This exhibition at Scottish National Gallery was on the Special Effects creations of Ray Harryhausen who was a pioneer in stop go animation and “green screen” effects including Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts and 1 million years BC. The exhibition started with artefacts from the King Kong movie that is said to have been Harryhausen creative catlyst. There were some home made puppets such as for Wizard of Oz characters and many actual artefacts from the famous movies. The demonstration of layering method was captivating.
This was the effect we recognise in old movies where characters are talking in a car in a studio with the outdoors projected on the rear windscreen. Harryhausen developed this technique that was demonstrated in the gallery using 3 glass screens hanging from the ceiling. The rear most projected background, perhaps a street scene.
The middle screen showed the stop go action created using models that had been moved slightly and filmed frame by frame in front of the background that would have been played back frame by frame to synchronise with the model action. A third screen at the front showed the live action that would have been filmed in front of the projection that would have resulted from the model stop go and backdrop action being combined.
This ticketed “blockbuster” exhibition under Covid restrictions with a great deal to see, the models, drawings and demonstrations culminating in a CGI green screen demonstration and featuring recent artworks inpired by victorian magic lanterns and referring to Harry hausens models.
