Ray Harryhausen - Death of a Titan

It was very sad to read of the death of Ray Harryhausen this week at the age of 92. Not that I am a film buff but I was fortunate to grow up at a time when he was at his peak in the 60's and 70's. His special effects and stop-motion animation work on films such as Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and the Sinbad movies were incredible and his influence has been acknowledged by Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Tim Burton, James Cameron, and Peter Lord of 'Wallace and Gromit' fame. 

In today's world of CGI animation it is easy to forget that Ray Harryhausen was not only an innovator but effectively a one man army, designing and building the characters and sets, moving the puppets and filming these scenes without the huge crew that is now required on today's animated films (Avatar had a team of over 1700 people working on the special effects). Even with the modern technologies an individual designer would be lucky to be given control of a small facet of one character in a scene.

Favourite film? Has to be Jason, especially the battle of the skeletons.

Everett Collection / Rex Features

Favourite creation?  Kali from Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

 

Favourite special effect? Keeping Caroline Munro in her costume throughout the Sinbad films.

Scariest moment?  Harry Hamlin's acting in Clash of the Titans.

People can argue that techniques have improved over the years, certainly the camera equipment has evolved but very little has changed in the way that the effects are created and a great debt is due to Ray Harryhausen for the work that he created, which were a continuation of the techniques that he cut his teeth on back in the 1930s.   

I-Spy insight

Driving along the M5 in Somerset, as I seem to do almost a daily basis in the line of duty I was distracted by the thought of the games my family used to play in the car on long journeys when I was a child. In particular I recalled the numerous games of I-Spy. I have no idea why this thought suddenly entered my head since I believed my focus of attention was on finding somewhere to stop for breakfast.

It made me smile remembering the endless hours  we all spent  scouring the horizon for whatever it was that we were supposed to be hunting. Whenever we went in to town my mother would purchase the latest in the collection of the I-Spy books, usually from W H Smiths. These books comprised a listing of eclectic items on a range of themes, such as the high street, trees, transport, country pursuits, animals and the seaside.

Hence we would compete to be the first to spot a postman, a man in a bowler hat, a woman on a bicycle or a police call box or someone wearing a green coat. You were awarded a point for spotting  whatever  was on the list and could then cross that item off your list of things to  watch for.

For the shorter journeys the list usually consisted of fairly obvious  tradesmen  or objects  but on long trips my mother used to try to drag the game out by ‘inadvertently’ bringing the wrong book on the journey  in the hope that it would take us longer to find everything –(British Wildlife for a journey through Central London takes some beating) .  

Usually each list contained one item that no one ever managed to find, which would be the natural conclusion to events. Our games usually ended with the first to turn green through car sickness.

A variation of this form of I-Spy was to record the place where you sighted the objects listed  in the appropriate book and then submit your completed book to Big Chief I-Spy by post. Surely, no self respecting Indian would ever resort to using the general postal system. He in return would send you an Order of Merit together with a feather.  I believe the idea was to build up a collection so that you could create a headdress just like the Big Chief’s – keeping a small brood of chicken’s,  I opted to raid the hen house, thus saving myself months of inconvenience and frustration.

At the time I don’t  think anyone knew or had ever seen Big Chief I-Spy, I am still undecided as to whether this  made him good or bad at his job . Were we supposed to track him down? Was it part of the game for him to remain forever hidden? In many ways he was a bit like several bosses that I have worked for ,  you knew who they were because they would always manage to send you  something in the post but otherwise colleagues would only talk about them in hushed tones and they very seldom put in an appearance at the office.

The books were devised by a former headmaster , Charles Warrell and published between 1949 and 2002. Originally self-published by Warrell the publication was acquired by Michelin Travel Publications  who published the books from 1991 to 2002 then re-launched the series of books in 2009.

The Big Chief died in 1995 at the age of 106.  He would have delight at the thought that his idea of making children aware of the things that surround them which was rejected by 8 publishing houses has sold over 25 million copies since its introduction.