Ray Harryhausen Prestation_Illustration

Ray HarryhausenMark Stamp, Dan Reason, Charlie Serafini

Introduction: Ray Himself

• American, born in Los Angeles

• Introduced to stop-motion

watching The Lost World (1925)

and King Kong (1933)

• Interest explored making

marionettes and clay models

• Credited with developing

Dynamation.

• Fascinated with mythology and

bringing fantasy into reality

• Parents encouraged and worked

with him on his interests

• Name became included on movie

posters.

• The Beast from 20,000 fathoms (1953)• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)• Clash of the Titans (1982)• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)• First Men On The Moon (1963)• Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Figure 1 Harryhausen 2. (2012)

Overview

Harryhausen created a method of stop motion animation that he called ‘Dynamation’,

Allowed him to split the animation from the live footage so his monsters could interact with the

actors.

Allowed the monsters to feel more realistic as they could then interact with live footage.

Medusa from Clash Of The Titans was animated in a way that made her feel very life like, as

each snake would be animated separately.

The model was very detailed so the close ups look very realistic as well as the life like

movements.

Figure 2 Rhedosaurus. (2013)

Clash Of The Titans

Harryhausen’s work in Clash Of The Titans was arguably his best, it paved the way for the

future of special effects in films. As Schwartz points out in his review of Clash Of The Titans‘Ray Harryhausen, the master of stop-motion animation and the father of special effects, called it a career after this film. His ground-breaking animation served as a transition for the upcoming CGI (computer graphics) that were soon to dominate films.’ (Schwartz, 2006). This suggests

that Harryhausen’s work partly influenced the new wave of CGI. It is possible that Harryhausen’s

dynamation technique influenced the more modern green screen effect.

Figure 3 Harryhausen 1. (2013)

Clash Of The Titans

‘I suspect the reason that so much of the effects work in Clash of the Titans is shabby is because Harryhausen and his team spent so much time and money getting Medusa right, because she is perfect in every way, a blast of horror perfectly executed and impossible to forget.’ (Brayton, 2013).

Figure 1. In comparison to the figure 2 feels slightly

less realistic, however this is due to the advances in

CGI.Figure 4 Medusa Old. (1982)

Figure 5 Medusa New. (2010)

Clash Of The Titans

Harryhausen’s models all had a remarkable amount of detail, which made them feel more realistic to the

viewer.

‘Though special effects techniques today have been dramatically transformed by CGI, the highly-

imaginative and incredibly detailed work by Ray Harryhausen in his legendary films continues to hold

audiences spellbound today.’ (Levy, 2005).

Harryhausen’s ability to capture attention of audiences is possibly due to the amount of detail he put

into making his models look realistic and the technique in which they were animated.

Figure 6. Dioskilos Anatomy. (2003)

Clash Of The Titans

"Screen actors are always glamourised so why shouldn't I glamourise my creatures?"

(Harryhausen, 2003)

It is possible that Harryhausen viewed his models as additional actors, this meant he wanted

to make them very detailed and the centre of attention.

Medusa is a key example: Almost looks like an actor in make up when in close-up shots.

This shows the amount of effort and detail that went into the design and creation of

Harryhausen’s models.

Dynamation

Dynamation is a technique that Harryhausen created

which allowed him to animate his models on a

separate layer

This allowed his models to interact with live footage.

This helped create much more realistic effects that

were believable.

It is possible Dynamation is a huge influence on

modern CGI techniques (e.g. green screen). It uses a

similar technique in which the background is removed

so CG can replace it.

Figure 7. Dynamation workings. (2009)

Figure 8. Greenscreen Avengers. (2011)

Influences

Harryhausen’s first memories of his mother are her

fear of earthquakes, this is due to the San Francisco

1906 earthquake which she survived.

Harryhausen was potentially influenced by his

mother’s story of the destruction, which in turn led

him to create movies that had catastrophic

destruction throughout.

Figure 9. SanFran Earthquake 1. (1906)

Figure 10. SanFran Earthquake 2. (1906)

Conclusion

- Models are very well detailed

- Animation is very life like

- Dynamation allowed for live interaction

- Inspired modern techniques (Green screen)

- His legacy lasts longer than the films.

Illustration List

Figure 1. Harryhausen 2. (2012). http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/movies/movie-news/movie-stalwart-ray-harryhausen-

reveals-1415510 (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 2. Rhedosaurus. (1953). https://monsterlegacy.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/rhedosaurus/comment-page-1/ (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 3. Harryhausen. (2008). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/movies/ray-harryhausen-cinematic-special-effects-innovator-

dies-at-92.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 4. Medusa Old. (1982). http://www.gamesradar.com/20-coolest-80s-fantasy-films/ (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 5. Medusa New. (2010).

http://www.fxguide.com/featured/clash_of_the_titans_cinesite_framestore_and_mpc/ (Accessed 19/11/14)

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews51/clash_of_the_titans_blu-ray.htm (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 6. Dioskilos Anatomy: Harryhausen, R., 2003; "Ray Harryhausen An Animated Life", pg. 271, Aurum Press Ltd. London,

England.

Figure 7. Dynamation workings. (2009). http://www.rayharryhausen.com/dynamation.php (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 8. Greenscreen Avengers. (2011). http://filmmakeriq.com/courses/history-and-techniques-of-modern-chromakey/ (Accessed

19/11/14)

Figure 9. SanFran Earthquake 1. (1906). http://www.almanac.com/content/remembering-1906-san-francisco-earthquake (Accessed

19/11/14)

Figure 10. SanFran Earthquake 2. (1906).

http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/geologic_hazards/earthquakes/pages/sanfrancisco_1906.aspx (Accessed 19/11/14)

Figure 11. Pondering Cat. (2012).

http://deepintoscripture.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cat-pondering-if-want.jpg (Accessed 19/11//14)

Bibliography

Brayton, T. (2013). antagony.blogspot.co.uk. http://antagonie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/harryhausen-week-release-kraken.html

(Accessed on 13/11/2014)

Harryhausen, R. (2003). “Ray Harryhausen An Animated Life", pg. 198, Aurum Press Ltd. London, England.

Levy, E. (2005). emanuellevy.com. http://emanuellevy.com/review/clash-of-the-titans-1981-8/ (Accessed on 13/11/2014)

Schwartz, D. (2006). homepages.sover.net. http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/clashofthetitans.htm (Accessed on 13/11/2014)