Customer Reviews

Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've purchased many behind-the-scenes Star Wars books in my life, and I have to say that this one tops them all. This book is loaded with a wealth of information on all 6 movies in a chronological order. Lots of rare pictures and trivia that I have discovered for the first time...and I thought I've seen everything! John Knoll worked hard on making a book that Star Wars fans were waiting years to see. I also appreciate the graphic design and format of this book. Very easy to read, large images, not too much clutter. A definite labor of love. The icing on the cake is the CD-Rom inserted at the end of the book which contains over 100 Quicktime VR 360° panoramas that you can watch on your computer. Amazon has a great price on this gem of a book too that can't be beat! Highly recommended.

John Knoll has done something very unusual: He's written a book that is very satisfying, providing infomation that quells rumors, sets records straight and imparts a vast amount of new information about a subject that has become just as much a part of life for some as living and breathing is for us all. And for those of us who place Star Wars in a more normal context, this book is just plain fascinating!

To continue this review with examples from the book will not do it justice. The book is configured in a way such that facing pages have incredible photos and a very succinct narrative, rarely more than half a page long. Not that a lot of text would be bad, but Knoll does a such good job of telling the story in this fashion that more text would just take up the room where more of those 'thousand word' pictures could go!

The photographs in this work are excellent. Particularly welcome are all the new photos from the first 3 films. Most have never been seen before and those alone are worth the price of this book. And speaking of the price-- $30 full retail is the deal of the century, gang. This book is hardbound for the ages, too.

My personal request would be that Mr. Knoll continue with additional volumes on a yearly basis, but I have a feeling that would not be in the cards-- he's one busy guy. I think it would be a great idea to devote each additional volume to a single film at a time, particularly the first 3 films. As wonderful as this book is, and being the gluttons that we are, 365 'days' does not provide enough coverage for all 6 films!

Finally, in case you are not aware-- this book is a rather odd format in that it measures 6.5 by 9.5 inches and is 2.25 inches thick. Sort of a 'wide screen' format. But, don't let that phase you. Its a coffee table book that fits on the smallest of coffee tables-- and its easy to read in bed!

Five stars is not enough. This is quite possibly THE best behind the scenes Star Wars book. It rivals the original Star Wars Chronicles and (in terms of photos) nearly wipes the floor with the prequel Making Of books. There are literally thousands of pictures here that you have not seen, half of which are pre-1983. Spectacular.

As a Visual Effects practitioner I find this book to be a tremendous resource because of the quality and information the visuals present. From the use of miniatures to CG, this book documents the making of these films, especially the ones Supervised by Mr. Knoll, with great detail with pictures and frank first hand descriptions of shots and techniques.
As a Star Wars fan, the inside info and the photos, especially the 360 degree panoramas, are quite illuminating and enjoyable.
Well Done!

This is a really innovative book and a must have for any serious die-hard fan of all six Star Wars films or special effects enthusiasts. The most amazing thing for me was seeing all of the behind the scenes photos, many for the first time. Knoll enlightens readers to the many processes used to create the fantastic imagery and effects used in the films. For people who think the prequels are all computer generated, think again. There are many cool miniature sets and model ships to feast your eyes upon.

So, if you want to peek behind the curtain and learn how the effects were done, pick up this book! You get a cool CD-ROM with it as well so you really can't go wrong, especially at Amazon's price.

This book is really cool for most Star Wars lovers. It shows you how they filmed the movie. You can see who played the Wampa. I think the coolest part is Mustafar because you can see the lava river bank. You can also see on one page all the Astromech droids. You can also see alot of cool other stuff.
You should buy this book if you're a Star Wars fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is by far the best non-fiction STAR WARS book EVER, and believe me I read quite a few of them, including all of the "Making of" and "The Art of" books for every movie in the franchise.
If you want to know how every single scene in the 6-movie saga was conceived, this is the book for you. You will NEVER watch the movies the same way again after reading this book. I am not even sure where to start. You get 365 scene descriptions, each scene is spread over 2 pages, the pictures are highly detailed and the book paper is top-quality glossy, as good as ANY printed material can get. The size of the book is small, but it is obviously quite thick and heavy due to the page count. But this is as far as any complaint can get for this book. Almost every picture is never seen before, and the scenes are presented in the order they appeared in each movie. The movies are presented in the order they were made (Episodes IV-VI, then I-III). Only this book will make you really appreciate the true passion of George Lucas and what he and his crew went through to conceive the wonderful fantasy worlds that came out of his imagination. Just witnessing the evolution of scene preparation from low-tech techniques to fully virtual environments is hugely fascinating and worth the price of this book. From Tunisia to Norway, from studios in England to ILM Headquarters in Californa, the global adventures involving the shooting of the entire saga is an incredible event to witness. Did you know only one full-size X-Wing Fighter was built for Episode IV, or background scenes for the high-speed Speeder chase on the forest moon of Endor in Episode VI were realized by a cameraman running in a forest with a Steadicam strapped to his body shooting only one frame per second? This book is chock-full of such entertaining trivia. It is an addictive read, and as far as creativivy and imagination are concerned, the author of the book, visual effects specialist John Knoll, truly deserves a place right up there with George Lucas . Highly addictive and mandatory reading for anyone who has heard of the phenomenon called STAR WARS.

I almost passed this book by when saw it on the shelf. It as the standard Episode III styling, and said "365 Days" on it after the title. What was this? A calender of some sort? I picked it up because I was programmed 29 years ago to investigate anything Star Wars that catches my eye. I thought I was dreaming when I opened this up! Shots of the shooting sets used on all six films! I was blown away particularly with the photos from the first three films. Rare productions stills I didnt even know existed! Photos of models of sets, like the Cantina and the Falcon interiors! Mos Eisley and Docking Bay 94! Aliens and R-2 units! Echo Base and Tie Fighter cockpit! DeathStar interiors and shots from deleted scenes from the Original Trilogy. In a time when everyone raves about computer effects, its long overdue that we see a docmentation of the physical sets that the actors worked in to bring theior performances to life! Beautiful printing quality and nice Notes puts this book in my Top Ten Fave SW books of all time. Maybe the Top Five. Not really a kids book, but I could see children finding it as fascinating as the kid that lives inside me...Thanks for this book, its DREAM COME TRUE, a peek into the magic that existed physically for a brief time and (for the most part) no longer exists! Buy it.

Trisha Biggar. Dressing A Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars. 215p. ISBN 0-8109-6567-4. $50.
John Knoll. Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days. 744p. ISBN 0-8109-5936-4. illus. $29.95.
ea. vol: Abrams. Oct. 2005. illus. FILM
For diehard Star Wars junkies, Knoll's Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days and Biggar's Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars can be summed up succinctly in two words: Oh mama! Knoll, visual effects supervisor at Star Wars' creator George Lucas's FX shop, Industrial Light and Magic, takes fans on a light-speed tour of the complete saga through 1000 color and monochrome pix (many unique to this title) with captions. 365 Days confirms what fans long have suspected-and hoped-that there are many never-before-seen original trilogy (OT) pix still squirreled away in Uncle George's archives. While the book chronicles all six episodes, it's the absolute killer OT material (e.g., Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, and Y-Wing cockpits; Kenobi hut interior; and McQuarrie concept Vader armor) that will have fanboys pouncing on this one like Jawas on a junk pile and wishing a year were longer. As if it didn't already rock the Kasbah, this book also includes a CD-ROM sporting manipulable 360° panoramic pix and video clips. All that for $30 makes it this year's must have Star Wars title. Biggar's Dressing essentially is a gallery exhibiting her work as the prequel films' wardrobe designer. Typical of Abrams, the 300+ costume photos are superb, and Biggar provides details on the concepts behind and materials used to elaborately outfit Jedis, Siths, princesses, and politicians (note to the publisher: a similar treatment for the OT films' costumes would be much appreciated). The book offers a preface by Lucas and is capped with a wonderful six-page index of thumbnail photos of the costumes from the entire series. To legions worldwide for whom Star Wars is a religion, there is no such thing as too much information or too many insider pix, making 365 Days and Dressing a Galaxy warmly welcomed. --Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"

Length:: 0:20 Mins

John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor of Industrial Light & Magic sums up the book perfectly in the first sentence of his introduction.

"The object of this book is to reveal how the environments of Star Wars were created, and to explain why some were done one way and some another."

Specifically, there are 365 chapters. They are chapters because one of them talks about the founding of ILM, and the other on the staffing. Both of which I think can't be done in a single day. The rest of the chapters are on how they create the sets, props, environment, vehicles and ships.

Not just creation, the book also includes how they the props were used to create illusions. For example, Luke's speed was supported by a welded pipe, shot out of frame or blocked by an object like R2D2. To show the speeder movie, a mirror was place underneath it to reflect the ground, creating the illusion that it's floating on air.

The book is very thick because each chapter has two pages. The left explains while the right provides the photos, often spilling over. This book is easily a nice photography book without any text.

The chapters cover all the six episodes. One can easily see how movie making and technology have evolved since the first Star Wars movie. The book also comes with a CD, containing additional photos and videos on the props creation.

This should be another wonderful addition for any Star Wars fans.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)