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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