Customer Reviews

A Century of Stop-Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

now i dont know how many books on stop-motion have been written but i cant believe that there is a more complete book on the subject.if you are a willys obrian/ray harryhausen fan you will find this book very informative.throw in the rest of the stop motion history and you have in this book a vertible whos-who on the subject.

A Century of Stop-Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman
This is an absolute must-have for stop-motion fans, and Harryhausen fans. If you know what this book is about, you'll be extremely glad you bought this! I'd give it more than 5 stars, if that was possible.

This is a great book, and it has quickly become one of my favorite Amazon purchases ever.

Just about anything you've ever wondered about stop-motion animation is both talked about AND illustrated in this book.

There are seven chapters. After some introductions, the first chapter is an overview of what is stop-motion animation, drawing in detail on Harryhausen's examples. Then a chapter on the early pioneers. Then, of course, a long chapter on O'Brien. Then an almost-as-long chapter on Harryhausen. Then there are three concluding chapters, on contemporaries of O'Brien and Harryhausen, the next generation after them, and the contemporary world of stop-motion. There are two pages of footnotes that provide great details and some behind-the-scenes gossip.

Although I love this book, I only gave four stars because of just a few nit-picking issues. One, it really isn't a general history of the field, it is a review of the O'Brien and Harryhausen careers with "additional information" on everyone else. Two, there is SO MUCH information sometimes the pages are too full. Sometimes a page will have the narrative of the book, an extended quote from one of the people and also multiple captions for the many photographs and illustrations. Sometimes it took a little effort to sort out what I was reading. Three, this is a high-quality book, with heavy paper stock, but my edition contained three pages with typography smears. The smears didn't obscure any text, but they really seemed out of place since the overall quality of the book was so high.

I really recommend this book highly. I would have liked to have seen more about the contemporary world--the final chapter is the shortest--but there is so much here that I will be reading and re-reading this book for a long time. Great stuff.

IT WAS A THOROUGH AND ENGAGING LOOK AT AN ART FORM EASILY PUT ASIDE IN LIGHT OF TODAYS CGI AND MOTION CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES. THE LAYOUTS ARE WELL DESIGNED WITH LOTS OF INFO ESPECIALLY FOR THE EARLY YEARS PRIOR TO WILLIS O'BRIEN'S DEBUT. THE COMBINATION OF COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY IS WELL PRODUCED, AND PEOPLE FROM DANFORTH TO ALLEN TO MUREN ALL GET BEAUTIFUL COMMENTARY. IT IS A WORTHY 3RD INSTALLMENT TO HARRYHAUSEN'S PREVIOUS EDITIONS AND AND HE AND DALTON ARE GENEROUS TO THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN UP THE MANTLE OF SUCH A DIFFICULT PROFESSION.A LOVELY ADDITION TO THE FIELD OF SPECIAL EFFECTS BOOKS!!!

For the fans of Ray Harryhausen, you would do well to read/view this wonderful work of the history of stop motion. Fantastic background stories with much detail on the people who advanced this art form. Many pictures and illustrations. Quality paper and highly recommended.

for those who can't afford some of the higher prices for this harryhausen book,go to blockbuster video and pick one up there for only 12.95. on the back of the protective cover is one little price sticker: no big deal there! for the price, it's a no-brainer!!! today, i am going to pick up a spare copy-for safe keeping,you understand. all in all, it's a great book even if you get it from amazon,if you don't have a blockbuster video store near you. enjoy it.

Excellent book on model animation history. A lot of work went into it. Great pictures too.

As an animation student, I was kind of expecting this book to give an overview of puppet / model animation through time (as the title would suggest), but when i started reading, it seemed to be mainly about the use of stop motion in special effects and that kind. It would still make a good book, but i found the title very misleading and was not extremely happy with the exact book i'd just bought...