I know that’s a pretty bold statement, but let me explain.
It is a fairly accepted truth in movie making that if you want to make a good film, you put the story first and then add special effects where needed. It’s unfortunately all too common to see filmmakers using special effects in order to try to impress the audience when they don’t have a strong story, and that almost always fails.
Ray Harryhausen concieved his creatures first and then let someone write a script where he could utilize these creatures using stop motion and other special effects. That really shouldn’t work.
But the fact is that Ray made it work. While most critics agree that Ray’s films don’t have perfect scripts, the animation is so incredible that the result is still fantastic. Jason and the Argonauts is – in my opinion – his best film, but I love them all. Not only is Ray absolutely outstanding as an animator. Few others even come close. But he also took the time to add little bits that I have never seen anyone else do, Normally the live action is filmed first and the animation is done in front of a back projection screen. This of course puts some limitation on what you can do. Objects in the live action cannot pass in front of the animation model. So if the live action actor has a sword fight with, say, a skeleton, then the live action sword will always be behind the skeleton. But in Ray’s animation, sometimes things do pass in front of the animation model. How? Well, if a sword is supposed to pass in front of the skeleton, Ray will make a miniature sword that exactly matches the actor’s sword, and when the real sword is hidden behind the model, he places the miniature sword exactly in fromt of the real sword. This takes enormous precision in order not to look fake, but that’s the length Ray would go to in order to create exciting sequences.
In Jason he has seven skeletons fighting three people. That means positioning the skeletons to match the live action, frame by frame. And for each frame he has to remember every movement of every skeleton, which way they were moving. That’s arms, legs, head and what have you for each skeleton. 24 separate images to make up one second of screen action. And no way to check if he got it right until the film has been developed and returned. CGI animators have it so much easier, and yet few, if any, of them can accomplish animation that has the flair and excitement that Ray’s animation has.
Ray passed away on May 7, 2013 at the age of 92. He will be missed. Never has “wrong” been so right. Thanks for everything, Ray!
gsyren 