Animated Thoughts: Harryhausen, part 2

Well it was the last day of the Ray Harryhausen museum exhibit and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum flew in the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation curator Connor Heaney from the United Kingdom.

Connor brought with him a special documentary for the crowd, one that is only shown at events such as this one. It was around twenty minutes and covered Ray's history in film. He then talked about the foundation and the work that they do in preserving Ray's models, notes, and work product. It was, in a word, fascinating. I love hearing about the behind-the-curtains stuff--especially the tidbits about how the models were  repaired and the 3d scans that they're making of some of these cinematic treasures.

Next, Greg Kulon joined Connor for a panel discussion on Ray and his films followed by a Q&A with the crowd.

One of the fun things mentioned was about a commercial that Ray created... one that got banned in England. I promptly located it on YouTube.

For those that are interested in watching this presentation and panel discussion (minus the documentary), the Kalamazoo Valley Museum live streamed the event over YouTube and it's now available on their YouTube channel. If you have a little free time, it's well worth the watch--especially Greg's stories about the friendship he and Ray built over the years, the fan and the filmmaker.

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Animated Events: Ray Harryhausen in Kalamazoo

I gotta say, I know some great people. My friend Oren sent me a message on Facebook about an event in Kalamazoo that slipped under my radar. At the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, they brought in a special exhibit on Ray Harryhausen.

This production was a collection of movie posters from films he worked on as well as notes, storyboards, drawings, sculptures, and models he had produced over the course of his career.

I especially liked this one, where it diagrammed out his Dynamation process. Would've loved to have some of these drawings on hand when I explained Dynamation to my students in previous classes.

Now, the exhibit runs until the end of April--April 27th to be exact. So you've still got time to get down there and take in the sights. Best of all: entry into the museum (and the exhibit) is free! Though they do take donations at the front desk if you'd like to help support their efforts to bring cool stuff like this to the people of Michigan.

Skeleton Models from Jason and the Argonauts 
and 7th Voyage of Sinbad

The display cases were filled with treasures from my childhood memories, however, some of them were more recent memories: like these skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts. Every year, I show the skeleton battle from that film to my students. I never would've thought that I'd get the chance to see them first hand.

They also had another sketch of how the Dynamation process worked. I'm planning on integrating these photos into my class. A lot of my students struggle with understanding how Dynamation worked--especially the use of mattes. Every extra thing I can do to help them learn... I think I might use these drawings to make a scale model of Harryhausen's setup that the kids can look at.

Creating the Homunculus - Key Drawing
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, c.1971

Wow, seeing the Homunculus was such a good experience. I vividly remember watching the Golden Voyage of Sinbad on cable television back in the late '70's when I was a kid who loved to draw dinosaurs and monsters.

Model of the Homunculus
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, c.1972

Unfortunately it highlighted a weakness in my DVD collection. I've got some films like Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Jason and the Argonauts, Valley of Gwangi, and 7th Voyage of Sinbad, but I'm missing the rest of the Sinbad trilogy and classics like Mysterious Island and Clash of the Titans. Going to fix that soon.

Fortunately, Amazon has a good Harryhausen film collection on Blu-Ray and Clash of the Titans is affordably priced. Gives me something to save up for. Maybe by Memorial Day I'll do a Saturday "Creature Feature" marathon where I binge watch all three Sinbad films, Mysterious Island, and Clash of the Titans...

Speaking of which, initially, I was a little surprised at the scale of some of these models. The Kraken (below) was about the size of a small cat. But it makes sense. I once talked to stop-motion animator Tom Brierton about animating the robot models for Robot Jox and he said that the models were so big that it took him and several assistants to accurately move it from position to position. Now that I've had time to mull it over, it makes a lot of sense--finding that balance between the sets being too big and expensive to be practical and yet still having a model that is easier to manipulate. There's a lot to ponder and learn here.

Model of the Kraken
Clash of the Titans, c.1980

If you do end up attending the exhibit, take a moment to look at the book that Ray's daughter, Vanessa, published. It's a thick, coffee table-size book filled to the brim with stories about Ray and photos of Vanessa's favorite items from the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation's collection--many of which were on display.

After perusing the book at the museum, I had to have a copy for my personal library, so I snagged one of the last ones on Amazon. Have already done a little digging into some of my favorite films but plan to do a deep dive into the tome before going back to Kalamazoo. This exhibit is worth multiple visits. 

Hare and Fox Puppet Heads
Fairy Tales (The Tortoise and the Hare), c.1958

While I took tons of photographs during my trip, I really just want to share enough to whet your appetite. You really need to see this exhibit in person. Ray Harryhausen was one of those giants upon whose shoulders modern stop motion animators stand--and a lot of 3d CGI animators as well. The legacy he left behind is well worth serious study for any student who wants to become an animator.

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