13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'll see a lot of Terminators in this book, May 12, 2009
This review is from: The Art of Terminator Salvation (Hardcover)
Length:: 0:26 Mins
The star of the movie is John Connor. The star of this art book is the Terminators. This 240-page hardcover volume features hundreds of color illustrations, storyboards, and intricately designed production art. Much of the concept paintings are done by production designer Martin Laing. There's also Jason Sweers, Victor Martinez, David Lowery who worked on the Terminator designs and storyboards. Unfortunately, a lot of credits don't come with names so we'll not know the exact artist.
This book has a ton of designs for the Terminators. We're talking about T-1, T-600, Aerostats, Hunter-Killers, Hydrobots, Transports, Harvesters, Moto-Terminators and even the T-70 which is only seen in the video game. There's several rejected iterations of the designs up to the final model used in the movie. These are in the form of 3D modeling, a few paintings and sketches. Included in a smaller amount are the set and location designs like the hideout, Skynet's factory, etc.
Overall, there's not much text except for the captions. Captions when provided nicely explains the thought process that goes behind the designs, like facing the challenge of differentiating these Terminators from Michael Bay's Transformers.
Strangely not included are the weapons used by the resistance fighters. I really want to know what kind of guns can be used to blow up endoskeletons. There's also not much character designs other John Connor in his few different costumes. Some of the production photos used are also a bit low in resolution but there are only a few production photos. If you want to see more production photos, you should grab Terminator Salvation: The Movie Companion.
This book is recommended for concept artists and fans of Terminator.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An insight into how they come up with the look for movies, December 1, 2009
This review is from: The Art of Terminator Salvation (Hardcover)
I love fantasy movies. Like a lot of people, I'd like to work in films and create amazing images like the ones in the Terminator films. But how do you go about it?
This book is especially useful as it shows not just the final designs used in the film, but also the early ideas and dead ends that are part of the creative process.
Terminator is an especially interesting subject, as James Cameron created the entire look for the world in the first low budget film and every subsequent movie has had to elaborate on that original style.
As such, we see the killer robot equivalent of the Cadillac tailfin design style -different enough to suggest something new, but not so radical that it steps outside the established formula.
This fourth film in the series is particularly interesting as being a prequel to the original movie, it has to suggest designs that are more primitive than the ones created 20 years ago!
In this respect Terminator Salvation is not entirely sucessful, as audiences expect to see more rather than less and the temptation is always to go bigger and better, to top what has been seen before.
The original Terminator was a small film, but it packed a big visual design punch for it's day.
The advent of today's digital effects and mega million dollar budgets don't nescessarily equate to a better final product.
This book is nicely presented and it makes a cool techno-fascist addition to any coffee table!
It's interesting to see how the standard and style of pre production art has changed over the years.
Cameron used white conte pencil on black paper to define the gleaming chrome of the Terminator robot, now today's artists produce much more finished pieces, using Photoshop and photo collages, 3D rendered models and electronic tablet pens instead of squeaker markers and airbrushes...
If nothing else, this book gives a good idea of the standards that are now expected in a big budget Hollywood movie...
Having done a very small amount of design work on films like "Red Planet" and "Star Wars Ep2." I can really appreciate the degree of skill that goes into these artworks, as opposed to the napkin scribbles I produced!
Now with the decline in local film production, I have moved on to teaching, rather than actually working in the industry and I find books like "The Art of Terminator Salvation" excellent teaching aids for my students.
In many ways I've enjoyed this book more than the film that created it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular art; great book!, June 14, 2009
This review is from: The Art of Terminator Salvation (Hardcover)
I gambled when I ordered The Art of Terminator Salvation but the bet paid off. I am very impressed with this book. The artwork is top-notch. It's thick with hundreds of great illustrations and much detail. Fans of the Terminator saga will not be disappointed. If the film left you hungry for more, this is the seconds you were yearning for.
--Guy P. Harrison, author of
Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know About Our Biological Diversity
and
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God
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