Made by the Shell Oil Co. as part of the “This is Oil” series of public relations films, this film “Prospecting for Petroleum” was produced by George Pal, a famed Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. The film was re-edited by the Shell Film Unit and released in June 1956. It was directed by Duke Goldstone with music by Clarence Wheeler and animation by Erwin Broner. Backgrounds by famed artist Reginald Massie, who worked closely with George Pal. This 1950s era, color, claymation film tells the story of oil — where petroleum comes from and how it has been prospected over the decades. The film opens with oil dripping from the left-hand side of the screen. Animations show ships and aircraft, cars and locomotives. The movie begins by being narrated by oil itself – and as a man sits in a chair, the background scenery changes to the different ways petroleum is used 1:30. Gears turn 1:55. Candles and oils are shown 2:06. A professor draws a circle on a blackboard 2:25. Mountains are shown 2:41. The different layers of the earth are shown 3:02. A plum shrivels to a prune in the professor’s hand 3:12. The blackboard drawing becomes an actual scene of the earth in a discussion about external forces on the earth’s surface 3:45. The professor demonstrates how different levels of soil and sediment build up over time in the Earth’s strata 4:02. The layers of sediment are often several miles in depth and put extreme pressure on the lower levels 4:14. Mud become shale, sands become sandstone and skeletons of marine animals become limestone 4:26. The remains of plants and marine animals are preserved by the salt water and heat and pressure eventually produce petroleum from the organic matter 4:38. Beneath the layers of sediment, the earth shrinks, causing the layers of sediment to buckle and fold 5:00. During the folding event, the oil and water are squeezed out of the strata in which they are formed and concentrated in the more porous layers 5:05. The oil and water separate and oil forms at the top 5:13. A typical oil trap is shown 5:23. Gas collects in the upper part of the dome of the gas trap 5:43. Sometimes layers of rock slip – up or down – on the fault 5:55. Sometimes oil may seep out of the earth and be seen on the surface 6:18. Oil leakage can occur along a fault plane, where fracturing of the rock above the dome occurs or by erosion of the strata over the oil trap 6:31. Animation from ancient Babylon where torches are being made were considered holy 7:00. An old Western medicine man performs 7:12. Man plays the banjo and sings. He then begins to hawk his petroleum product 7:50. A child reads by lamp light and the lamp light is turned off 8:30. Lamp oil is refined 8:40. George Bissell, the father of the American oil industry 8:53. Bissell meets Col. Drake near Titusville Pennsylvania. Drake, an American businessman is the first American to successfully drill for oil 9:07. Drake begins drilling with little science behind him and crude equipment 9:35. At 69 feet they strike oil 9:40. Oil wells pop up everywhere 9:50. Drilling sites are chosen by the flip of a coin or by divining rod 10:22. In 1860, the first serious efforts to find oil deposits were made by geologists at Earth’s surface level 11:05. Different patterns of the existing, producing oil wells are noticed by geologists 11:10. A cross-section of the strata of the earth under the oil wells is shown 11:28. A geologist examines a surface map 12:17. Core samples from the earth are taken and tested along with fossilized marine animals 12:35. Magnetic intensities of rock are measured with the magnetometer 12:52. Gravimeters are also used. A gravimeter is an instrument used to measure gravitational acceleration 13:17. Sound reflection techniques are also used and the professor bounces the ball off his desk to illustrate 13:56. Sound waves bouncing off strata can be measured to help find petroleum 14:02. An explosion is set off that will bounce back off different layers of rock 14:17. Intensity of sound reflection lets us know the depth of each layer of rock 14:55. Several explosions are set off to measure the various distances of sediment and rock 15:31. An airplane soars overhead 15:50. Oil drips again from the left-hand side of the screen 16:15. Oil wells and geologists are shown 16:23. Trucks and locomotives are shown in town 16:36. The Earth spins behind an oil rig 16:45. Several oil rigs are shown 17:15. Shell.

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