspects, like how the back drops use such beautiful
matte paintings and have a brilliant depth to them this sort of set building defined king KONG saw
much innovation in cinematography for example the use of rear projection,dummy miniatures
which where all adopted by modern film are all still used today and other camera effects altho king
kong makers never got recognised for this at the time because there was no award for special effects
or visual effect in 1933.
It is especially amazing seeing as that the studio RKO which produced the film was in a bad financially state at the time so the budget for king kong was kept down but due to some foresight and
foresight and planning and use of of resource the film makers where still able to produce a masterpiece.

http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/59391/king-kong-1933-collectors-edition.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_(1933_film)

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Bibliography
.Almar Haflidason. ( 2001). King Kong . Available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/01/30/king_kong_1933_review.shtml.
Last accessed 21 October 2014.
MORDAUNT HALL.. (1933). King Kong (1933) A Fantastic Film in Which a
Monstrous Ape Uses Automobiles for Missiles and Climbs a Skyscraper..
Available:
http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F03E3DC173BEF3ABC4B5
3DFB5668388629EDE. Last accessed 21 October 2014.
n/a. (n/a). King Kong . Available: http://www.filmsite.org/kingk.html.
Last accessed 21 October 2014.