The 1925 film The Lost World used stop-motion dinosaurs that impressed Houdini and audiences

historyThe Public Domain Review1925 · United States

The 1925 film The Lost World used stop-motion dinosaurs that impressed Houdini and audiences

the gist

The Lost World, released in 1925, is a silent adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel about an expedition to a plateau where dinosaurs survive. Its dinosaurs were made by Willis O'Brien using stop-motion animation, moving model figures frame by frame. In 1922 Doyle showed a test reel to the Society of American Magicians, including Houdini, and the audience watched Triceratops, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus footage. The film was also the first shown to airline passengers, on a 1925 London to Paris flight. It influenced dinosaur films that followed, including King Kong.

how it works

Stop-motion animation moves a model a tiny amount between each photographed frame, so when the frames play back the creature appears to move on its own. O'Brien used jointed models and miniature sets, a method that made dinosaurs look real on the screen of the time.

so what

The film established stop-motion as a primary special effect and proved that audiences would pay to see dinosaurs on screen. Its techniques were refined for King Kong, and its approach is the ancestor of the later dinosaur film boom. Before computer graphics, this kind of model animation was the only way to show moving prehistoric creatures.

the bigger pattern

Special effects have repeatedly made monsters from the past feel real, from stop-motion creatures to CGI dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park films, each building on the technique before it.

fun fact

The Lost World was screened to passengers on a 1925 Imperial Airways flight between London and Paris, one of the first films shown in the air.

Image: The Public Domain Review

source: The Public Domain Review ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗