Special Effects

Special Effects

Author: Michele Pierson

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2002-05-23

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0231500807

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Designed to trick the eye and stimulate the imagination, special effects have changed the way we look at films and the worlds created in them. Computer-generated imagery (CGI), as seen in Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Men in Black, and The Matrix, is just the latest advance in the evolution of special effects. Even as special effects have been marveled at by millions, this is the first investigation of their broader cultural reception. Moving from an exploration of nineteenth-century popular science and magic to the Hollywood science fiction cinema of our time, Special Effects examines the history, advancements, and connoisseurship of special effects, asking what makes certain types of cinematic effects special, why this matters, and for whom. Michele Pierson shows how popular science magazines, genre filmzines, and computer lifestyle magazines have articulated an aesthetic criticism of this emerging art form and have helped shape how these hugely popular on-screen technological wonders have been viewed by moviegoers.


Special Effects

Special Effects

Author: Richard Rickitt

Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 0823077330

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Traces the history and evolution of motion picture special effects from silent films' smoke and mirrors to computer-assisted effects, and dissects such components as optical illusions, models, animation, and makeup and sound effects.


Movie Special Effects

Movie Special Effects

Author: Liz Miles

Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree Library

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9781410933997

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Examines special effects in cinematography including stunts, animation, make-up techniques, and other related topics.


Digital Visual Effects in Cinema

Digital Visual Effects in Cinema

Author: Stephen Prince

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2011-12-07

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0813552184

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Avatar. Inception. Jurassic Park. Lord of the Rings. Ratatouille. Not only are these some of the highest-grossing films of all time, they are also prime examples of how digital visual effects have transformed Hollywood filmmaking. Some critics, however, fear that this digital revolution marks a radical break with cinematic tradition, heralding the death of serious realistic movies in favor of computer-generated pure spectacle. Digital Visual Effects in Cinema counters this alarmist reading, by showing how digital effects–driven films should be understood as a continuation of the narrative and stylistic traditions that have defined American cinema for decades. Stephen Prince argues for an understanding of digital technologies as an expanded toolbox, available to enhance both realist films and cinematic fantasies. He offers a detailed exploration of each of these tools, from lighting technologies to image capture to stereoscopic 3D. Integrating aesthetic, historical, and theoretical analyses of digital visual effects, Digital Visual Effects in Cinema is an essential guide for understanding movie-making today.


Special Effects

Special Effects

Author: Dan North

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-07-25

Total Pages: 485

ISBN-13: 1838718311

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As blockbusters employ ever greater numbers of dazzling visual effects and digital illusions, this book explores the material roots and stylistic practices of special effects and their makers. Gathering leading voices in cinema and new media studies, this comprehensive anthology moves beyond questions of spectacle to examine special effects from the earliest years of cinema, via experimental film and the Golden Age of Hollywood, to our contemporary transmedia landscape. Wide-ranging and accessible, this book illuminates and interrogates the vast array of techniques film has used throughout its history to conjure spectacular images, mediate bodies, map worlds and make meanings. Foreword by Scott Bukatman, with an Afterword by Lev Manovich.


Making Movie Magic

Making Movie Magic

Author: John Richardson

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2020-01-24

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 0750994398

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John Richardson is an Oscar-winning special effects supervisor and designer, who has been involved in over 100 movies, including nine James Bond adventures, all eight Harry Potter films, Aliens, Superman, A Bridge Too Far, Straw Dogs, The Omen, Cliffhanger, Far and Away, Willow . . . and many, many more. In creating the magic that flows through these films – by creating huge explosions, beheading people, producing futuristic gadgets, making a man fly or breathing life into creatures that amaze and haunt us – Richardson has come to hold a unique place in cinema history. The son of pioneering FX technician Cliff Richardson, he learned his trade at the feet of a master of the craft. With over five decades of adventures under his belt, and a vast photographic collection of unseen pictures, Richardson now lifts the lid on his exciting and fascinating career of making movie magic.


Special Effects

Special Effects

Author: Sara Green

Publisher: Bellwether Media

Published: 2019-08-01

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1681035901

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The action of the big screen--car crashes, torrential rainfall, ships sinking--is the work of special effects! Directors and crews use anything they can to create a real and captivating experience. Enormous models, airplane engines, controlled fires, and much more create the excitement we all crave! Young readers will marvel over this behind-the-scenes look at how movies are made.