Book Description
Ever wondered how Harry Potter flew in that quidditch game? Ever puzzled over King Kong swatting down airplanes? Ever tried to figure out Spider-Man swung from building to building? It’s all done with optical and digital effects, with miniature photography and animation, with pyrotechnics, animatronics, and even sound effects--and Special Effects: The History and Technique offers the definitive history of movie magic plus detailed technical explanations and diagrams. Packed with more than 500 photographs and profiles of such groundbreakers as George Lucas, James Cameron, and Robert Zemeckis, it is sure to appeal to fans of all ages. From A Trip to the Moon to X-Men 3, from The Lost World to War of the Worlds, from the 1933 King Kong to the 2005 King Kong, this stunning book reveals the magic of special effects.
Customer Reviews:
A coffee table book for the geeks in all of us..........2006-12-06
Yes there is great history and education in here, but the mass of photographs tells a truly beautiful tale. The artists illustrated here are for the most part the true pioneers of creating magic on film. Going into a project with truly no proven technique must have been terrifying and adrenaline pumping. Our techniques have greatly improved but since the advent of fully cg fx, the pioneering aspect is minimal. It is very well written but I can't call it a page turner since I spent so much time staring at the pictures. Great for fans and professionals alike.
Why is this book out of print?.......2005-01-27
I'm a film studies tutor and reccommend this title to all of my students. Why has the publisher/author allowed it to go out of print? This is the best book ever written on special/visual effects and one of the best introductions to film making and film technology generally. PLEASE REPRINT THIS BOOK and ideally, make a softback edition at a price my kids can better afford. THANKS!
The Best Book Ever.......2002-12-01
Special Effects is THE BEST book you could wish for on the subject. I have a shelf full of old, an mostly inaccurate books about special effects, but with this new book I could throw the rest away. Also, don't bother with magazines like Cinefex anymore, which are very dry and heavy going. this book is a pleasure to read and has interviews with everyone who is important in the business. There are hundreds of cool photos as well which makes it very good value. Anyone who works in special effects, or is just interested in the movies should read this book. Congratulations to the author Mr Rickitt who has condensed 100 years of movie magic into a single lavish book. Dont take my word for it - BUY IT!
Very good!.......2002-11-04
Although i didn't expect to find it so interesting, finally it was really good! Not only does it explain thoroughly every, if not all, technique of the motion picture industry, but it also has a lot of reference to really successful movies! Especially the section that refers to the special effects landmarks makes it unique and complete. It is not something you find in every book and thus it makes it really special.. It has a lot of images and really good explanations and descriptions.. Simply one of the best books on the subject!!
Special Effects.......2002-05-23
Once I picked up the Special Effects book, I seriously could not put it down. This book is truly amazing as it serves not only as an information source, but it is also very entertaining. The first half of the book goes through the decades starting with the 1900's. In each time period Richard discuses the new advancements in film making during that decade, along with writing about some of the best movies form that time. Some of the classics include Singing in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, and many Hitchcock movies. The second half of the book focuses on individual aspects of movie magic. From make-up and costumes, to lighting and pyrotechnics. The book cover many recent movies like Titanic, Star Wars Episode I and The Matrix. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the entertainment field. The book is easy moderate to read and full of amazing color pictures that you won't find anywhere else. Some of the pictures are accurate diagrams of film processes, such as animation, digital effects and camera techniques. I feel that form reading this book I gained a lot of basis knowledge needed to better understand the industry. Did you know that most of the snow used in movies is simply shredded paper? Or how about the fact that 90% of dialogue is movies is recorded and dubbed after the movie is shot! Find out hundreds of more amazing facts in Richard Rickitt's Special Effects: The History and Technique.
Book Description
• Harryhausen is the critically acclaimed master of stop-motion animation • Publishers Weekly called Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life "terrific"; Kirkus Said it's "a must"; Library Journal said "Harryhausen is a geek god!" • Lavishly illustrated and packed with Harryhausen's own words and images
The huge ape of Mighty Joe Young. The fighting skeletons of Jason and the Argonauts. And, of course, the angry T. Rex of Island of the Gwangi. All these creations and many more seared into our collective consciousness, are the work of Ray Harryhausen. The father of special effects, Ray Harryhausen is revered among film historians, animators, special-effects designers, and everyone who's ever seen his inspired stop-motion creations. In 2004, Watson-Guptill published Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life to critical acclaim and sales of 20,000 copies. Now WG is please to present a companion book: The Art of Ray Harryhausen. Concise essays and lavash illustrations look at each of Harryhausen's many specialities, including aliens, prehistoric, creatures, mythological monsters, and much more. At last, fans of Harryhausen can see the progression of his work over time, in a visiual celebration of his art and artistry.
Customer Reviews:
Great book.......2007-06-20
Excellent addition to Harryhausen's "An Animated Life".
Drawings,sketches,pictures...Recommended!!
A Must-Have!.......2007-03-21
If you're a fan of Ray and his films, or even just a fan of great movies in general, this is a must-have book. There are plenty of other reviewers here who give details about the book, so I'll skip that and just say that it really does live up to the hype you're seeing here. Ray is a master (and a really nice guy too), and he speaks candidly and in detail about his life and films so it's an enjoyable and informative read. Plus the pictures are phenomenal. I don't know that I'd say this is better than the first book, because they're really both great.
Great Harryhausen book!.......2007-02-06
I grew up with Harryhausen movies. This book captures my imagination like his animation did when I was a kid. I love it. It is almost as much fun to read as it is to look at the awesome pictures of Harryhausen's drawings and sculptures! If I had to reduce my animation library down to 5 books, this would be one of them.
I liked what I saw.......2006-11-05
I don't feel qualified reviewing my purchase as it was a gift for a dear friend who has been a Harryhausen fan since he was twelve. By his reaction upon receiving the book I felt I must have given him the greatist gift in the world. It was before I wrapped the book that I had a chance to skim through it and I found it to be very impressive in its wealth of photos, illustrations and information. I was very glad to see it was printed on quality paper and the illustrations were large and clear. I have seen other books of this type and get very annoyed when they print a picture of a film no larger then 2"x 2 1/2". I would say this book is a great tribute to Mr. Harryhausen's career.
Very Good photos.......2006-07-17
Much better than the first book. The first while good was to technical. We all love Ray Harryhausen for his visual work and this book shows it off beautifully. I highly reccommend it.
Phil
Book Description
Who among film fans and movie buffs cannot remember with fondness the marvelously realistic dinosaurs, fantastic aliens, and imaginative mythological creatures in 20 Millions Miles to Earth, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., and Clash of the Titans? Who cannot recall the battling skeletons in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad or the chaos and destruction wrought from the skies over our nation's capitol in Earth vs. The Flying Saucers? These and other classic movie moments represent the work of Ray Harryhausen, arguably the greatest stop-motion animator in the history of motion pictures.
Inspired by Willis O'Brien's King Kong and schooled by animation genius George Pal (The War of the Worlds, Time Machine, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm), Harryhausen blazed new trails in special effects from the 1950s to the 1980s. Now, in the animator's own words, accompanied by hundreds of previously unpublished photos, sketches, and storyboards from his personal archive, comes Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
Anecdotal, insightful, illuminating, and honest, the book takes readers through Harryhausen's entire career - film by film, triumph by triumph - from the impact that watching The Lost World and King Kong had on his life to creating the magnificent creatures seen in Clash of the Titans, his last movie. In words and images, it explains the basics of special effects and stop-motion animation, along the way telling tales of working with the film stars of the day - such as Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, and Lionel Jeffries, to name a few - and revealing how Raquel Welch was picked up by a flying dinosaur in One Million Years B.C., why the octopus in Mysterious Island was really only a sixtopus, and what Madusa's blood was made from in Clash of the Titans.
* No motion picture animator has greater recognition than Ray Harryhausen
* The book explores in detail how the animation models were made
* It also offers a film-by-film breakdown of the animation techniques used
* And it includes never before seen concept sketches and movie production drawings from films such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and many more
* And provides frame-by-frame deconstructions of how ground-breaking effects were achieved
* Finally, it contains previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photos revealing Harryhausen's expert artistry, unique talent, and production secrets
* Foreword was written by Ray Bradbury, legendary author of fantasy and science fiction
Customer Reviews:
Long overdue, but worth the wait........2006-02-19
Die-hard fans of special effects master Ray Harryhausen may recall Jeff Rovin's book "From the Land Beyond Beyond", which arrived in 1977. It was a welcome addition to the Harryhausen legacy, but was too subjective and fan-based for some tastes. Hard to believe it took almost thirty years for this definitive, color version of the Harryhausen story to arrive on the scene. Some will feel it is merely an extension of Ray's previous work, the Film Fantasy Scrapbook, and in many ways, it is, but there's so much detail here that this deluxe volume is worth picking up. Though of course modern special effects have become almost ridiculously complex, it's wonderful to hear Ray describe in great technical detail the processes and techniques he used to bring his animals and fantasy creatures to life in films like "7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". He's also candid about which films worked for him (and audiences) and which somehow missed the mark. Even readers who prefer modern spectacles to Harryhausen's classical, stately epics should find something of value here, and there is plenty to inspire any animator, filmmaker, or budding cinematographer. This book isn't just a special effects guide, it's a valuable and integral part of the history of film: Harryhausen's career spanned five decades, and he worked with some of the greats in the industry--not only effects geniuses like Willis O'brien, but actors like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, James Franciscus, Honor Blackman, Richard Carlson, Jane Seymour and Raquel Welch. A little pricey, but worth the cost. A must have for Harryhausen fans, naturally, but anyone interested in the movies will come away satisfied.
A Monument To Creativity.......2005-08-04
This is a top-notch compilation of genius on the cutting edge of our cultural history.
Inspiration for creative juices.......2005-03-04
I just recently purchased Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
Mr. Harryhausen was influenced by King Kong for his remarkable career. I was influenced by his first movie released in theaters
entitled BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. Ever since I gazed at the
incredible effects when I was six, I wanted to know why and how
something could seem so life like. Unfortunately, all I did was manage amateur special effects with an 8mm camera, but enjoyed thrilling friends and relatives with what talent I had. Now I can appreciate all the patience and imagination that this
genius has somehow transmitted to the screen. All of his movies are showcased with the wonderful behind the scenes stories and photos that made such magic in my childhood. Anyone who has ambition to follow the FX trade, should definitely read this book. Granted the technology is greatly improved today, but that even made Mr. Harryhausen seem more adept at his work. How tedious it is to move a model just a fraction of an inch until it appears fluid on the film...how educational it is to realize what props were used and what artistry was projected to make everything REAL. This coffee table book will be a treasure
in my collection of literature.
The Wizard Shows His Tricks.......2004-09-11
Computer generated effects are standard in movies now, and any big-budget action film can be expected to have plenty. We didn't always have computers, so the effects such as putting fantasy creatures on the screen, like King Kong, had to be done with meticulous stop-motion filming, whereby a movie frame picture would be made of a model Kong, then the model's arm would be slightly raised, one more frame of the movie shot, and the process repeated until a smooth arm movement could be seen when the entire strip of film ran. It was Willis O'Brien who animated Kong and many other creatures in early movies. It was Kong who inspired Ray Harryhausen to start making stop-motion films. In _Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life_ (Billboard Books), Harryhausen and Timothy Dalton tell the story of Harryhausen's entire career, including his humble beginnings. He was crazy about dinosaurs as a kid, and at the age of thirteen, he was taken by his mother and aunt to see _King Kong_. He studied up on the movie's techniques afterwards, and started making his own movies, first using a home camera that he could merely hope took only one frame at a time when he tapped it, and then purchasing his own 16 mm camera with a one-frame shift. He was one of those lucky kids who knew early what he wanted to do in life, and was able to do it; Harryhausen was the special effects wizard behind _Earth vs. The Flying Saucers_, _Jason and the Argonauts_, and _Clash of the Titans_, among many more. This beautiful book, filled with photographs and drawings to show how the models and effects were made for each of Harryhausen's films (and pictures of the artist's work as a thirteen-year-old as well), is a fascinating record of a career that could only have taken place in a restricted window of time.
To start with a clearing of the record: Harryhausen's first model, a cave bear, was covered with fur cut from an old black fur coat hanging in his mother's closet, but despite reports to the contrary, his mother _did_ know all about it and _did_ give her permission beforehand. This reflects the support his parents gave him toward his youthful enthusiasm, and he is certainly grateful. Most of the book describes his work for the studios; it devotes pages and pictures to all his films, and he gives detailed descriptions of just how he managed particular shots. Harryhausen isn't boasting; throughout the book he lets us know what he thought worked and what didn't, what he is proud of and what he winces at. If stop-motion is no longer going to be an art form, it is good that we have this documentation of what he actually accomplished, for the complexity of his creations and the way they were shot is astonishing. For instance, the Hydra in _Jason_ not only had a serpentine body and a double tail requiring their own movements, but also seven heads. In every frame, the model's movements might be only a millimeter, but there were sometimes more than thirty movements to do. He would have to remember for each head whether it was in the process of going up, down, right, or left, if the mouth was opening or closing, if the neck was flexing, and so on. Astonishingly, he was so in tune with his creation that he did not keep notes on what each head was doing, except if he were taking a break at the end of a work period.
Harryhausen has real affection for his creations. He has used real animals in some films, like an iguana made to look like a giant lizard in _One Million Years BC_. The trainer in charge of the iguanas was ready to use an electric prod to rouse the usually torpid lizards, but Harryhausen would not allow any cruelty, so action could only be obtained by a little prodding. Nonetheless, it was a lot harder to get the iguanas to move in just the way he needed compared to his obedient stop-motion models; he says that using models would have been more cost-effective and more realistic, too. He refuses to call his creations monsters; they are mostly creatures who are simply out of place. Of the tyrannosaurus in _The Valley of Gwangi_, he writes that he felt sorry for him, "... because all he wanted to do was live his life and eat a few people along the way." When he had to dismantle one creature to use its armature for another in a succeeding feature, he confesses, "It always breaks my heart to have to cannibalize my models. It's like losing a close friend." Gentle, self-deprecating humor is a hallmark of all the chapters here, no matter how technical the descriptions become at times. This is a handsome, large format book suitable for the coffee table; however, along with the beautiful illustrations, the written record of work here to show how creature features were made before the computers took over will be enjoyed by any fantasy film fan.
The King of the Saturday Matinee Tells All!.......2004-08-14
When one thinks of the great filmmakers of all time, one needs just list the last names: Hitchcock, Spielberg, Scorcese, Ford, and Wilder, just to name a few. To add to that illustrious list must be added special effects whiz Ray Harryhausen. For many, the master of stop-motion animation is in a class by himself, inspiring a host of successors with his skill and ingenuity.
"An Animated Life" chronicles Harryhausen's early days as a protégé of "King Kong's" Willis O'Brien to his own excursions into science fiction and fantasy. The man responsible for taking viewers to the moon ("First Men in the Moon"), on marvelous treks with the legendary sailor Sinbad ("The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad", and "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger"), animating a septet of malevolent skeletons ("Jason and the Argonauts") and placing a scantily-clad Raquel Welch in the talons of a pterodactyl reveals many of the fascinating tricks of the trade in this photograph-rich book.
Harryhausen does not skimp on the details of his craft, providing background that is not only insightful but also entertaining. Remaining humble throughout, he pays homage to those that preceded him as well as those who worked hand in hand with him as he created these timeless classics.
"An Animated Life" is a coffee table book that will definitely be an eye-grabber, taking all the fables of yore and true magic of a Hollywood original.
Book Description
Ray Harryhausen's animated creatures sparkled with predatory alertness and subtle quirks of behavior that stamped each with a distinct and memorable personality. His use of stop-motion animation—a method of animating movable models and puppets—brought dinosaurs and monsters to life on the silver screen. Many animators and special effects wizards, like Phil Tippett of Jurassic Park and Jim Aupperle of Planet of Dinosaurs who are still working on prehistoric-based films, openly credit Ray Harryhausen as having influenced their careers. His films are famous for being among the very best of the genre.
The first chapter of this book chronicles Harryhausen's formative years and work on numerous 16mm experiments, beginning with his viewing of King Kong in 1933. The next four chapters cover his four feature-length dinosaur films, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Animal World, One Million Years B.C. and The Valley of Gwangi. These chapters provide extensive information about all aspects of the staging of their stop-motion content and many additional facets of the overall production process. The paleontological accuracy of his saurians from a modern perspective is also examined. A chapter on his work and experiences in the 1970s and beyond discusses potential dinosaur projects, as well as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which is not a saurian film, but does include the bat-winged homunculus. An appendix covers a number of dinosaur-related films that Harryhausen had a hand in.
Customer Reviews:
Great book, tons of info........2007-09-28
This book is awesome from all the aspects of each of Harryhausen's dinosaur projects. Things are discussed that never have really surfaced in any other Harryhausen books. The only down sides are that it's not a better quality paper and lack of any color photos. Some photos appear blurry also. Overall, a great book if you want more than just pictures.
A "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans.......2005-07-04
Ray Harryhausen was a pioneer of the cinema. He was the man whose expanded and advanced the utilization of "stop-motion" animation. This was the labor intensive and painstaking practice of making models and puppets seem to come alive through moving slightly moving them and taking a photograph of each movement, then position them again, taking another photograph, repeating the process again and again. Running those still photographs through a film projector gave the fascinating illusion of movement that was a popular breakthrough in "special effects" for early fantasy movies featuring all manner of monsters and dinosaurs. In particular, Harryhausen was essential to bringing to life the dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures that were integral to his four classic Hollywood films: "One Million Years B.C.", "The Beasts from 20,000 Fathoms", "The Animal World", and "The Valley of Gwangi". Harryhausen developed stop-motion animation techniques that were to influence subsequent generations of film makers and special effects professionals down to this very day. In The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments And Unrealized Projects, Roy P. Webber provides a complete history of Harryhausen's cinematic work that rises to the level of archetypal scholarship, including an informative perspective on the pale ontological accuracy of the saurians from a contemporary perspective given the advances of paleontology over the past few decades. Of special note is the exhaustive appendix regarding dinosaur-related films that Harryhausen had a hand in. Nicely illustrated throughout with vintage photos and a "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans, The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen is a core addition to professional and academic library Cinematic Studies and Film History reference collections.
A "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans.......2005-07-04
Ray Harryhausen was a pioneer of the cinema. He was the man whose expanded and advanced the utilization of "stop-motion" animation. This was the labor intensive and painstaking practice of making models and puppets seem to come alive through moving slightly moving them and taking a photograph of each movement, then position them again, taking another photograph, repeating the process again and again. Running those still photographs through a film projector gave the fascinating illusion of movement that was a popular breakthrough in "special effects" for early fantasy movies featuring all manner of monsters and dinosaurs. In particular, Harryhausen was essential to bringing to life the dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures that were integral to his four classic Hollywood films: "One Million Years B.C.", "The Beasts from 20,000 Fathoms", "The Animal World", and "The Valley of Gwangi". Harryhausen developed stop-motion animation techniques that were to influence subsequent generations of film makers and special effects professionals down to this very day. In The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments And Unrealized Projects, Roy P. Webber provides a complete history of Harryhausen's cinematic work that rises to the level of archetypal scholarship, including an informative perspective on the pale ontological accuracy of the saurians from a contemporary perspective given the advances of paleontology over the past few decades. Of special note is the exhaustive appendix regarding dinosaur-related films that Harryhausen had a hand in. Nicely illustrated throughout with vintage photos and a "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans, The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen is a core addition to professional and academic library Cinematic Studies and Film History reference collections.
A "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans.......2005-07-04
Ray Harryhausen was a pioneer of the cinema. He was the man whose expanded and advanced the utilization of "stop-motion" animation. This was the labor intensive and painstaking practice of making models and puppets seem to come alive through moving slightly moving them and taking a photograph of each movement, then position them again, taking another photograph, repeating the process again and again. Running those still photographs through a film projector gave the fascinating illusion of movement that was a popular breakthrough in "special effects" for early fantasy movies featuring all manner of monsters and dinosaurs. In particular, Harryhausen was essential to bringing to life the dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures that were integral to his four classic Hollywood films: "One Million Years B.C.", "The Beasts from 20,000 Fathoms", "The Animal World", and "The Valley of Gwangi". Harryhausen developed stop-motion animation techniques that were to influence subsequent generations of film makers and special effects professionals down to this very day. In The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments And Unrealized Projects, Roy P. Webber provides a complete history of Harryhausen's cinematic work that rises to the level of archetypal scholarship, including an informative perspective on the pale ontological accuracy of the saurians from a contemporary perspective given the advances of paleontology over the past few decades. Of special note is the exhaustive appendix regarding dinosaur-related films that Harryhausen had a hand in. Nicely illustrated throughout with vintage photos and a "must" read for all Ray Harryhausen fans, The Dinosaur Films Of Ray Harryhausen is a core addition to professional and academic library Cinematic Studies and Film History reference collections.
Book Description
These easy-to-read, progressive exercises by Joanne Martin develop a student's reading skills one stage at a time, with many repetitions at each stage. I CAN READ MUSIC is designed as a first note-reading book for students of string instruments who have learned to play using an aural approach such as the Suzuki Method, or for traditionally taught students who need extra note reading practice. Its presentation of new ideas is clear enough that it can be used daily at home by quite young children and their parents, with the teacher checking progress every week or two.
Product Description
These easy-to-read, progressive exercises by Joanne Martin develop a student's music reading skills one stage at a time, with many repetitions at each stage.
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Books Index
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Direction & Production
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Special Effects
Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm
Special Effects: An Oral History--Interviews with 37 Masters Spanning 100 Years
Digital Domain: The Leading Edge of Visual Effects
Secrets of Hollywood Special Effects
