Visual effects supervisor: Ray Harryhausen
Matte painting: Gerald Larn / Doug Ferris
Matte camera: John Grant / Peter Harman
Comments by matte artist Gerald Larn:
There is really not much to tell about the GWANGI painting. It was of course great to be talking to Ray. Although apart from providing me with lots of photo references of Monument Valley in the States, he left me to my own devices with regard to the composition of the painting. I remember he had set up his own small animation workshop/studio in a building tucked away in a far corner of the studio complex and I paid him a couple of visits while he was at work. I found Ray to be a remarkably modest man and thoroughly ‘sympatico.’ Later on in my teaching career, it gave me great pleasure to meet up with him again.
The other matte paintings were done by Doug Ferris. Text explanations by the book: “Ray Harryhausen, an animated life.”
“For the high shots, the balloon was a matte painting combined with the real curtain”
“For the low shots inside the arena, I used a matte painting of the balloon and canopy”
