Digital Dream Machine

Ray Harryhausen tribute painting © Jim Dallmeier.

Stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen will be helping to develop a series of new features, TV movies, video games, and merchandising under the Ray Harryhausen Presents banner for Mindfire Entertainment according to Reuters and the Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo! News. From the article:

Producer Mindfire Entertainment, which joined forces on the projects with the 85-year-old director, said several scripts are in development — one set in Greek mythology and another with an alien invasion theme. Production on the first film is set to begin in the fall.

The plan is to release one movie in the $15 million range and three TV projects in the $4 million range every year, Mindfire CEO Mark Altman said. Harryhausen will oversee all visual effects, which will be done in CGI (computer-generated imagery) but will be in the spirit of his stop-motion effects, Altman said.

Harryhausen said “utilizing the incredible advances in visual effects technology” would enable him to reach an entire new generation of audiences. “These stories are universal, and I could not be more thrilled than to revisit some of my favorite worlds — past, present and future — in these new films,” he said.

As a great admirer of Harryhausen’s work, I’m thrilled to hear that he’s bringing out some fresh ideas from old worlds for all of us to enjoy. Take a look at many reecent feature films (Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers, Peter Jackson’s King Kong) or video games (Killer Instinct, Age of Mythology, God of War) and I guarantee you’ll see the Harryhausen influence.

Even if Ray does nothing more than provide the initial concepts and inspiration, you can bet the projects will be both epic and fantastic.

As you’re probably well aware, I’m a big King Kong fan. It remains one of the most engrossing variations of the Beauty and the Beast story. Almost no film today has matched the lushness of Kong’s jungles, fierce Skull Island creatures, or emotion exuded by an animated lead character. King Kong is also a movie that proved to be the key inspiration to more animators, palaeontologists, archeologists, artists, and filmmakers than any other motion picture. And that inspiration continues today as each new professional inspired by Kong fires up the imaginations of the young viewing audience. Let’s not forget King Kong came out during the The Great Depression, which makes its associated box office achievement and high praise even more amazing.

Over the Christmas holiday, I received a DVD Box Set of King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, and Son of Kong and finally had a chance to sit down and watch the new print of the film and included documentaries. RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World, is nothing short of outstanding. Arguably, it’s easily one of the best “making of” DVD features yet and is on par with Peter Jackson’s legendary behind-the-scenes material included on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and newly-issued Director’s Cut DVD of The Frighteners. Despite having one of the greatest films of all time now available in a beautiful new presentation, the documentary alone was worth the long wait for Kong’s arrival on DVD.

Found on the second disc of the King Kong Collector’s Edition DVD set, RKO Production 601 features a running time of just over 2 and a half hours, (worthy of even Peter Jackson’s new lengthy remake), and does an exemplary job of telling the story of the film’s creation. Jackson, Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippet, Alan Funke, Frank Darabont, Randall Cook, Ben Burtt, Joe Dante and others explain and analyze how the film was realized. From painstaking recreation of the King Kong armature and lost Spider Pit Sequence, to multi-plane set formation and projection, to the actual stop-motion animation process, and even the pioneering Max Steiner’s score, the documentary is not to be missed by any true animation and King Kong devotee.

King Kong has become bigger than the lovable beast himself. Though he is considered one of the most recognizable silver screen characters of all time, the film proved to be the new apex of fantasy and adventure storytelling on film. So, when you head out to watch Peter Jackson’s version, or the latest big-budget special effects blockbuster, think back to the incredible achievements of Willis O’Brien, Cooper and Schoedsack, and a giant ape, who was in reality, less than 20 inches tall.

King Kong artwork © 1933 RKO Pictures and 2005 Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

There’s a good interview by Mark Zimmer with stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen at digitallyOBSESSED.com.

“Harryhausen: I always worked by myself, because I like to concentrate. I prefer not to have people around. So every inch of film is usually the first take. We never had time to do retakes.

dOc: How did you remember from one day to the next, ‘Now, was I moving this limb this way or that way?’

Harryhausen: Sometimes if I had to stop a scene I would make notes, but you have it in your mind. When you make storyboards, you sort of think of it as though it’s in action. I guess I have a Zeus complex. I like to manipulate these people as Zeus did in the early Greek concepts.”

Ray also talks about his past work with Willis O’Brien, the upcoming ‘King Kong‘ ‘Mighty Joe Young‘ and ‘Song of Kong‘ DVDs, and even Peter Jackson’s ‘King Kong.’

I’ve been pretty busy lately spending time with my wife, family, and friends, editing wedding videos, and catching up on paperwork over the last few weeks. I also recently attended a Set Etiquette and Protocol course in Calgary and interviews here in Edmonton to keep the professional skills up to date. If that isn’t enough, my wife and I have been helping a friend renovate his home, nearly gutting the interior completely! So there’s been no shortage of things to get done.

In the next couple of days, I’ll hopefully be posting some cool images (from stuff I’ve found in the Lost Archive), but dug up this gem for Harryhausen fans in the meantime:

Rick Trembles at the Montreal Mirror Film website conducted a fun interview with Ray Harryhausen at the recent Fantasia event hosted by fps magazine. I especially enjoyed the great characatures of Ray at work!

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the link.

UPDATE: Photos of Ray, a skeleton model from Jason and the Argonauts, and the event can be seen at this link.

Apparently, the production which is being helmed by Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Dragonheart, and XXX) and starring Keanu Reeves, is involving special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen after all.

Ray, who is no stranger to the character, having collaborated on 3 previous Sinbad films, is providing the creative inspiration on the new film. This is good news for us Harryhausen fans, who know that Ray, even at his age, could still produce stuff that would blow others out of the water. Harryhausen recently has also mentioned his interest in telling another story about Sinbad and while this one may not be it, he’ll hopefully have some great ideas to contribute for the hero’s latest adventure.

Read more at Coming Soon!

The insightful DVD news and review site The Digital Bits, features an interview with the legendary master of stop-motion animation and special effects pioneer. The First Voyage of Ray Harryhausen lets Ray discuss the recently released DVD that showcases much of his early work.

You can also read Adam Jahnke’s review of the disc here.

I’m a big Ray Harryhausen fan. His painstaking work has given us so many memorable fantasy films and characters, encompassing fairy tales, classical myths, and futuristic visions. From the epic tale of Jason and the Argonauts, to the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, to alien invaders in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, no filmmaker with a hand in the fantasy and adventure genre can say they don’t know who he is. G4TechTV.com has an interview with the legendary stop-motion animation and special effects pioneer at this link.

There’s also a video interview with some clips from the newly-released Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection DVD. It’s nice to have Ray’s early work included on one DVD, and a big thank you to the people responsible for putting it together. If you want to send me a review copy, I’d be very pleased to look at it!

Two different DVD collections have just been released with many of Ray’s films. The packaging for the box sets are classy, yet adventurous, showcasing Ray’s magical creations, like the Cyclops and Ymir, and characters from the films, like Sinbad. If you haven’t picked up a few of these movies, the box sets are a good deal.

The Fantasic Films of Ray Harryhausen: Legendary Monster Series features Jason and the Argonauts, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.

The Fantasic Films of Ray Harryhausen: Legendary Science Fiction Series features these classics: It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Mysterious Island, and H.G. Wells’ First Men in the Moon.

A new retrospective book on Ray’s stop-mtion animation career was also recently released. Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life features over 300+ pages of history, never before seen concept sketches, movie production drawings, frame-by-frame deconstructions of special effect shots, and a foreword by Ray Bradbury.

Ray looks and sounds great for his age. He still does interviews, speaking engagements, and conventions, and I hope he’s able to do so for years to come. If he’s able to realize some of those ideas he’s got floating around in his head, I have no doubt the final products would be nothing less than outstanding.
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