Skeleton warriors from Jason and the Argonauts.
If you are an aspiring puppet animator you can now learn from the master of fantasy animation in a series of movies on YouTube. Some of Harryhausen’s most notable works have included his animation on Mighty Joe Young made with pioneer Willis O’Brien, which won the Academy Award for special effects in 1949, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts, featuring a famous sword fight against six skeleton warriors.
The Harryhausen Chronicles documentary, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, covers much of his work with some great close-ups of his puppets and lots of advice from the master himself. In the introduction Ray Harryhausen says: “Fantasy is a dream world and I don’t think you want it quite real. You want an interpretation and stop motion gives it an added value that you can’t catch if you try to make it too real.”
The Harryhausen Chronicles are split into six parts. The links are below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
What is you most memorable Harryhausen movie?
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Ray Harryhausen really is the grand master of puppet animation. I found this a very interesting documentary. I was amazed to see that even as a young lad he was producing credible animations of dinosaurs.
Joe.
Another interesting link David. My favorite sequence was where Ray Harryhausen was explaining the scene with snake-haired Medusa from Clash of the Titans.
All the best,
Richard.