NEW ULM – The New Ulm Film Society will take a fantastical journey into the world of stop-motion animation effects with a screening of “Jason and the Argonauts.”

The screening begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 11 in the New Ulm Public Library.

Released in 1963, “Jason and the Argonauts” is a retelling of the Greek legend of Jason (played by Todd Armstrong) seeking the Golden Fleece with his crew aboard his ship the “Argo.”

Jason is supported by the goddess Hera on his mission, meanwhile Pelias, the man who killed Jason’s father, plots to sabotage the mission. Throughout his journey, Jason and his men fight off many fantastical creatures including a giant bronze statue, a hydra and a skeleton army.

The film represents a stunning achievement in stop-motion animation. All of the fantasy creatures were brought to life through stop-motion animation. Miniature models were photographed and moved one frame at a time to create the illusion of a fluid movement. The process is similar to how cartoons are created, but in this case, the artist is photographing the characters.

The effects were created by Ray Harryhausen, who is widely regarded as the best stop-motion animator. Harryhausen worked on a dozen movies in his lifetime. He considered “Jason and the Argonauts” to be his best work.

“Jason and the Argonauts” was not the first film to incorporate stop-motion animation to depict fantasy creatures. “King Kong” used similar effects 30 years ago to create a giant gorilla. The difference is “Jason and the Argonauts” was placing these effects in the same frame as live-action actors and is in technicolor.

To create the effects, the actors playing Jason and the other Argonauts filmed their scenes against imaginary foes. These scenes needed to be heavily choreographed and filmed a year in advance. It took Harryhausen months to fully animate certain scenes. It was reported that some days he was only able to film 13 or 14 frames of animation. This is equivalent to half a second of film.

Harryhausen worked alone, doing all the animation filming himself. This included moving the model figures. During the hydra sequence, Harryhausen needed to keep track of the creature’s appendages. The hydra has multiple heads and he had to remember which head was moving forward and which was moving backward during every second of film.

Another complication was the room temperature. In order to get the hydra to match the color tone of the live-action actors, Harryhausen had to closely monitor the temperature of his lights. If the light and temperature in the room shifted too much, it would not match the live-action footage.

The most complicated sequence of the film was the climatic skeleton battle. Even though the scene only lasts three minutes, it took four months to animate. Like the hydra, the seven skeleton soldiers each have multiple moving appendages.

Scene in which all seven skeletons are moving, could require as many as 35 different resets for each frame. There are 28 frames per second of film.

“Jason and the Argonauts” was a critical success when it was first released. Critics understood and appreciated the work put into bringing the mythical story to life. Overtime, the film’s popularity grew in large part thanks to the stop-motion effects.

During the 1992 Academy Awards Science & Technical Ceremony, Harryhausen was given a special Oscar for his contribution to the film industry. After he received the award, host Tom Hanks said he believed “Jason and the Argonauts” was the best film of all time.

Sixty years after its release, “Jason and the Argonauts” is still praised for its special effects. Stop-motion animation has become rare in the age of computer generated effects, but many audiences prefer the old method. Even though the stop-motion creatures in “Jason and the Argonauts” might seem less realistic, there is an underlying charm to the effect.

Stop-motion animation is a practical effect, using in camera tricks as opposed to something created on a computer.

The New Ulm Film Society’s screening of “Jason and the Argonauts” is free to the public. Before and after the film, there will be discussion about the film’s place in special effects history.