BEVERLY HILLS.- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the exhibit It´s Alive Bringing Animatronic Characters to Life and Film through September 10. Fantastical creatures, otherworldly characters and hideous monsters have been featured in movies since the earliest days of film, and they’ve often been brought to life with such realism that they’ve earned a place in our collective hearts, or our nightmares. The Academy’s exhibition honors the remarkable accomplishments of a group of artists whose work in the field of animatronics has created some of the most memorable non-human actors to ever work in motion pictures.

Through the art and technology of animatronics, filmmakers can shoot in real time as these mechanical creatures, operated through a combination of sophisticated electronic circuitry and old-fashioned puppeteering, interact with live actors on set in front of the camera.

With its roots in the early years of fantasy films, animatronics became widely used in the '70s and into the '90s, making characters like Yoda (from The Empire Strikes Back) to the giant ape Harry (of Harry and the Hendersons) possible. Although the advent of CGI has given filmmakers a different range of options when designing these characters, such recent films as Herbie Fully Loaded and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy have elected to use animatronics to allow real time performance.

This unusual Academy exhibition showcases numerous models, both large and small, maquettes, and actual animatronic creatures and their mechanisms in our Fourth Floor Gallery. Video monitors show the final product – these characters’ appearances on film. The Grand Lobby exhibit highlights the extensive design process these creatures undergo by presenting concept drawings, storyboards and photographs from the workshops and sets where these characters are built and operated.

Many of the film industry’s leading animatronics artists and companies are lending to this exhibition, including Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis of Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., the Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Legacy, Howard Berger of KNB EFX, Sony Pictures Studios, Tippett Studio, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios, Eric Allard, Rick Baker, Dave Barclay, Lyle Conway, Richard Edlund, Ray Harryhausen, and Robert Short. Films represented include 102 Dalmations, Alien3, Alien vs. Predator, An American Werewolf in London, Beetlejuice, Cats & Dogs, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Country Bears, The Dark Crystal, Dr. Dolittle, George of the Jungle, Ghostbusters, Gremlins 2, Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors, Jurassic Park, Men in Black II, Mighty Joe Young, Mortal Kombat, Predator, Robocop 2, The Santa Clause 2, Short Circuit, Snow Dogs, Spider-Man 2, Star Wars and Willow.