George Pal - Pioneer

George Pal was brought up by his grandparents. This was because all though they were celebrities, they were divorced. He studied architecture, then went on to work as an illustrator. His work was unpaid, so he immigrated to Berlin where he became head of the UFA studios cartoon production.

He soon left there and then began to animate cigarettes. However, in Czechoslovakia,  no-one was interested. So Pal decided to move to Paris as they were interested in his work. The first company Pal went to bought his idea, which made George famous due to how successful his animations were. He then opened up his own studios named ‘Dollywood Studios’, in Holland. He was then signed to Paramount Pictures where animators like Ray Harryhausen have worked. Here, he created many successful puppetoons. Because of this success, Paramount let him to do feature films. He won many awards for his special effects, which therefore lead him on to making his own films at his studio. George is most famous for The Time Machine and War of the Worlds.

Georges work has proven to be extremely popular and inspirational. For example, he used a series of different heads for different expressions for his characters. This technique is now used by many modern day animators, such as Tim Burton, which shows that Georges work has been inspirational. He also inspired other animators and film-makers because he was very resourceful and he always thought big on any project he was doing. George Pal used puppetoons to also create animation for TV such as Phillips Broadcast. George Pals work was extremely successful due to the fact that it was original and different to the previous pioneers work.