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Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 11th, 2017, 12:01 pm
by pacman000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWnXsGjYwS8

Of late I've been thinking about stop motion. Went to YouTube today and dug up this; Ray Harryhausen's Evoloution, a never-completed film by the late master of stop-mo FX. Sort of became a demo reel and a test of techniques he'd later use in other films. The theropod (don't know if it's a t-rex, an allosaurous, or what) shows some influence from King Kong, with it's wagging tail and all.

http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles ... obldup.htm

Here are instructions for creating a Stop-Mo armature without expensive casting, ball-and-socket joints, etc. The example they use is a stegosaurus; end result looks as good as those on King Kong or Planet of Dinosaurs, tho the person who wrote the article probably already has some practice sculpting. Has links to other armatures.

Any other thoughts on stop motion?

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 11th, 2017, 12:42 pm
by scotland
i am a huge fan. While Jurassic Park in 93 was great, it was the end of an era too.

The fun thing on stop motion is how well it holds up - not that it looks real but I think we don't critique it as strongly and so accept it easier. Take the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts. Its still a great fight scene today.

The various camera techniques helped as well. i think we can spot a big green screen sometimes today (rewatching Jurassic Park recently and suddenly I was jolted out of immersion by the big apatosaurus as green screen). Using various paintings and mattes could create a nice illusion.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 11th, 2017, 5:02 pm
by VideoGameCritic
I'm also a Harryhausen fan.

There is something about real models (large or small) that add weight to special effects. Unlike computer animation which has become so ubiquitous it's boring. Look at Transformers.

I'm a big fan of Jaws and recently I watched a shark movie called The Shallows with a computer generated shark which looked fake as hell. It occurred to me that even if they made it look totally real I would have written it off as a cheap computer effect anyway.

I'd much rather watch one of the old stop-motion films.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 9:15 am
by Teddybear
Big fan myself of his movies that employ what must be a painstakingly long and tedious process. I have watched Mysterious Island (1961) at least 10 times. The bees honeycomb scene is still my favorite.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 9:20 am
by pacman000
Yeah, that brachiosaur at the beginning of Jurassic Park has never looked right. It was the 1st CG shot completed, and there were better shots later in the film, but it still breaks my suspension of disbelief.

Phil Tippet did complete some animacs using stop mo. Gives you a feel for how the movie would've looked w/o CG:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGpd69_x5M

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 9:21 am
by pacman000
More JP animatics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLceoQGfK-c

Raptors in the Kitchen.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 9:23 am
by pacman000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlaXIRTjNfo

Earlier film by Phil Tippett, testing Go-Motion in the late 70's/early 80's.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 11:29 am
by scotland
pacman000 wrote:More JP animatics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLceoQGfK-c

Raptors in the Kitchen.


That could be the name of a movie, "Raptors in the Kitchen".

Its funny to see the stand-ins for the kids. Like Pinocchio, the Unrated Version.

It definitely a very different look and feel. With Stop-Mo, you have to build quality miniature sets as well, at least partial ones. However, I bet with polish this would have looked quite nice. The raptor scene in Jurassic Park, I thought, actually came out very well though. Its also clear you can't really mix the techniques, but have to pick one or the other (probably the same with suit motion as well - the change is too jarring to mix together).

If you ever read Famous Monsters, they would do interviews with Harryhausen. The sheer amount of craft that went into what he did was amazing. There was a lot of art and pride that went into his creations.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 12th, 2017, 12:06 pm
by pacman000
They actually used guys in raptor suits in that scene, combined with various puppets, animatronics, and CG, depending on the shot. It took a ton of work to make that movie.

Re: Ray Harryhausen (And Stop-Mo in General.)

Posted: August 14th, 2017, 9:48 am
by pacman000
I've never read Famous Monsters, but I've seen video interviews with Harryhausen. Always interesting.

Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-1z7n3yoKs

Here's the skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonauts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_Fi7x93PY

Earlier I mentioned Planet of Dinosaurs. While the movie itself is pretty bad, they put together some amazing FX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2DqiQtWuDA