Ray Harryhausen refined and elevated stop-motion animation to an art. His Dynamation technique of matting animated creatures into live-action settings revolutionized the use of stop-motion animation in visual effects.
Ray was a master of his medium, applying skills as diverse as sculpture, illustration, painting, optics, history, and acting. Take any of his best-known creatures - The sword-fighting skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts, the Cyclops from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, or Clash of the Titan's Medusa, for example. Ray conceived and designed each shot; sculpted, cast in latex around an articulated metal armature, painted and detailed the stop-motion puppet; staged and lit a miniature set of his construction; and infused it with poetic animation. Lacking any practical pre-visualization tools, he knew if a shot succeeded only after the film was developed. He executed his shots single-handedly, working months at a time, in tiny converted storefront studios.
Beyond the sheer spectacle of his films, Ray never lost sight of the realities of commercial filmmaking. Shot in exotic (and cheap) locations with local crews, his techniques were tailored to deliver effects on time and on budget. His business sense led to scripts both visually rich and commercially viable, and kept him consistently employed from 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms until his retirement after 1981's Clash of the Titans.
The Ray Harryhausen Creature list emphasizes Ray's work in feature films. Not included are his early Mother Goose shorts; test reels and unrealized projects; and some stop-motion effects shots (such as the discus toss in Jason and the Argonauts), live-action effects (like the Iguana stand-in dinosaur from One Million Years B.C.), miniatures (including the Mysterious Island balloon), makeup & prosthetics, and animated replacements for humans caught in creatures' clutches. Ray Harryhausen deserves further credit for his groundbreaking work in composite effects, demonstrated to great effect in The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.
Ray was a master of his medium, applying skills as diverse as sculpture, illustration, painting, optics, history, and acting. Take any of his best-known creatures - The sword-fighting skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts, the Cyclops from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, or Clash of the Titan's Medusa, for example. Ray conceived and designed each shot; sculpted, cast in latex around an articulated metal armature, painted and detailed the stop-motion puppet; staged and lit a miniature set of his construction; and infused it with poetic animation. Lacking any practical pre-visualization tools, he knew if a shot succeeded only after the film was developed. He executed his shots single-handedly, working months at a time, in tiny converted storefront studios.
Beyond the sheer spectacle of his films, Ray never lost sight of the realities of commercial filmmaking. Shot in exotic (and cheap) locations with local crews, his techniques were tailored to deliver effects on time and on budget. His business sense led to scripts both visually rich and commercially viable, and kept him consistently employed from 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms until his retirement after 1981's Clash of the Titans.
The Ray Harryhausen Creature list emphasizes Ray's work in feature films. Not included are his early Mother Goose shorts; test reels and unrealized projects; and some stop-motion effects shots (such as the discus toss in Jason and the Argonauts), live-action effects (like the Iguana stand-in dinosaur from One Million Years B.C.), miniatures (including the Mysterious Island balloon), makeup & prosthetics, and animated replacements for humans caught in creatures' clutches. Ray Harryhausen deserves further credit for his groundbreaking work in composite effects, demonstrated to great effect in The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.
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