Film History Biography of Ray Harryhausen
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One of this year’s best films so far, has been Henry Selick’s adaptation of the Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. It’s a result of years of work by hundreds of animators. The mouse or - took them 2 ½ months to shoot which is crazy; but not uncommon for an animated film. What sets Coraline apart from other stuff you’ll see these days, is it not CGI, it’s a stop motion animated feature film; which means they use real miniatures, wearing real miniature clothes, walking around in miniature sets; all created by human hands.
I mean sure, while Wally was amazing; and watching it, you know that it took them forever to make using the fanciest computers available. But something like Coraline is really compelling to watch because you can see the ghosts of all human hands that went into making all the painters and sculptors and seamstresses and puppeteers; it’s pretty astounding.
The feeling I get when I watch something like Coraline is without exaggeration, due to the brilliant work of Ray Harryhausen, masters at motion animator. He was born in 1920 in L.A. and fell in love with King Kong, which sparked the serious interest in animation. Later he worked with Willis O’Brien, the animator of King Kong, on another giant motion movie called Mighty Joe Young. And from there he went on to work for 40 years as the main guy keeping stop motion animation alive.
Harryhausen doesn’t like to compare his work to stuff like Coaraline, which also doesn’t feature human actors but seeing as how stop motion animated films are produced so few and far between, Coraline can’t help but remind you of all the stuff that came before. Jason and the Argonauts is why they regarded as Harryhausen’s masterpiece and it’s an absolute classic of special effects work; especially the extended historic fight between three live action men and a bunch of stop motion skeletons that rise up from the ground.
It’s the best example of what can result from an absolute lunatic dedication and craft and a love of the movie making process. You know that kind of hand-made feel where the personality and dedication of the artist shine through the work; illuminating it. That’s being lost as computer generated effect slowly approach omnipresence and seem less photo realism. But since we can go to places like zip.ca and rent Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, One Million Years B.C. and Mysterious Island, all a Harryhausen classic; and soon Henry Selick’s Coraline, that feeling wont’ be lost forever.