it while filming the models, as well as rear- screen projects onto miniature shots of Kong. Even the animators went out their way to develop the sense of tension and awareness of the threat posed.
This clip shows you how Willis O’ Brian used split screen and you can see the painted glass he has used.
born in 1920, was only 5 when he discovered his interests for stop-motion movies when he was first introduced to the Dinosaur movie“ The Lost World”. When he was 13 he first watched King Kong and was very impressed and fascinated about how it was made but at this time stop-motion was a secret and no one new how it was made for many years. One of his father’ s friends worked in a studio at RKO( Radio- Keith- Orpheum), which was an American film production and distribution company, told him how stop-motion worked and from then on he started doing it as a hobby in the garden and his garage.
Harryhausen went to visit Willis O’ Brian, who had created both the films that inspired him to make stop-motion. He asked his hero for advice on a stegosaurus model he had created. The advice from the man that was to become his mentor?“ The legs look like wrinkled sausage” and that he needed to study anatomy and graphic art in order to learn all the little details like how the muscles connect to the bone. So Ray Harryhausen then took up art, anatomy and film- making classes. His idea of art and storyboarding was outstandingly powerful, and he used this to promote and visualise his ideas to producers.
When he was 20 Ray Harryhausen was asked to make a replacement-head‘ Puppetoons’ for George pal, animator and film producer who specialises in science fiction genre, before he joined the army in 1942.
Ray Harryhausen came up with a new animation technique“ dynamtion”. This technique involved split screen with a back drop. An actual split screen had been around since films were started to be created. To make this technique you first had to film the image you want for the back ground. For example, if you wanted people to look like they are being chased by a fictional character you would film the people running towards the camera in the location you have chosen. The camera wouldn’ t change position at all when filming the back ground. This footage can then be developed and loaded into a projector back at the studio. The motion picture camera is loaded with the film and then