I’m someone who loves stop-motion animation. There’s something that’s just so special about bringing actual, physical objects to life through frame-by-frame photography and making them move around on their own to give them a sense of personality they otherwise might not have. Stop-motion is a technique that’s a lot more versatile than it appears on the surface; not only can it be used by professional animators to create unique works of art, but it’s also accessible to people of all ages. With a little help from their parents, kids can create their own stop-motion shorts using things like toys and clay figures of their own creation. Heck, Lego is such a popular tool for creating stop motion that animations made using it have spawned their own term, “brickfilms.” Going back to professional use, stop motion has been used to bring plenty of iconic media to life, from ‘Wallace and Gromit’ to ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas.’
But beyond its use in fully animated productions, stop-motion is an important medium that’s not just limited to use in animation. Before CGI took the world by storm, the technique was used as a special effect more often than you might assume. Of course, it was used to animate the titular character of the immortal classic ‘King Kong,’ but there were quite a few movies over the century that similarly used stop-motion to animate things like creatures and robots. One very important figure in this regard was Ray Harryhausen, an American special effects artist who contributed to over a dozen films, designing, modeling, and animating a wide variety of creatures ranging from dinosaurs to larger-than-usual animals. All of this was no small feat; Harryhausen’s work has helped him go down in history as one of the most important special effects pioneers of his time.
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Mini-Bio
Born in 1920, Ray Harryhausen was just a young teenager when he first saw ‘King Kong’ at the time of its release. The movie inspired him to try his own hand at animation, and eventually, he managed to get in touch with the stop motion artist of ‘King Kong’ himself, Willis O’Brien. O’Brien gave Harryhausen advice on how to improve his skills, suggesting what classes he could take to do so (Harryhausen was still in high school at the time). Ray Harryhausen proceeded to do just that at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, and along the way, he met the to-be author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury. Harryhausen did film work for the Army’s Special Services division during World War II, and in 1947, he was given his first major film role as an assistant animator on the original ‘Mighty Joe Young,’ under the supervision of none other than Willis O’Brien.
While ‘Mighty Joe Young’ was where Ray Harryhausen got his proper start in the industry, the first film whose effects he had complete creative control over was ‘The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms’, directed by Eugène Lourié and based on a story written by his friend Ray Bradbury. From there, Ray’s career really kicked off, with him providing more creature effects for various movies over the course of the decade. He referred to the process he used to integrate stop motion creatures into live-action as “Dynamation,” a complicated technique that involved animating his models in front of pre-filmed footage played back frame-by-frame. The first-ever color film he animated for was ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’ (1958), which gave him the opportunity to experiment with color stocks to make sure the color balance was correct. Over the next couple of decades afterward, he continued to provide creature special effects for other films, including ‘Mysterious Island’ (1961), ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ (1963), and ‘The Valley of Gwangi’ (1969). The last film he provided effects for was ‘Clash of the Titans’ (1981), after which he retired from filmmaking. Unfortunately, Ray Harryhausen wound up passing away on May 7, 2013, shortly before his wife, Diana Livingstone Bruce, died five months later.
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Breaking New Ground
Ray Harryhausen had an incredible impact on the world of filmmaking. His special effects work was groundbreaking, and he wound up inspiring many famous Hollywood filmmakers. In the 2012 documentary ‘Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan’, filmmakers pay their respects to his legacy, including Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Terry Gilliam, and Tim Burton. From October 2020 to February 2022, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art hosted a large exhibit showing off his artwork and models, a good number of which were carefully restored. And finally, the Ray Harryhausen Awards, the annual animation tribute in his name, was held this past June, with next year’s 2026 ceremony now in preparation.
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The Charm of Stop Motion
Old-school stop motion remains fascinating, even in today’s digital age, where computer effects reign supreme in Hollywood. A big reason for this has to do with the talent behind it. Back in Harryhausen’s day, computers didn’t exist, so knowing how he integrated his models with live-action footage through the use of his Dynamation technique is undeniably something to be respected. Sure, if you want to be technical about it, the movements of stop-motion models aren’t always 100% realistic, but to focus on the realism is sort of missing the point in this case: the sheer amount of effort that Harryhausen put into his work combined with the presence of actual, man-made models as opposed to computer animated ones brings about a sort of charm that’s next to impossible to replicate in this day and age. This applies to animated works done through stop-motion as well. The amount of craftsmanship and patience that stop-motion productions require is truly something special, and it’s part of what gives these works such charm.
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Harryhausen’s Lasting Legacy
Ray Harryhausen’s talent was undeniable. Even after Hollywood largely moved on from using stop-motion animation as a special effect, his groundbreaking work remained unforgettable. There’s much to admire about practical visual effects, and painstakingly animating miniature creatures frame by frame against live footage is no exception. Whether it’s the Cyclops from ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,’ the skeleton army from ‘Jason and the Argonauts,’ or the giant crab from ‘Mysterious Island,’ Harryhausen’s animation will always have my respect.
By Austin Oguri
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Austin Oguri is a screenwriter and has deep appreciation for the art of film in general, he aims to offer unique perspectives through his film reviews and feature articles. He also has a soft spot for lesser-known works, and enjoys spotlighting them whenever he can. Austin has always found it necessary for people to encourage and bring out the best in each other, and as a writer at The Hollywood Insider, he can combine that ideology with his ability to think outside the box and truly express his love for the arts in the best ways possible.
Austin Oguri is a screenwriter and has deep appreciation for the art of film in general, he aims to offer unique perspectives through his film reviews and feature articles. He also has a soft spot for lesser-known works, and enjoys spotlighting them whenever he can. Austin has always found it necessary for people to encourage and bring out the best in each other, and as a writer at The Hollywood Insider, he can combine that ideology with his ability to think outside the box and truly express his love for the arts in the best ways possible.
