I don't care if it's "dated" - it's absolutely wonderful - the work involved must have been incredible - it's not supposed to be perfect - it was supposed to be fantastic
I love how, even though there aren't many, there's always a couple of stop motion films that come out every few years. People are still attracted and enamored by this ancient technique. And that's just cool
I made a Harryhausen-inspired short film with stop motion and live action during my final year at uni. It was a technical nightmare, even using computers to composite everything and looked far worse than anything Harryhausen created. It really gave me a new appreciation for his work and just how good it looks.
That sounds like a great endeavour. Would you be willing to share your short film with us please? I would really like to see a stop-motion animation in his style.
9:11 OK, genuinely impressed by this shot. That's at least three separate elements, all being combined in-camera. And it's completely seamless. He even perfectly matched the lighting on the model to the lighting on the actor fighting it.
It's a lost art. Try and get somebody to do that today "in camera" and they'll look at you funny and go "What do you mean, "in camera"?" Sometimes though, I think the limitations of the time made for better movies because they were believable. A good example is the first Star Wars trilogy versus anything that came after. The first three movies had an air of believability - you could imagine those sort of things happening. Compare that to the modern movies where anything goes, they can do anything they want and have 14,000,000 items on screen. It loses it's street cred because they're just being so blatantly obvious and it blows the immersion.
@@That_AMC_Guy Exactly, I completely agree. I remember when I was a kid watching Indiana Jones or ET behind the scenes, and it was always so fascinating to see all the work the put in, all the various experiments they made...It must have been so exciting, because there was no exact science behind it. No rules, everybody really just worked with what they had and did what they thought was right. It was really an adventure.
The Medusa sequence in CLASH. . .is the one that floors me. Creating the fire's flicker must have been a nightmare to get perfectly right. I also love the torch scene with the sword-wielding ghoul in . . .EYE OF THE TIGER.
An older special effect doesn't automatically look "bad" simply because we can tell that it's an effect and how it was done. True artistry is timeless. It donesn't need to be "seamless".
That crocodile fight from Gulliver is so incredibly clean it blows my mind. Like you can't see matte lines, there is no generational loss from optical printing. It just looks like a tiny guy fighting a crocodile oin a table
The skeleton fight has always stayed with me from childhood. Even now, with all the advances in tech, I still find it astonishing to watch. I would love to see someone actually try and assemble all the equipment and attempt to recreate a shot like this.
The way that the skeleton fight in "Jason and the Argonauts" was filmed is impressive in its simplicity-- the actors rehearsed and rehearsed the fight choreography over and over again, with stuntmen taking the place of the skeletons; until the actors had their movements down cold. Once they had reached that stage, the scene was finally filmed without the stuntmen. A modern redo would employ greenscreen technology to allow the actors to fight with the stuntmen, while filming (assuming that the stuntmen never occluded the actors-- the original had the opposite problem, the actors could never occlude the skeletons).
What's truly amazing about Ray Harryhausen is that in spite of all the accolades and fame, he was just a "regular guy" to his friends, and a very entertaining one. Those of us fortunate enough to call him a friend miss Ray the "man" as much as Ray the special effects artist.
I grew up watching and loving Harryhausen films 50s-70s. When the skeleton children are "birthed" from the teeth of the Hydra we were all mesmerized. Then the fight scene, the minatour, Talos, Cyclops, Pegasus...the stuff of my childhood fantasies. Jason and the Argonauts has got to be my favorite, but all his films are amazing including Clash of the Titans. I have watched each of them countless times and never tire of his artistry and genius. I love his films so much my husband bought me a compilation set of all his films. Thanks for explaining how he managed so many of these iconic scenes. It makes what he accomplished with limited tools even more amazing. His legacy lives on and continues to inspire others. Please don't let stop-motion animation die. Such an incredible artform. Thank you.
I'm a millennial. But I grew up on his movies, as they were often repeated on UK television. They astounded me then. And to this day they still do. And it's in no small part because of them that I have a career in art now.
Harryhausen had an absolutely beautiful sense of motion in his animation. Truly lovely to watch the shots just standing alone Also should out to Monsters Inc who first introduced me to the name
The shot of Medusa going through the torch-lit hallway is one that never gets enough credit. Think of the time and effort need to do the dynamic lighting on a real clay model in a frame-by-frame manner and to have it synch up with the dynamic lighting of the rear-projection. Harryhausen was not just a genius, he was an INSANELY AMBITIOUS genius.
Even though you can tell it's fake, the stop motion just looks so good. It's really charming in its own way. It's fun to see how to make fantastical situations without CGI. It makes it feel more grounded in a way. I think because of our increasingly digital world it's nice to see something more tangible.
Harryhausen is pure magic. Time hasn't dulled that. If anything, his work has more fun and wonder in each frame than modern movies with all the technology we have now. He's right up the re with Walt Disney in my book.
It always amaze me when I think about the old times of movie making. Special effects as also cartoon movies are so freaking much an accurate work to do.
Thank you for this - the best example of Harryhausen's brilliance was his work on Jason and the Argonauts, and Medusa in particular - best to compared his version of Medusa to Medusa in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans - you can't match the utter strangeness of the original !!
Mad God is a perfect example of blending stop motion with live action in this wonderfully creative format of animated cinema, the level of techincal prowess and knowledge that title protrudes is just simply amazing
I was talking to Ray one day about stop-motion vs. CGI and expressed to him that I found his work more effective because I could feel a personal artistry, real hands at work and loved how his work had a dreamlike quality. He agreed.
Just watched Jason and the Argonauts a couple days ago and it reminded me of what a genius Ray Harryhausen was. Many movies from my youth featured his work.
What I really loved is the fact these guys were true, true pioneers in the film industry. It's not like you went to youtube, looked this stuff up, and made a film. Back then, they had to research things on their own, fail numerous times, and figure out what worked, what didn't, and stay within their means. What they learned on one film aided them in the next, taking that true, raw talent with them to each new film. Even now, we're starting to get into another phase of pioneering in terms of film making. The Mandalorian is one great example where they are starting to turn to the gaming industry for ideas. What I hope to see is equipment, software, etc. that typically costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars condensed into packages for indie developers. Have some VR headsets worth like $500 to $1k each, get actors in there, use Unreal Engine 5 (or whatever at the time), and create some truly awesome indie films. What'll be even sweeter is if VR tech progresses to the point -- similar to Sword Art Online -- where you can feel the environment. Feel that flash of heat from fire, a quick chill of wind, or your body tingle if it's near electricity. That might be Sci-Fi level stuff, but many people thought current cellphones, paper-thin TVs, and the like would never happen/the realm of Sci-Fi.
THANK YOU for giving such a gracious, educated, and "in the context of the times" tribute to Ray Harryhausen. I talked with him once and he was everything you'd hope one of your heroes to be - kind and quite open to discussing his work. It is so good to see you talk about the limitations he fought against in each film he made... budget, time, film processing in post production, etc. I am directing your fascinating video to all my friends.
I got into Harryhausen's work through Clash of the Titans because I'm a big Greek Mythology fan and it just grabbed me from the get-go. I could sense the love, craft, and care put into each design and movement of his creations, and it was enthralling. Like you said, while some might think his creatures look "dated" compared to something modern like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, Gollum, or even the Na'vi from Avatar, every time I see Harryhausen's works, there's always a heart and a sense of magic to it that never goes away. A sense of quality and attention to detail that makes it feel timeless. It fills me with wonder and childlike awe, adventurous excitement, chilling thrills, and even a little bit of fear at times. It makes me want to make a film or creature like that of my own.
@8:00 Understanding and integrating the limitations of the budget and the limitations of the techniques are every bit as much of a skill and talent as the creative engineering involved in creating an effect.
Harryhausen is a god - when I was a kid and learned that this name was synonymous for stunning Stop Motion I got really excited each time a (for me) new Ray Harryhausen film was shown on television.
I'm in fear of the future generations losing any ability to appreciate these older styles of filmmaking and special effects. I feel there's hope as long as there are people passionate about making movies in their garages with tiny figures.
The best part about modern technology is that it's a lot easier for someone to get started doing stuff like this. A cellphone with memory card, a computer, and some models. No need to mess with getting film developed and buying more. You can see how a given frame looks almost immediately.
@@rogerrabbit80 The problem with that is it creates this mindset that the modern way is the ONLY way - people lose the ability to appreciate the craft that went into older moviemaking.
I honestly believe that a lot of younger people wouldn't even realize the work that must have gotten into many spectacular scenes of the past. and, in their defense, to a degree understandably so. even more obvious regarding stunt work: I could easily see people thinking that something like Rick Sylvester jumping off Mt. Asgard ("The Spy who loved me") or the T-1000 flying a helicopter beneath that bridge ("Terminator 2") must have been done in cgi, in front of a green screen or something. because how could they even fathom thinking ANYONE would have done these stunts "for real"?! and just to emphasize: while I'm all in favor of stunt people doing less life-threatening stunts, I also can't help but to appreciate the insanity of it.
Stan Winston too had a knack for making the unreal look, move, and sound real. Especially his Oscar-winning Xenomorph Queen. It'd be amazing if movies kept doing what both men did for the world of film.
There was a fantastic exhibition of his work, including the original models, some FANTASTIC sketches and storyboards, and film clips at the The Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art. Phenomenal experience, seeing the detail in the models, and the armatures, and learning how much his parents allowed him to grow and experiment as a child,
Many nice comments here. Well spoken, well said. One small note: many people often say that they admire the "claymation" Mr. Harryhausen did, or his "clay figures" or that he animated with real clay models. They were all real world effigies (not CG virtuals, which is the main point, I surmise), but I think it should be stated that though these animation figures were initially sculpted from an oil based plasticine clay, the animated models were never "claymations" (a term coined by Will Vinton). Mr. Harryhausen's animation figure's final form were almost exclusively made of built up latex, or (mostly) cast foamed latex (he called it "sponge latex") with jointed metal armature skeletons inside. They would initially be sculpted in clay to achieve the aesthetic form, then a mold would be made (moulded) from that sculpture in gypsum stone plaster. The foamed latex (whipped up in a Mixmaster, or the like) was injected in to the mold and cured in an oven at around 200° to 210° Fahrenheit (around 93° to 98° Celsius). The final casting was finished and painted personally by Mr. Harryhausen. In the end, he would ultimately have a flexible figure that would retain its shape and not have to be resculpted during animation, as is often necessary to some degree with the "claymation" approach to stop-motion animation. Virtually all of his animation models (some call them "puppets" or "Animodels") were made this way, with the exception of the Giant Crab in *Mysterious Island*. That particular model was made from an actual crab's shell, taxidermy prepared by an artisan from the London Royal Museum for him. The shell was assembled by RH, a custom made ball and socket armature inserted, and the fleshy bits replicated in latex -- in the mouth area and joints between the shell portions. Sometimes he would use clay for bits of "business" during animation (making Mighty Joe Young's lips purse, for example, when it was not possible to controll the rubber figure's face that tightly). However, his animation models were never animated as clay figures otherwise, as is the case with the majority of Will Vinton's most well known work and (most often) Nick Park and the Aardman Studio's films.
I know what you mean about the magic of stop motion. I especially feel in in King Kong. The qualities of the animation, combined with the Gustav Dore jungles, and silver-nitrate shimmer, all combine to create a dream like feeling to the film.
I was a big fan of Harryhausen's movies as a teenager, despite the fact that my grandparents probably watched some of them when they were younger. I remember watching a documentary about his movies in which he talked about a promise he made with Ray Bradbury: "We're gonna grow old but we're never gonna grow up. We're gonna be two old men who still love dinosaurs." And you can really feel that kind of passion in his work, even if the effect is janky, and even though not all of those movies had aged well. Sure enough, Harryhausen and Bradbury remained close friends all their lives, and they continued to love and support each other all the way through. Truly inspiring.
I grew up in the 80's watching Ray Harryhausen's films, and even though they are dated, I still love them, they're so beautiful to watch; movies back then had a magic to them that always brings me back.
Harryhausen was the best at looking at all parts of the film. He was present at the live action scenes studying how the actors worked with the stand ins for his creatures. His ability to impeccably match the lighting and foreground textures makes his animation the gold standard of classic vfx. I get annoyed when people claim it looks cheap, but sometimes that may speak more to the B genre with the grade of actors they could afford and often how many didn't even know what they were reacting to when filming the live action scenes. Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is the best of the genre he worked on vs his work on fantasy films is nothing short of inspiring
All these movies I grew up with. Saturday morning or midday films. Brings back memories of family being all together. I'm happy that I got to see Ray Harryhausen back I the late 80s. It was a pleasure to meet a genius. This certainly is a great video and informative. Thanks for this wonderful look into the Stop Motion era. Super Dynamation! 👍🙂🇭🇲🦘✌️ Comment from Australia.
Man, even though I've never seen most of the films mentioned, I've unknowingly taken a lot of inspiration from Ray Harryhausen and still uses similar technique in the videos on my channel. Thank you for this video!
I remember watching those Fairy Tale shorts by Ray Harryhousen about the retelling of the classic fairy tale stories with his style. That man is way ahead of his time for stop motion animation alongside with Art Clokey and Henry Selick.
Wow, after being a fan since the 1970s and watching umpteen docs and behind the scenes videos, seeing the puppets in person at an exhibition (including an original Mighty Joe Young naked armature) this is the first time I've seen the inserts of swords added to make them clash and overlap better. The genius still continues to amaze.
Excellent work! The Harryhausen films are still among my favorites. Today's Hollywood could benefit from rewatching them and employing more of what made them work - and last as long as they have - into their current and future productions.
Great video, helping others to see how Harryhausen did his magic. My first was "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" when I was about 7 or 8. I remember seeing "20 Million Miles to Earth" and then I was hooked and realized he was the source of this magic. I saw everything I could find about Harryhausen. I realized a few years ago that the thing most people complained about was the jerkiness of the movements, but I always found it made the creatures more 'otherworldly' than the smoothness of CGI. I was fortunate to see Harryhausen at an area museum about 40 years ago and got to talk to him for a couple of minutes after the presentation. He was a very kind person. I just saw "Maurice..." and even though it was stop-motion, it had no soul. Ray brought life and personality to the creatures he animated. There will never be another like him. RIP.
Love Harryhausen. I feel strongly that his films hold up even today. Jason and The Argonauts, Valley of the Gwangi, Beast from 20,000 Fathoms....Yep...I'll watch that over a CGI heavy film like The Hobbit any day.
If you watch these movies to laugh at them, point out their flaws, and crow about how much better CGI is now, you miss the point. The films with Harryhausen's magical effects were magical at the time. I saw a lot of these movies in the theater, when they had several cartoons at the start of the show; then previews, and finally, the movies themselves. It was a bargain, paying fifty cents to get in, and paying ten cents for a box of popcorn, and a nickel for a soda. Thanks for bringing up old, cherished memories.
Compare Sinbad jumping to attack the cyclopean centaur in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" with Boromir jumping to attack the cave troll in "Fellowship of the Ring". Guess which sequence looks worse? After Sinbad gets on the monster's back, there is a closeup of the actor with a partial mock up of the monster, just enough to fill out the frame of the closeup, which makes the rest of the fight look that much more real. In "Fellowship of the Ring", we are just given a fight sequence with an unconvincing CGI Boromir that makes the willing suspension of disbelief much harder. An unspoken aspect of Harryhausen films is that the actors work to help convince the audience that they really are facing off against a creature that the actor only sees after the film is released.
The beauty of stop-motion is that the models are real, physical objects that exist in the real world. So even though we know what we're looking at on screen is "fake" (as in, it's a scale model) we also know that it's "real" (as in, it's a physical object). That's why, still to this day, the skeletons and Talos in Jason and the Argonauts, or the AT-AT walkers from Empire Strikes Back still look great: because they're "real". I'd also like to add that part of the reason why we (used to) enjoy movies is that we like(d) watching real people doing something interesting. It could be Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding, or Zoë Bell strapped to the hood of Kurt Russell's car in Death Proof - we get excited seeing real people doing real things, even though we know it's also fake. That's why so over-reliance on CG tends to make for boring films. Good CG, like Lord of the Rings or Jurassic Park use CG in conjunction with physical effects and it blends nicely, but other films (Marvel, DC) can be boring because so little of what we're seeing is "real". There's a reason why movies are dying and character-driven dramas on TV have gotten more popular: people crave a genuine experience, even if it's artificial - we still want to see human artistry and human effort on display, not well-executed computer code. And no offense to the hard work of CG animators, but hard work and long hours for crappy corporations does not necessarily mean the final product is that great, it just means a lot of work went into something that should probably have been done differently.
Excellent video! Ray Harryhausen was a tremendous influence on me in my youth and his films will always have a sense of magic to them that never gets old; it's also incredible to see how much sheer work and creative thinking was involved for even the most minute details.
Perfect! Just the video I needed. I have a Christmas movie on the mind that combines Rankin Bass stop motion with live action. Kind of like Elf, but with more animation…AND more Rankin Bass references.
Outstanding. Appreciating the work Ray Harryhausen is to appreciate the art of filmmaking and the wonder of it all. Keep up the good work. Every video like this adds to the great snowball that keeps on rolling and rolling.
Fabulous explication. The "3D-ification" of the b&w clip was beautifully conceived and executed. I've seen these techniques described multiple times, but never so well. Cheers.
Another really great video. Constantly in awe of your ability to put together these informative and compelling film history videos. Keep it up. I'm sure I'm not the only one discovering something new from these projects.
I see Royal Ocean these days, I click? I see Royal Ocean covering the one and only Ray Harryhausen?! I CLICK HARDER. Thanks so much for this delightful video! Even as the decades march on, Harryhausen's creatures never cease to enthrall.
These classic special fx I feel added to the overall finishing touches for example the iron man in Jason and the Argonauts, the fact that the motion of when he turned his head wasn't smooth only added a truer feel for how you'd imagine a massive and rusting creature to move. Chilling back then, still chilling today 👌🏻
When I was growing up, I loved monster movies. Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla. Foe Halloween in 4th grade my teacher showed the school 7th Voyage of Sinbad. The Cyclops riveted me. I could not figure out he he could be as he was definitely not a man in a suit, but moved so naturally (it wasn't a hand puppet or on strings). I started making animated monster films with the family's 8mm. Wanted to work on movies. Star Wars just cemented that idea, though SW did open up the types of special effects. While I was never able to make it a career, I did work on films. I worked with a pyrotechnician where cars were blown up, stuntmen set on fire, and I created most of the blood bags used in a massive shootout for Maniac Cop II and helped surround a stage for a music video. Also got a chance to work at Apogee for a Pillsbury Dough Boy commercial actually getting paid to take orders from John Dykstra (Yes, that John Dykstra). I was even an extra for five days on Army of Darkness (where I can say I was actually given direction by Sam Rami for a few shots). All thanks to Harryhausen and my 4th Grade teacher, George Mason.
My two favorites are everything in Clash of the Titans and the giant metallic guardian with the 'Achilles heel' in JATA. But one must marvel at his overall creativity and enormous work load. (And I have to say that the skeleton fight is just damned good.)
I remember as a kid and after subsequent rewatches, the stop motion in Sinbad still hits me so well. There was always something so uncanny about how much the cyclops moved, for example, where he was really, frighteningly fast, even though his steps were slow and sluggish. He felt heavy but incredibly strong because of the way he moved. One of the most convincing effects was the treasure, which gave you reference to size and magnitude of power. The victim is grabbing at a mountain of gold while he is dragged away, and it feels so real, even if the model itself looks fake. The fire was also incredible. Something about combining live fire effects with a very realistically lit cyclops, mixed with the fact that so many scenes were outdoors, it felt like something you could realistically stumble across on an uninhabited island, and that terrified and fascinated me.
Another fantastic video essay! Watching this video right after I saw that Netflix are releasing a series in August called Lost Ollie which combined live action and stop motion
There is something fascinating about how much work you can feel with stop motion, it is something almost vertiginous, to think the long hours and days and weeks into something consumed, almost, casually in seconds. CGI requieres much hard work too, but its perfection tends to make it harder to grasp the effort.
The interesting thing is all theses techniques are still in use today. Sure they've mostly been applied to CG, but the basic technique is more or less the same. I like that. All effects, all techniques, are built on those that came before in some way. And yeah theses effects aged... like all effects do, no matter how great. You'll always find their limits eventually. The trick is not so much making it "perfect" and more making it look "good". Especially when dealing with a fantasy and imaginary world, what you want is less it looking "real" and rather it looking consistant.
I grew up watching the Sinbad movies and loved them so much, especially the creature design. The movies with the most amount of special effects were my favorite as a kid. The fight with the 6 armed Indian statue was my favorite. i still love them today, even though I must admit they look pretty bad with my adult eyes. However, the one thing all of them do better than any modern cgi movie is that the monsters were actually scary. Like looking at them even today freaks me more out than any cgi monster we have seen for the last 20+ years.
Could you do a primer on Front Projection dynamation? David Allen did some absolutely seamless latter day process shots in the 90s with some of the Charles Band movies he worked on. It was always difficult to get the color temperature and grain to totally match with rear projection, but Allen's stuff (which I'm 99 percent sure was front projection) is amazing.
It's INSANE to think how they did this Purely with FILM!? It almost should motivate us to try and do anything nowadays now that we have the ability to do so much
The skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonauts is still visually stunning. I couldn't believe this was made almost 60 years ago!
I don't care if it's "dated" - it's absolutely wonderful - the work involved must have been incredible - it's not supposed to be perfect - it was supposed to be fantastic
It could be remade today with CGI and it wouldn't look as good. It's a style, an artistic choice.
Check out the AI interpolated version of it
Imagine animating each skeleton individually and all of them need to be syncronized.
@@litjellyfish Do you mean the 60fps version of it? I actually love how it looks, it makes it look strangely real!
The history of visual effects will never fail to astound me. VFX artists then and now deserve more appreciation
@Center Row
No kidding, I'm two minutes in and the first example sounds like a lot of work.
It's because there's no union
@@smileyp4535 And there really should be. Vfx artists are being completely abused in the making of modern triple A movies
@@Memu_ absolutely, 100%. They are exploited because there's no union so to not be exploited they should unionize
@@Memu_ Eh, pure CGI ones I look down upon them a bit.
I love how, even though there aren't many, there's always a couple of stop motion films that come out every few years. People are still attracted and enamored by this ancient technique. And that's just cool
Pinocchio was amazing and I was crying near the end
I made a Harryhausen-inspired short film with stop motion and live action during my final year at uni. It was a technical nightmare, even using computers to composite everything and looked far worse than anything Harryhausen created. It really gave me a new appreciation for his work and just how good it looks.
That sounds like a great endeavour. Would you be willing to share your short film with us please? I would really like to see a stop-motion animation in his style.
i would love to see it as well
@@meghnadfilmclub2389
9:11 OK, genuinely impressed by this shot. That's at least three separate elements, all being combined in-camera. And it's completely seamless. He even perfectly matched the lighting on the model to the lighting on the actor fighting it.
It's a lost art. Try and get somebody to do that today "in camera" and they'll look at you funny and go "What do you mean, "in camera"?"
Sometimes though, I think the limitations of the time made for better movies because they were believable. A good example is the first Star Wars trilogy versus anything that came after. The first three movies had an air of believability - you could imagine those sort of things happening.
Compare that to the modern movies where anything goes, they can do anything they want and have 14,000,000 items on screen. It loses it's street cred because they're just being so blatantly obvious and it blows the immersion.
@@That_AMC_Guy Exactly, I completely agree. I remember when I was a kid watching Indiana Jones or ET behind the scenes, and it was always so fascinating to see all the work the put in, all the various experiments they made...It must have been so exciting, because there was no exact science behind it. No rules, everybody really just worked with what they had and did what they thought was right. It was really an adventure.
The Medusa sequence in CLASH. . .is the one that floors me. Creating the fire's flicker must have been a nightmare to get perfectly right. I also love the torch scene with the sword-wielding ghoul in . . .EYE OF THE TIGER.
And they have shadows!
watch the dinosaur roping scene in Gwangi.
An older special effect doesn't automatically look "bad" simply because we can tell that it's an effect and how it was done. True artistry is timeless. It donesn't need to be "seamless".
That crocodile fight from Gulliver is so incredibly clean it blows my mind. Like you can't see matte lines, there is no generational loss from optical printing. It just looks like a tiny guy fighting a crocodile oin a table
The skeleton fight has always stayed with me from childhood. Even now, with all the advances in tech, I still find it astonishing to watch.
I would love to see someone actually try and assemble all the equipment and attempt to recreate a shot like this.
I kindly direct you to the TH-cam channel Animist. They do astonishing work there.
The way that the skeleton fight in "Jason and the Argonauts" was filmed is impressive in its simplicity-- the actors rehearsed and rehearsed the fight choreography over and over again, with stuntmen taking the place of the skeletons; until the actors had their movements down cold. Once they had reached that stage, the scene was finally filmed without the stuntmen. A modern redo would employ greenscreen technology to allow the actors to fight with the stuntmen, while filming (assuming that the stuntmen never occluded the actors-- the original had the opposite problem, the actors could never occlude the skeletons).
It looks more real than CGI imo
Agreed
Those skeletons don't seem to get tired-that's why they are so formidable.
What's truly amazing about Ray Harryhausen is that in spite of all the accolades and fame, he was just a "regular guy" to his friends, and a very entertaining one. Those of us fortunate enough to call him a friend miss Ray the "man" as much as Ray the special effects artist.
I grew up watching and loving Harryhausen films 50s-70s. When the skeleton children are "birthed" from the teeth of the Hydra we were all mesmerized. Then the fight scene, the minatour, Talos, Cyclops, Pegasus...the stuff of my childhood fantasies. Jason and the Argonauts has got to be my favorite, but all his films are amazing including Clash of the Titans. I have watched each of them countless times and never tire of his artistry and genius. I love his films so much my husband bought me a compilation set of all his films. Thanks for explaining how he managed so many of these iconic scenes. It makes what he accomplished with limited tools even more amazing. His legacy lives on and continues to inspire others. Please don't let stop-motion animation die. Such an incredible artform. Thank you.
I'm a millennial. But I grew up on his movies, as they were often repeated on UK television. They astounded me then. And to this day they still do. And it's in no small part because of them that I have a career in art now.
Good for you
9:26 That Iron Golem turning his head with the sound of the screeching metal is awesome.
The skeleton scene is one of the most badass pieces of film history.
Harryhausen had an absolutely beautiful sense of motion in his animation. Truly lovely to watch the shots just standing alone
Also should out to Monsters Inc who first introduced me to the name
The shot of Medusa going through the torch-lit hallway is one that never gets enough credit. Think of the time and effort need to do the dynamic lighting on a real clay model in a frame-by-frame manner and to have it synch up with the dynamic lighting of the rear-projection.
Harryhausen was not just a genius, he was an INSANELY AMBITIOUS genius.
Even though you can tell it's fake, the stop motion just looks so good. It's really charming in its own way. It's fun to see how to make fantastical situations without CGI. It makes it feel more grounded in a way. I think because of our increasingly digital world it's nice to see something more tangible.
Harryhausen is pure magic. Time hasn't dulled that. If anything, his work has more fun and wonder in each frame than modern movies with all the technology we have now. He's right up the re with Walt Disney in my book.
It always amaze me when I think about the old times of movie making. Special effects as also cartoon movies are so freaking much an accurate work to do.
I never get tired if enjoying Harryhausen’s works, more entertaining than many of today’s
Thank you for this - the best example of Harryhausen's brilliance was his work on Jason and the Argonauts, and Medusa in particular - best to compared his version of Medusa to Medusa in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans - you can't match the utter strangeness of the original !!
Ray Harryhausen would be missed as a legend. Rest in piece 1920-2013
Mad God is a perfect example of blending stop motion with live action in this wonderfully creative format of animated cinema, the level of techincal prowess and knowledge that title protrudes is just simply amazing
I was talking to Ray one day about stop-motion vs. CGI and expressed to him that I found his work more effective because I could feel a personal artistry, real hands at work and loved how his work had a dreamlike quality. He agreed.
Just watched Jason and the Argonauts a couple days ago and it reminded me of what a genius Ray Harryhausen was. Many movies from my youth featured his work.
What I really loved is the fact these guys were true, true pioneers in the film industry. It's not like you went to youtube, looked this stuff up, and made a film. Back then, they had to research things on their own, fail numerous times, and figure out what worked, what didn't, and stay within their means. What they learned on one film aided them in the next, taking that true, raw talent with them to each new film. Even now, we're starting to get into another phase of pioneering in terms of film making. The Mandalorian is one great example where they are starting to turn to the gaming industry for ideas.
What I hope to see is equipment, software, etc. that typically costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars condensed into packages for indie developers. Have some VR headsets worth like $500 to $1k each, get actors in there, use Unreal Engine 5 (or whatever at the time), and create some truly awesome indie films. What'll be even sweeter is if VR tech progresses to the point -- similar to Sword Art Online -- where you can feel the environment. Feel that flash of heat from fire, a quick chill of wind, or your body tingle if it's near electricity. That might be Sci-Fi level stuff, but many people thought current cellphones, paper-thin TVs, and the like would never happen/the realm of Sci-Fi.
The Jason skeletons thrilled and terrified me as a kid. Harryhausen is a legend
THANK YOU for giving such a gracious, educated, and "in the context of the times" tribute to Ray Harryhausen. I talked with him once and he was everything you'd hope one of your heroes to be - kind and quite open to discussing his work. It is so good to see you talk about the limitations he fought against in each film he made... budget, time, film processing in post production, etc. I am directing your fascinating video to all my friends.
I got into Harryhausen's work through Clash of the Titans because I'm a big Greek Mythology fan and it just grabbed me from the get-go.
I could sense the love, craft, and care put into each design and movement of his creations, and it was enthralling.
Like you said, while some might think his creatures look "dated" compared to something modern like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, Gollum, or even the Na'vi from Avatar, every time I see Harryhausen's works, there's always a heart and a sense of magic to it that never goes away. A sense of quality and attention to detail that makes it feel timeless.
It fills me with wonder and childlike awe, adventurous excitement, chilling thrills, and even a little bit of fear at times. It makes me want to make a film or creature like that of my own.
9:27 Such a classic moment. I'll always remember how my heart beat fast watching this on TV one afternoon as a kid.
Yes! My blood ran cold when the statue started moving. The sound design made it even better!
@8:00 Understanding and integrating the limitations of the budget and the limitations of the techniques are every bit as much of a skill and talent as the creative engineering involved in creating an effect.
His works made the lives of my grandparents and parents wonderful. Thank you Ray. RIP.
9:27 Is one of my favourite film shots of all time.
Thank you for making a video on the legendary Ray Harryhausen!
Meeting Ray is a moment I’ll cherish forever. To see his work is still inspiring and still recognised to this day is really refreshing to see.
I met Ray a couple of times - once at his 90th birthday party in London. A great artist and a lovely man to talk to.
Harryhausen is a god - when I was a kid and learned that this name was synonymous for stunning Stop Motion I got really excited each time a (for me) new Ray Harryhausen film was shown on television.
I'm in fear of the future generations losing any ability to appreciate these older styles of filmmaking and special effects. I feel there's hope as long as there are people passionate about making movies in their garages with tiny figures.
The best part about modern technology is that it's a lot easier for someone to get started doing stuff like this. A cellphone with memory card, a computer, and some models. No need to mess with getting film developed and buying more. You can see how a given frame looks almost immediately.
@@rogerrabbit80 The problem with that is it creates this mindset that the modern way is the ONLY way - people lose the ability to appreciate the craft that went into older moviemaking.
I honestly believe that a lot of younger people wouldn't even realize the work that must have gotten into many spectacular scenes of the past. and, in their defense, to a degree understandably so.
even more obvious regarding stunt work: I could easily see people thinking that something like Rick Sylvester jumping off Mt. Asgard ("The Spy who loved me") or the T-1000 flying a helicopter beneath that bridge ("Terminator 2") must have been done in cgi, in front of a green screen or something. because how could they even fathom thinking ANYONE would have done these stunts "for real"?!
and just to emphasize: while I'm all in favor of stunt people doing less life-threatening stunts, I also can't help but to appreciate the insanity of it.
We truly had some magical movies back in the good old days.
Harryhausen was amazing. A true visionary and unbelievable artist. I wish movies were still made like this today.
Stan Winston too had a knack for making the unreal look, move, and sound real. Especially his Oscar-winning Xenomorph Queen. It'd be amazing if movies kept doing what both men did for the world of film.
There was a fantastic exhibition of his work, including the original models, some FANTASTIC sketches and storyboards, and film clips at the The Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art. Phenomenal experience, seeing the detail in the models, and the armatures, and learning how much his parents allowed him to grow and experiment as a child,
A serious legend, these films/effects are so charming and the interaction between elements is still impressive.
There are the visual effect GOATS, and then there is Harryhausen who stands above them all ♥️
Many nice comments here. Well spoken, well said. One small note: many people often say that they admire the "claymation" Mr. Harryhausen did, or his "clay figures" or that he animated with real clay models. They were all real world effigies (not CG virtuals, which is the main point, I surmise), but I think it should be stated that though these animation figures were initially sculpted from an oil based plasticine clay, the animated models were never "claymations" (a term coined by Will Vinton).
Mr. Harryhausen's animation figure's final form were almost exclusively made of built up latex, or (mostly) cast foamed latex (he called it "sponge latex") with jointed metal armature skeletons inside. They would initially be sculpted in clay to achieve the aesthetic form, then a mold would be made (moulded) from that sculpture in gypsum stone plaster. The foamed latex (whipped up in a Mixmaster, or the like) was injected in to the mold and cured in an oven at around 200° to 210° Fahrenheit (around 93° to 98° Celsius). The final casting was finished and painted personally by Mr. Harryhausen.
In the end, he would ultimately have a flexible figure that would retain its shape and not have to be resculpted during animation, as is often necessary to some degree with the "claymation" approach to stop-motion animation. Virtually all of his animation models (some call them "puppets" or "Animodels") were made this way, with the exception of the Giant Crab in *Mysterious Island*. That particular model was made from an actual crab's shell, taxidermy prepared by an artisan from the London Royal Museum for him. The shell was assembled by RH, a custom made ball and socket armature inserted, and the fleshy bits replicated in latex -- in the mouth area and joints between the shell portions.
Sometimes he would use clay for bits of "business" during animation (making Mighty Joe Young's lips purse, for example, when it was not possible to controll the rubber figure's face that tightly). However, his animation models were never animated as clay figures otherwise, as is the case with the majority of Will Vinton's most well known work and (most often) Nick Park and the Aardman Studio's films.
He was a true pioneer in special effects. Everyone knows him for his mastery of stop motion, but no one ever talks about how he put it together.
I think that Jason and the Argonauts was Ray's "crown jewel." Thanks for posting this.
Jason and the Argonauts one of the best movies ever made. he was a genius..
I know what you mean about the magic of stop motion. I especially feel in in King Kong. The qualities of the animation, combined with the Gustav Dore jungles, and silver-nitrate shimmer, all combine to create a dream like feeling to the film.
I was a big fan of Harryhausen's movies as a teenager, despite the fact that my grandparents probably watched some of them when they were younger. I remember watching a documentary about his movies in which he talked about a promise he made with Ray Bradbury: "We're gonna grow old but we're never gonna grow up. We're gonna be two old men who still love dinosaurs." And you can really feel that kind of passion in his work, even if the effect is janky, and even though not all of those movies had aged well. Sure enough, Harryhausen and Bradbury remained close friends all their lives, and they continued to love and support each other all the way through. Truly inspiring.
*For me the perfect 'Sunday Movie' will always be a Harryhausen film*
Masterful stuff Andrew! This entire video is so well constructed from every possible angle, you deserve wayyyyyyyyyy more attention than you getting
I grew up in the 80's watching Ray Harryhausen's films, and even though they are dated, I still love them, they're so beautiful to watch; movies back then had a magic to them that always brings me back.
Amazed and inspired. Thank you for sharing
Surreal, fantastic, mechanical, supernatural, haunting, stunning, lovely, mesmerizing, odd, frightening, enchanting, and GREAT!!!
Harryhausen was the best at looking at all parts of the film. He was present at the live action scenes studying how the actors worked with the stand ins for his creatures. His ability to impeccably match the lighting and foreground textures makes his animation the gold standard of classic vfx. I get annoyed when people claim it looks cheap, but sometimes that may speak more to the B genre with the grade of actors they could afford and often how many didn't even know what they were reacting to when filming the live action scenes. Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is the best of the genre he worked on vs his work on fantasy films is nothing short of inspiring
All these movies I grew up with. Saturday morning or midday films. Brings back memories of family being all together. I'm happy that I got to see Ray Harryhausen back I the late 80s. It was a pleasure to meet a genius. This certainly is a great video and informative. Thanks for this wonderful look into the Stop Motion era. Super Dynamation! 👍🙂🇭🇲🦘✌️ Comment from Australia.
Man, even though I've never seen most of the films mentioned, I've unknowingly taken a lot of inspiration from Ray Harryhausen and still uses similar technique in the videos on my channel. Thank you for this video!
I remember watching those Fairy Tale shorts by Ray Harryhousen about the retelling of the classic fairy tale stories with his style. That man is way ahead of his time for stop motion animation alongside with Art Clokey and Henry Selick.
Wow, after being a fan since the 1970s and watching umpteen docs and behind the scenes videos, seeing the puppets in person at an exhibition (including an original Mighty Joe Young naked armature) this is the first time I've seen the inserts of swords added to make them clash and overlap better. The genius still continues to amaze.
I remember (as a child). watching Jason and the Argonauts at the theater... it's simply breathtaking!!
A video from one of my favorite film TH-camrs on one of my childhood heroes. I couldn't be happier. Amazing video, man.
Marvelous VFX breakdown of the most beloved fantasy genius in cinema history. Cheers from Brazil!
Excellent work! The Harryhausen films are still among my favorites. Today's Hollywood could benefit from rewatching them and employing more of what made them work - and last as long as they have - into their current and future productions.
There was nothing "hokey" about Harryhausen's work. The time and creative effort he used on his films was simply amazing.
Great video, helping others to see how Harryhausen did his magic. My first was "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" when I was about 7 or 8. I remember seeing "20 Million Miles to Earth" and then I was hooked and realized he was the source of this magic. I saw everything I could find about Harryhausen. I realized a few years ago that the thing most people complained about was the jerkiness of the movements, but I always found it made the creatures more 'otherworldly' than the smoothness of CGI. I was fortunate to see Harryhausen at an area museum about 40 years ago and got to talk to him for a couple of minutes after the presentation. He was a very kind person. I just saw "Maurice..." and even though it was stop-motion, it had no soul. Ray brought life and personality to the creatures he animated. There will never be another like him. RIP.
Love Harryhausen. I feel strongly that his films hold up even today. Jason and The Argonauts, Valley of the Gwangi, Beast from 20,000 Fathoms....Yep...I'll watch that over a CGI heavy film like The Hobbit any day.
Wonderful stuff! Always love your content!
If you watch these movies to laugh at them, point out their flaws, and crow about how much better CGI is now, you miss the point. The films with Harryhausen's magical effects were magical at the time. I saw a lot of these movies in the theater, when they had several cartoons at the start of the show; then previews, and finally, the movies themselves. It was a bargain, paying fifty cents to get in, and paying ten cents for a box of popcorn, and a nickel for a soda. Thanks for bringing up old, cherished memories.
Compare Sinbad jumping to attack the cyclopean centaur in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" with Boromir jumping to attack the cave troll in "Fellowship of the Ring". Guess which sequence looks worse?
After Sinbad gets on the monster's back, there is a closeup of the actor with a partial mock up of the monster, just enough to fill out the frame of the closeup, which makes the rest of the fight look that much more real. In "Fellowship of the Ring", we are just given a fight sequence with an unconvincing CGI Boromir that makes the willing suspension of disbelief much harder.
An unspoken aspect of Harryhausen films is that the actors work to help convince the audience that they really are facing off against a creature that the actor only sees after the film is released.
The beauty of stop-motion is that the models are real, physical objects that exist in the real world. So even though we know what we're looking at on screen is "fake" (as in, it's a scale model) we also know that it's "real" (as in, it's a physical object). That's why, still to this day, the skeletons and Talos in Jason and the Argonauts, or the AT-AT walkers from Empire Strikes Back still look great: because they're "real".
I'd also like to add that part of the reason why we (used to) enjoy movies is that we like(d) watching real people doing something interesting. It could be Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding, or Zoë Bell strapped to the hood of Kurt Russell's car in Death Proof - we get excited seeing real people doing real things, even though we know it's also fake. That's why so over-reliance on CG tends to make for boring films. Good CG, like Lord of the Rings or Jurassic Park use CG in conjunction with physical effects and it blends nicely, but other films (Marvel, DC) can be boring because so little of what we're seeing is "real".
There's a reason why movies are dying and character-driven dramas on TV have gotten more popular: people crave a genuine experience, even if it's artificial - we still want to see human artistry and human effort on display, not well-executed computer code. And no offense to the hard work of CG animators, but hard work and long hours for crappy corporations does not necessarily mean the final product is that great, it just means a lot of work went into something that should probably have been done differently.
Excellent video! Ray Harryhausen was a tremendous influence on me in my youth and his films will always have a sense of magic to them that never gets old; it's also incredible to see how much sheer work and creative thinking was involved for even the most minute details.
Thank you! I watched this video twice, loved it and still have no idea how they do it!
Great job! I had the pleasure of knowing Ray and Diana for many years. Ray would be pleased with your tribute to his work and legacy.
You are one of the best creators on here, i am excited to watch every one of your videos. Thank you
Some of his subtler shots are amazing.
I LOVE all Ray Harryhausen movies. My 2 favorites are "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" & "Jason & the Argonauts".
He was the best!
Perfect! Just the video I needed. I have a Christmas movie on the mind that combines Rankin Bass stop motion with live action. Kind of like Elf, but with more animation…AND more Rankin Bass references.
you are KILLING the magic with this stuff. Mac!!
Outstanding. Appreciating the work Ray Harryhausen is to appreciate the art of filmmaking and the wonder of it all. Keep up the good work. Every video like this adds to the great snowball that keeps on rolling and rolling.
Thank you for explaining the exposure layering- editing on physical film is crazy
Fabulous explication. The "3D-ification" of the b&w clip was beautifully conceived and executed. I've seen these techniques described multiple times, but never so well. Cheers.
Another really great video. Constantly in awe of your ability to put together these informative and compelling film history videos. Keep it up. I'm sure I'm not the only one discovering something new from these projects.
I see Royal Ocean these days, I click?
I see Royal Ocean covering the one and only Ray Harryhausen?! I CLICK HARDER.
Thanks so much for this delightful video! Even as the decades march on, Harryhausen's creatures never cease to enthrall.
These classic special fx I feel added to the overall finishing touches for example the iron man in Jason and the Argonauts, the fact that the motion of when he turned his head wasn't smooth only added a truer feel for how you'd imagine a massive and rusting creature to move. Chilling back then, still chilling today 👌🏻
First the AIP video a few weeks back and now Harryhausen! Bravo ROS, what wonderful videos.
This was another beautiful essay from you.
Showing the user interface of your cutting software like that was just the perfectly right choice!
When I was growing up, I loved monster movies. Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla. Foe Halloween in 4th grade my teacher showed the school 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
The Cyclops riveted me. I could not figure out he he could be as he was definitely not a man in a suit, but moved so naturally (it wasn't a hand puppet or on strings).
I started making animated monster films with the family's 8mm. Wanted to work on movies. Star Wars just cemented that idea, though SW did open up the types of special effects.
While I was never able to make it a career, I did work on films. I worked with a pyrotechnician where cars were blown up, stuntmen set on fire, and I created most of the blood bags used in a massive shootout for Maniac Cop II and helped surround a stage for a music video. Also got a chance to work at Apogee for a Pillsbury Dough Boy commercial actually getting paid to take orders from John Dykstra (Yes, that John Dykstra). I was even an extra for five days on Army of Darkness (where I can say I was actually given direction by Sam Rami for a few shots).
All thanks to Harryhausen and my 4th Grade teacher, George Mason.
They didn't have PC's back then, no Adobe Premiere, no blender, just their raw art work. I feel the same about old cartoons..
My two favorites are everything in Clash of the Titans and the giant metallic guardian with the 'Achilles heel' in JATA. But one must marvel at his overall creativity and enormous work load. (And I have to say that the skeleton fight is just damned good.)
I remember as a kid and after subsequent rewatches, the stop motion in Sinbad still hits me so well. There was always something so uncanny about how much the cyclops moved, for example, where he was really, frighteningly fast, even though his steps were slow and sluggish. He felt heavy but incredibly strong because of the way he moved. One of the most convincing effects was the treasure, which gave you reference to size and magnitude of power. The victim is grabbing at a mountain of gold while he is dragged away, and it feels so real, even if the model itself looks fake. The fire was also incredible. Something about combining live fire effects with a very realistically lit cyclops, mixed with the fact that so many scenes were outdoors, it felt like something you could realistically stumble across on an uninhabited island, and that terrified and fascinated me.
I always wondered about this. Really cool, thank you.
Another fantastic video essay! Watching this video right after I saw that Netflix are releasing a series in August called Lost Ollie which combined live action and stop motion
Whenever a new video from this channel gets posted it is an EVENT
such a great video! i always enjoy your deep dives into the history of animation and such! very very great!
There is something fascinating about how much work you can feel with stop motion, it is something almost vertiginous, to think the long hours and days and weeks into something consumed, almost, casually in seconds. CGI requieres much hard work too, but its perfection tends to make it harder to grasp the effort.
The interesting thing is all theses techniques are still in use today. Sure they've mostly been applied to CG, but the basic technique is more or less the same. I like that. All effects, all techniques, are built on those that came before in some way.
And yeah theses effects aged... like all effects do, no matter how great. You'll always find their limits eventually. The trick is not so much making it "perfect" and more making it look "good". Especially when dealing with a fantasy and imaginary world, what you want is less it looking "real" and rather it looking consistant.
I grew up watching the Sinbad movies and loved them so much, especially the creature design. The movies with the most amount of special effects were my favorite as a kid. The fight with the 6 armed Indian statue was my favorite.
i still love them today, even though I must admit they look pretty bad with my adult eyes. However, the one thing all of them do better than any modern cgi movie is that the monsters were actually scary. Like looking at them even today freaks me more out than any cgi monster we have seen for the last 20+ years.
Could you do a primer on Front Projection dynamation? David Allen did some absolutely seamless latter day process shots in the 90s with some of the Charles Band movies he worked on. It was always difficult to get the color temperature and grain to totally match with rear projection, but Allen's stuff (which I'm 99 percent sure was front projection) is amazing.
Another fantastic video. Love your channel!
I grew up watching those old Harryhausen films on TV. They were always so fun and exciting and the FX seemed so miraculous back in the 60s.
It's INSANE to think how they did this Purely with FILM!? It almost should motivate us to try and do anything nowadays now that we have the ability to do so much
As kid the Cyclop scared the shit out of me.