Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook Models, Artwork and Memories from 65 Years of Filmmaking

by Harryhausen, Ray; Dalton, Tony; Landis, John

• ISBN13: 9781845135577
• ISBN10: 1845135571
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-11-01
• Publisher: Aurum Press

Summary

One of the most innovative and influential film animators in the history of the medium reveals a wealth of fascinating never-before-seen film artifacts, many of them recently discovered in a garage in Los Angeles Designed in the form of a scrapbook, this visual feast for Harryhausen fans reveals models from unrealized projects, such as dinosaurs from the unfinished film Evolution; prints of outtakes from various films; early concept drawings and storyboards; color transparencies of Ray at work; written artifacts such as letters, production budgets, and a diary that details Ray's first meeting with his mentor Willis O'Brien; early film treatments and script extracts; publicity posters and brochures; and more. Some items show Ray's earliest artistic endeavors such as watercolors painted when he was 15 years old and marionettes of creatures from King Kongthat he made when he saw the film in 1933. The result is a treasure trove of rare artifacts and material which not only offer new insights into how Ray created particular effects, but bring the worlds of his films to life in a new way and paint a fascinating visual portrait of the man himself and his creative imagination.

Author Biography

Ray Harryhausen is universally revered as the grandmaster of special effects in the pre-computer age, responsible for such classic films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, and One Million Years BC. He received an honorary Oscar in 1992 and a star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 2003. Tony Dalton has known Ray for more than 30 years, having met him when he was first working at the British Film Institute. He was involved in the publicity for The Omen, Star Wars, and The Towering Inferno, and now runs his own archive research company. They cowrote An Animated Life and A Century of Model Animation. John Landis is the director of such films as An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers, Coming to America, National Lampoon's Animal House, Spies Like Us, and Trading Places, as well as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.