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Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects Master, Dies Aged 92
New submitter Diakoneo writes "According to the BBC, 'Visual effects master Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-motion wizardry graced such films as Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, has died aged 92. The American animator made his models by hand and painstakingly shot them frame by frame to create some of the best-known battle sequences in cinema.' Some of my fondest cinematic memories from my youth are from Ray Harryhausen."
If we keep repositioning his body while everyone is blinking, maybe nobody will be able to tell he's actually dead.
The man inspired so many young viewers when these classic movies came out, including a number of kids who later became prominent in the movie industry themselves.
If messin' with Medusa results in living to age 92, and dying famous and beloved --- where's the line to get my bitch ass served likewise?
That's too bad, I remember all those old classics, especially the Sinbad movies. Have a boxed set of most of them.
This is from the internet, and it's pretty old.
http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/tribute/
There's a great documentary about Harryhausen as well as some of the artists he inspired. It's on the Netflix for streaming, as I recall:
The Sci-Fi Boys
R.I.P Ray, your work with skeleton fights in "Argonauts" opened my eyes to the world of animation and all things morbid! You will be missed.
RH was a force of nature, and we who grew up on his wizardry will miss him!
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
...I will battle a troop of animated skeletons. Now where did I put Diablo II...?
inb4 ghost Ray appears
I always thought that owl was kind of creepy when I was younger, but when they made the crappy remake I found myself missing the owl. He certainly made some iconic and memorable animations.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
We had one of the 3 armatures from King Kong in our closet for several years.
My brother, Jim Danforth, knew Ray Harryhausen and did similar puppet animation
in the '60, such as "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" and "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao".
Harryhausen was a house hold word in our family.
of Ray Harryhausen, I watched Jason and the Argonauts again this evening. I first saw it when I was about 20, and I've never been able to look at a skeleton quite the same way since. What a talent he had!
Sad news. I was fortunate enough to meet him back in 1981, and got his autograph. It was at an advance showing of the original Clash of the Titans, where he gave a presentation before the film. He brought some of the original figures used for Jason and the Argonauts, King Kong, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and other stop-motion classics. Despite all the computer perfection of today's CGI, it will never match the wonder I experienced when, as a kid, I first saw the battle of the skeleton warriors in Jason and the Argonauts.
I remember being impressed by Clash of the Titans as a kid, despite the fact that it was stop-motion. That was 1981.
Jurassic park made people think CGI was the end-all be all.
These two films are both examples of $technique done right.
Stop-motion Jurassic park would have been like CGI Star Wars. Get it, Lucas?
As someone who had the honor of meeting Ray, I say, he will be missed.
At the time of meeting him I was a nubie to the effects industry, one that he was instrumental in developing, yet he was as fascinated and inspired with our modern processes as we where by his. His insight, creative vision and pioneering sprite transcended time, and I value every word of advice that he bestowed upon me.
His works(seminal) will ensure that he continues to inspire, an immortal of our modern age.
When I saw the tributes coming in, I was moved.
Then I was moved a little more.
And I was moved a little more still...
-Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience-
Liked the Kraken in Clash of the Titans best.
RIP Mr. Harryhausen
Thanks for all the countless hours you spent animating those figures so that kids like me could go "Wow".
Nowadays its done with CGI in render farms, augh.
Now get off my stop motion lawn!
The heart of his technique was a process he developed called Dynamation. It involved photographing a miniature — of a dinosaur, say — against a rear-projection screen through a partly masked pane of glass. The masked portion would then be re-exposed to insert foreground elements from the live footage. The effect was to make the creature appear to move in the midst of live action. It could now be seen walking behind a live tree, or be viewed in the middle distance over the shoulder of a live actor — effects difficult to achieve before.
That is brilliant!!!!! RIP Mr Ray. And thank you for everything
--- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
Since J. Abrams seems to be directing all the big ones. I wont be able to tell the difference between Star Trek and Star wars anymore.
In the pantheon of cinematic-effects geniuses, Harryhausen stands among the masters, such as Georges Melies.
He's not dead, he's just been teleported to Monstropolis to open the hottest Asian-fusion-sushi restaurant in town.
owe this guy a huge debt artistically (corpse bride, nightmare) as well as Selick (James and the Giant Peach, Coraline)
and even South Park (although 2d cutout instead of 3d) and even a lot of current 3dcharacter animation is based on his work.
-I'm just sayin'
his work on Flesh Gordon - truly hysterical.
mark "Oh, my hemmoroids, says the monster...."