Who was Georges Melies? Google Doodle celebrates A Trip to the Moon director and French illusionist

GEORGES Méliès is a trailblazing French illusionist and film director who paved the way for film makers to experiment with visual techniques.

Here's why the cinematic genius is being celebrated with a Google Doodle.

Who was Georges Méliès and why is he honoured with a Google Doodle?

Georges Méliès was a film director, actor, set designer, illusionist, toymaker and costume designer.

He was born December 8, 1861, and died January 21, 1938.

The pioneering mind of Georges Méliès is still remembered for its cinematographic wonder which paved the way for special effects we see today.

To work his magic, Méliès was involved in all aspects of production from drawing set concepts to directing actors.

Méliès' achievements include the 1902 movie blockbuster A Trip to the Moon.

With its groundbreaking visual delights, its iconic scene of a space capsule crashing into the face of the moon is a milestone in movie history.

Before Méliès took to filmmaking, films were considered as reproductions of real-life and only movies that 'documented' reality were released.

Méliès changed everything with his fantasy-based works and without his pioneering cinemataography, we might never have seen The Avengers: Infinity War.

In honour of Melies groundbreaking work, his Google Doodle is the first-ever Virtual Reality/360 interactive Doodle.

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What is a Google Doodle?

In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.

The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.

In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.

Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.

Among the Doodles published recently were ones commemorating world renowned scientist Dr Jane Goodall and Earth Day 2018.

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