Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Twelve

While Jason melees with his own skeletons, we cut to action elsewhere.

We don't get too many true "fight" sequences in films these days. That wouldn't be such a bad thing, if the fight sequence hadn't been replaced with the indecipherable scrum and jump cut chase.

A fight from the olden days of Hollywood would involve a lot of choreography -like tossing a skeleton over your back.

In the previous, the Argonaut is starting to stand up.  We cut to him low in the frame and rising.

Good cut.  Energetic.

And the skeleton attacks.

Cut in.  Nice cut to approximately match the final position of the wide.

And the action spin us around.

In animation, the simplest way to determine a new scene is if the background changes -and determining what constitutes a scene is of prime importance to managing production.

When you look at stills like these, shot by shot, you can see that.  It also helps to visualize the sequence backwards into storyboard.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Eleven

Now we're into the fight.

Cut to:

Argonaut tripping up a skeleton.

We stay with him as:

He spins and kicks him in the jaw.

Another joins the fray as he heads for higher ground.

Cut to: Jason taking on two guys.

New angle: he kicks one in the kisser.

and the other climbs up.

Note: Close on Jason, he's swinging down.

Back to the previous angle.

Right now we've got three separate skirmishes.  Obviously, Jason's the most important -it's his name in the title.  So we spend the most time with him.

The other two fights offer added excitement and dynamics.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Ten

When we last left our hero, Jason was kicking in the dental work of one of Aeetes' skeleton warriors.

This upsets them further, prompting the skeletons to climb the ruins and give chase.

They all run off clearing frame.

Then:

One enters frame chasing Jason.

This is a pretty bad cut.

There's no need to give the extra two or three seconds on either end for the frame to clear entirely.

You can cut out after the first 1/3 of the characters have cleared frame and cut in as the first character or two enters frame.

In this case, Jason is well clear of the edge of the frame by the time the skeleton begin to leave frame. We could easily have cut to him mid run in the second shot.

As it cuts now, the action is all a little slow. In a bad way.

It's buoyed by the great soundtrack, but in film, it's best to let the picture do the talking.

The cut in to the medium close is pretty good. It's a match cut on action.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Nine

We just had a low angle shot looking up a Jason.  Above, it cuts to his point of view.

This is a fully animated scene.  Incorporating shots like this along with composite shots and strictly live shots makes the sequence work.

Cut to a rear-projection wide shot.

Again, close on Jason.  Looking up.  He's higher than the camera/viewer.

Back to the wide.

Note the busted statue in the foreground.

Jason kicks the skeleton.  A lot of kicking when you fight skeleton warriors.

Why?  Kicks aren't as precise as punches.  They're bigger gestures.  Both of these allow for loose animation and more forgiving match points.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Eight

Now we get into the fight.

But first Jason and his men jockey for position.  (or run away scared)

In the above shot, note how Jason stands calmly in the background waiting for his men to clear.

You can't have a mob rush the camera.

And back to Aeetes.  This is the last we'll be seeing of him.  This cut was necessary to give time for the action below to set up off screen:

And here is our first combat.  In a wide shot.  The distance of this shot allows for loose and chaotic action without precise animation.

Then a cut to a close angle.

You probably wouldn't storyboard like this, it's the sort of cut which slows a scene.  But we are getting some more information and more dynamics.

Then a close up on Jason.  Note he's thrusting down -always keep screen direction in mind.  The angle also make eye-lines less important.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Recap

There have been around 40 "scenes" (to use the animation term) in the Skeleton Fight sequence from "Jason and the Argonauts" which have been posted so far.

Here, we'll call a "scene" from cut to cut.

These are primarily 8 shots plus 4 more effects shots (primarily animation) which come towards the end and are used only once each.

This shot happens 3 times:

It's the first in the sequence and is revisited twice.

It intercuts with the close on the skeletons growing.

The above is used 5 times and also cuts with a close of Jason.

This is used 5 times.  The first time with a slight move.  It is revisited throughout the length of the sequence.

The other Argonauts are cut to 4 times.

There are three different actors shown, but the framing is identical and the purpose of the cut is the same.

We get Aeetes 3 times in the cool extreme close.

And 3 more times in a medium.

We also see him 4 times in the (below) process shot with the skeletons.

Which  sort of demonstrates that, at least in terms of cuts, there weren't too many effects shots in the beginning of the sequence.  They were just used to their maximum potential.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Seven

Jason and his men have begun to backtrack.

Here we see them in frame with the Skeleton warriors.

The columns could be either set or bi-packed.  I'd guess set based on shadows which match the skeletons.

This above shot is possibly the most critical in selling the effect.

Aeetes cheers them on.

Also note the classic editing/storyboarding: mixing wide with close shots.

This is sort of the skeletons' POV, but not really.

Drawing out the tension before the fight.

Here's where I should also tip the score.  Bernard Hermann (best known for his Hitchcock scores).

The shot above is the 180 degree counterpoint to the shot preceding it.

The skeletons are not being treated as an effects shot, but just as any fight opponent.

Aeetes, again.  Great blue sky.

Jason and Argonauts back a little farther.

Skeletons.  Aeetes rear projected in background.

Still backing off.

and ATTACK!



In a few days we'll show the fight ensuing.

Children of the Hydra's Teeth - Part Six

Here comes the most important shot of all.  The one thing that "sells" the reality of the situation.

We've got Aeetes (and goons) in the background, the animation in the middle ground, and Jason & Co. in the foreground.

This may be an actual process shot in which the foreground elements are composited.  They may have even been composited in camera -note the hard black shadows -negative space making a bipack easier.


The foreground also has a different vanishing point from the background.  That's something common in animation which doesn't have when you shoot through a lens.

Harryhausen may have done this shot in some other ingenious way.  The important thing to remember -if you're going to do something more complicated, more expensive, make sure it's critical to the success of the film.

The "three layered" shot comes a point where we need to have the geography reinforced at the moment we need to be sold the animation exists in the same reality as the live action.

This following cut, is back to the skeletons approaching from the side with Aeetes in rear projection.

Back to Aeetes.

Jason retreating.

There should be no question to the geography now.  We know what Jason sees, we know the relationship of his position to the skeletons.

We also know he's outnumbered 3 to 1.

Next up: The fight begins (almost)