Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen created special effects for films such as "The
Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", "Jason and the Aronauts"
and "Clash of the Titans". He got his main inspiration from "King Kong" in 1933, which he claims he came out of the
theater "stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike. I
wanted to know how it was done." Since he was a child, he had had a interest in prehistoric animals and clay models. He experimented with a camera that he had borrowed, which did not have a stop frame mechanism. He then went on to show his work to Wills O'Brien, who did the special effects of "King Kong", who said that he should study anatomy because of his models not having any character. This was a turning point in the way he approaches his craft.
After the war he began to make a series of two minute animated fairy tales which resulted in a short film that he sold to schools and libraries. He then began to to work on "The beast from 20,000 Fathoms" in which he devised a dynamic split screen technique, which allowed him to get rid of the expensive system of inserting miniatures or glass paintings to combine stop motion with live action, called Dynamation.
"The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" was his first film in colour which involved front and rear projection, but Sinbads sword fight against a skeleton was considered too scary for children.
Ray was known as a modest and charming man that had a delightful sense of humour and ineffable courtesy who also was good company. It was considered that "Jason and the Aronauts" and "Clash of the Titans" were his most successful films however, his career is littered with many other works of brilliance.
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