News RIP Ray Harryhausen

[Urwumpe]

I just learned that Ray Harryhausen, one of the biggest SFX wizards in history had died yesterday in London.

His art might seem not so fascinating today, since computers have took over the SFX, but still what he achieved with stop motion and other tricks is timelessly impressive. His work in Jason&the Argonauts or the 7th Voyage of Sinbad is still often cited in pop culture.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen"]Ray Harryhausen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

A great inspiration for all creatives in the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/07/ray-harryhausen-dies

 

[Notebook]

Sad loss, unique talent.
David Lord of Wallace and Gromett fame was on the radio this morning, describing his work.

 

[Andy44]

They played a previous interview with him on the radio yesterday, and he said he lived in the golden age of movie special effects, when doing the stuff he did was seen as magical by the audience, but now every 30-second car commercial has crazy stuff in it and people are no longer amazed at anything they see on a screen.

RIP Ray.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

The Monsters Inc. movie gave him a nod during the movie, the restaurant the Mike and GF went was named for him. I hope they do the same for him in Monsters U., particularly now.

Yes, his old "glory days" stuff might be lame by the CGI standards of today, but it was really ground breaking for the time. And those same techniques he pioneered can still yeild some stunning results, when properly applied.

RIP to a legend in his craft.

 

[Urwumpe]

The Monsters Inc. movie gave him a nod during the movie, the restaurant the Mike and GF went was named for him. I hope they do the same for him in Monsters U., particularly now.

He also got a tribute in various Tim Burton movies, especially in Corpse Bride, where the manufacturer of a piano in this stop motion movie was Harryhausen.

And of course in Mars Attacks!... another movie unthinkable without Harryhausens work.

I am pretty sure, a lot of the Orbiter world is also more or less directly influenced by Harryhausens works.

Yes, his old "glory days" stuff might be lame by the CGI standards of today, but it was really ground breaking for the time. And those same techniques he pioneered can still yeild some stunning results, when properly applied.

As example, just look at the various Lego movies at Youtube, which often use the same techniques in Brickfilm for elevating themself beyond the standards of Lego Studio stop motion movie clips.

Harryhausen did not invent stop-motion animation, he was himself impressed by the early pioneers of that technology, but he defined it with his works.

And who can today really appreciate, that the big battles in the early Star Wars movies had also been stop-motion?

 

[FADEC]

Never heard of him. But when I look at his career and how old he became, it seems he had a fulfilled and long life.

 

[tomthenose]

sad news, i love his movies, they don't make em like that anymore!

 

[Quick_Nick]

The Monsters Inc. movie gave him a nod during the movie, the restaurant the Mike and GF went was named for him.

I never heard of him til today, but that's exactly the first thing I thought of when I saw his name! (I WAS about 8 when it came out and have seen it ??? times since )

 

[PennyBlack]

Watching those skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts when I was kid was really cool, it also freaked me out. I thought, how clever of Jason to jump off that cliff and wondered why the hell didn't they all do it... getting cut up for nothing. I saw the clip on a program called Tiswas and couldn't get over it. When I finally got to watch the film, the second best part was on the island after they raided the tombs, getting chased by that giant bronze statues, AWSOME.

Brillent entertainment. Thankyou

 

[Andy44]

I think Robot Chicken owes a debt to Ray as well.