Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Movie Special Effects

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Great subject matter. Great idea. I take my hat off to anyone who has put a book like this together. Unfortuantely, the most cursory review shows many factual inaccuracies, and argualby painful omissions. The book is very much slanted to the cotemporary works, although special effects have been around for 100 years. The preface indicates that beyond 30 or 40 years back accurate information is hard to find; All the more reason that the information that is there be accurate. Only some examples of the incomplete or innacurate info. Some examples;

..."2001: A Space Odyssey" is described with the effects work supervised by Douglas Trumbull. True, but 3 other effects supervisors worked on the movie too and are pretty boldly listed in the end credits! All of the work by all 4 Supervisors is excellent and worthy of credit - (Wally Veevers, Con Pederson and Tom Howard)

..."Silent Running" is described as the first extremely detailed spaceships on screen. Huh, "2001" (3 years previously) is the movie that changed people's perception for realstic looking spacecraft in the manner credited here to "Silent Running".

...Premier visual effects maestro Ken Ralaton has thus far recieved 5 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects work, only three are listed even though the last one was in 1994.

...The book describes the impressive miniatures used in Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as ranging from 18 to 22 inches in length. I believe this should read more like 22ft.

...Speaking of "miniatures" the description given here is way too focused on motion control photography of spaceship type miniatures, only one facet of this work.

...In a similar vein a master in the field of in-camera high speed minaiture photography was Derek Meddings who won an Academy Award for "Superman". he worked on dozens of movies and is mentioned briefly in the entry on "Bond Movies". He recieves no separate listing. Compare this to 'Ray Park', a talented stunt man / actor who's appeared in 3 EFX heavy movies in recent years and is given an entry of his own.

...Front Projection and Rear Projection systems - popular techniques for compositing live action and effects work, are not listed as "processes".

...Showscan - a large format, high-fidelity movie format - is not used in the "Back to the Future" ride at Universal as listed incorrectly here. The ride uses an Imax-based system. This is ironic as this ride was created by Douglas Trumbull, who invented the superior and comparable Showscan system; An interesting irony worthy of mention?

I had to write in when I read other reviews posted here stating how this is "everything you ever need to know about Special Effects". Notably the book istelf does not claim this, and makes several other disclaimers. This book is a good place to start if you are interested in the craft, but is not the definitive work by any means.

There's no way this book is worth over $30. It's short, the details are lacking, and the pictures are in black and white. I couldn't imagine spending that much on such a book. If the price tag was smaller, then this would match up, but in its current state, its just not worth it.

I was really looking forward to receiving 'The Encyclopedia of Movie Special Effects'. It's been a long time since a really good book on effects has been written (the last ones being the ILM books). The title of this book (and its price!) seemed to hint that this might be an excellent new book.

When the book arrived I first thought that I had been sent the wrong one - the package seemed far too small. But the parcel did indeed contain the book I had ordered - much smaller than I had expected for a book with such a comprehensive sounding title (and large price tag).

The book is arranged alphabetically and offers a curious mixture of entries - some about films, some about effects artists and some about effects techniques.

The films chosen to be featured are an odd selection. Films such as the recent 'Mousehunt'are included whilst effects classics such as 'Gone with the Wind' (important for its Technicolor Matte Paintings) are not.

The technical descriptions are rather confusing, miss out much important information, are incorrect in some cases, and completely igonre some relatively important processes (Sodium Vapor Travelling Mattes, for example) altogether.

There is a smattering of black and white photographs.

The writing itself feels as if it is written by some kid from high school (although the biography at the back of the book assures us that the author has written a number of other earnest but unrelated sounding titles). I feel that this book has been written by a jobbing author who has spent a few months researching an unknown subject and written about it without any real understanding.

This is a pitty as I feel the subject deserves better.

The Enclyclopedia of Movie Special Effects has all you'd ever what to know about filmmaking, special effects, and stuntwork. Everything from 1925's landmark "The Lost World" to 1999's "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" is included with great detail and frequent illustrations. It also includes biographies of the great film magicians like Alfred Hitchcock and Stan Winston. Each entry also includes various links to other publications for further reading, making it a great reference piece for the film geek in all of us. Plus, the index includes a listing of every makeup, special effects, and visual effects Oscar given, proving that this book is an invaluable addition to any true filmlover's collection.