The 60s were the decade of some truly impressive practical effects that had moviegoers in complete “aw” at what was transpiring on the screen. One of those ground-breaking moments were with the infamous skeleton battle scene in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Created by Ray Harryhausen and done in complete stop-motion animation, he was able to bring these skeletons to life in the film, and integrate them with the real actor. This is a very famous sequence in the effects industry that many artists look back on even today. While it certainly doesn’t stand up to do today’s visual effects, it was a ground-breaking sequence for its time and helped pave the way for what was to come. There’s a reason Pixar paid homage to Ray Harryhausen in their film Monsters Inc. (The prestigious restaurant is named “Harryhausen’s”)
The film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was another film that pushed special effects in movies to a whole new level, utilizing various techniques like miniatures for many set pieces and hand-drawn rotoscopes to combine everything for the final shot. The director of 2001: A Space Odyssey assembled his own effects team to create the film and to bring his vision to life