Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen (June 29th 1920, Los Angeles, the United States) is generally regarded as the large Master, to see the father, of the Animation in volume. This, of share its contribution without equal in the field of faking to the cinema, of its first steps in the shade of Willis O' Brien on Mr Joe ( Mighty Joe Young ) at the end of the Years 1940 until the ultimate one and ambitious Shock of the Titans at the beginning of the Years 1980.

Biography

Beginnings (1941-1947)

The first of King Kong whose fakings are carried out by Willis O' Brien then seals the vocation of the young person Ray Harryhausen old thirteen years. It develops its first personal projects consequently ( Cave Bear and Evolution off the World ), being impassioned for the reconstitution of prehistoric animals. A fortunate coincidence will want that it can show its first work (dinosaurs in modeling clay) with Willis O' Brien (also regarded as the father of the integration of animation in volume with catches of real sights) which encourages it. He studies then the dramatic arts, photography and the sculpture, then the artistic realization and the film. It is at that time that it binds friendship with Ray Bradbury.

In 1941, it shows its work with George Pal, the organizer, which engages it as assistant on the series of the Puppetoons . During the Second world war, Ray is incorporated in the unit of Frank Capra in Army Signal Corp.

It realizes, in 1945, of the episodes for a series of fairy tales, Mother Goose Stories , which will find an outlet in the schools and educational. It will be helped of his mother for the costumes and her father for the manufacture of the accessories and the reinforcements.

The first work on feature-length films (1947-1955)

In 1947, Willis O' Brien urges it to be one of its two assistants on the turning of Mr Joe and the essence of the animation of the gorilla leaves him. The quality of developed work, as well in term of animation as of integration, shows clearly that Ray consequently has the talent and maturity to develop personal projects with the cinema. This new stage will be done without O' Brien which will not quickly manage any more to concretize any project.

In 1953, Harryhausen signs the special effects of the Monstre of wasted times ( The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms ) of Eugene Lourié. Harryhausen continues there are work of integration of animation image by image with plans of actors in real decorations. This film constitutes its first personal success.

The years Charles H. Schneer (1955-1980)

In 1955, Harryhausen meets Charles H. Schneer. Their collaboration will last more than 25 years, Schneer dealing with the production, Ray of the scenario and the technical sides. Twelve of fifteen films that Ray will sign will be produced by Schneer with sometimes Harryhausen as Co-producer.

the Monster comes from the sea ( It Came from Beneath the Sea ) is a first attempt for which Schneer hopes to benefit obviously from the success of the Monstre of wasted times , the film developing a very similar set of themes. The second, the Flying saucers attacks ( Earth vs. the Flying Saucers ), realized by Fred F. Sears in 1956, gives to Ray the opportunity to appreciably widen the extent of its work which goes consequently beyond the simple animation of model to include the whole of the possible optical effects (illustration of the fields of force, lasers, scene of massive destruction). The two men settle finally with London to facilitate the production of their films according to which will benefit often enormously in particular from the natural decorations offered by the Iberian peninsula.

Ray Harryhausen then will give best itself. While starting with its first free attempt at illustration of the tales from the Arabian Nights, the Seventh voyage of Sinbad , first opus of the Simbad trilogy, which constitutes from all points of view a model of the genre. Ray can finally give free course to its imagination. Its work moreover is sublimated by the color (first feature-length film color in dynamation) and the music of large the Bernard Herrmann (which finds to him also the occasion to work in total freedom thus giving best itself). These films resulting from this collaboration with the appointed type-setter of Alfred Hitchcock will remain the most succeeded. It develops or improves still, for this period, its techniques of animation and incrustation of the miniatures with catches of sight in action in rem, processes for which it will be advisable from now on to allot “fantastic” names always more (dynamation, superdynamation…).

Extremely success which they meet, Schneer and Harryhausen continue their conquest of imaginary and fantastic with the First men in the moon (1964), the Valley of Gwangi (1969), two other episodes of Sinbad (1973,1977) with which Schneer aspires to join again with a true business success.

the Shock of the Titans (1981) will constitute the last attempt at Ray to reanimate a kind which one considers then dying man. Extremely of a high budget and a serious support of the studios, this film will be at the same time the film will and the film known as of prestige of the career of Ray. To note that in front of the extent of work required, Ray will request for the occasion the talent of other organizers with which it will share with regret its work.

More than one Master of animation

A complete artist

To reduce the work of Ray Harryhausen to that of the animation of model is most common of the errors. Because its talent and its work always went well beyond the strict realization of animation itself.

Firstly, by its important contributions with the techniques of animation and particularly with that of integration in sequences of real catch of sight, and this, with interactions increasingly more thorough. One thinks of course of the various processes of Dynamation with their principle of mask and successive exposures of the film. But would be to make little case of its research on the light and photography however with final parking they only validity of the result obtained.

Then and especially because Ray was then the total craftsman of the realization of these sequences. Of their design on paper (the illustrations and story-board carried out by Ray to carry its projects to porte-monnaie of the studios are admirable, testifying to a direction of the remarkable composition), first real models carved by the artist him even (idem), until the localization of outsides and supervision of the catches of sight with the actors. Without forgetting, to finish, precise adjustments of the lights to combine in a credible way the unit of the elements and the assembly of the sequences itself.

The process dynamation

The most significant contribution of Ray to the field of faking cinema will remain the development of a novel method of combination of the catches of real sight and miniatures, technique of which it will have an almost exclusive use with the cinema and which it will not cease refining. The principle is to reinforce the effect of integration by distributing elements of the catch of real sight ahead and in background of that of the animated object. Maybe in more clearly, to give the possibility to the organizer of making pass the element animated in front of or behind of the selected elements of the catch of real sight.

Traditional technique used hitherto " à" summarized; to film the miniature in front of a retro-projection of the catch of real sight (the puppet is photographed in front of an opaque screen semi on which is projected out of synchro (image by image), by the back, the catch of real sight). This technique pushed the miniature in foreground naturally. To mitigate this effect, the techniques employed were then is the addition of miniatures supplementing or reproducing the background (ex: miniature trees in front of a background of forest behind which the animated character can then pass), is the use of a mask in the form of a painting annealed glass in foreground (Matte painting). They are the techniques employed in the first King Kong .

The idea of Ray was to simplify the catch of sight and to minimize the cost by exploiting in substitution for these two preceding techniques the ancestral technique of the double exposure with mask (already used by Méliès!). The film is exposed twice, the already exposed portions of the image being masked by a black mask placed between the subject and the objective. What gives in practice for the dynamation, execution of animation in front of retro-projection with a mask masking all the portions of the catch of real sight which one wishes to bring back in foreground. Then, one second exposure of film obtained in front of retro-projection alone with this time for mask the complementary one to the preceding mask in order to print on the film the foreground on the portions still nonexposed of this one.

In practice Ray had recourse regularly has exposures complementary to the film for the addition of light effects or atmospheric effects (fire, smoked….).

Heirs

At the dawn of the Nineties, the future of animation image by image integrated into real catches of sight was definitively sealed in front of the definitively convincing demonstration of the potential of calculated animation. Jurassic Park (on which Ray was on a purely honorary basis consulting) sounded like a funeral oration.

Animation image by pure image knew on the other hand a considerable renewed interest carried by the basic work of the studios Will Winton in the United States and Aardman Animation to England through courts, clips or advertizing films. It was however the return to the long format which concretized this dash with Strange Christmas of Mr Jack of Tim Burton and Henry Selick, accompanied during the same period by a first commercial exploitation in room by a selection of the Aardman films, including multi-oscarized work of impossible to circumvent the Nick Park.

Catalog of films

as producer

like Realizer

  • 1942 : How to Bridge has Gorge
  • 1946: The Storybook Review
  • 1951 : The Story off “Rapunzel”
  • 1951: The Story off “Hansel and Gretel”
  • 1953: The Story off King Midas
  • 2002: The Story off “The Tortoise & the Hare”
  • 2005: Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection (video)

as actor

  • Filmographie supplements in English on IMDB

Related articles

  • Animation image by image

External bonds

  • Dynamation revealed (in English, illustrated)

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