Customer Reviews

The Making of FINAL FANTASY: The Spirits Within

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Well, I worked on this film as a storyboard artist for a long time, so I was sure I would like the book and wasn't disappointed. Despite my built-in prejudices I found the book to be very high quality in every regard, from it's construction and printing to it's massive content, going from conception (& conceptual art) to the finished product that played on movie screens all over America. The book still hasn't arrived at my local retailers and was sold out at a kiosk after Siggraph 2001 but I pored over it's details in a display copy. Now I can't wait for my copy from Amazon.Com to arrive!

This book shows you the process from beginning to end, but unfortunately left out much of the middle. There are many rudimentary b&w sketches, then the next thing you knew, the characters are fully rendered, colored and lighted. Plenty about the concept and storyboarding and script (the entire script!) and which screw fits where and what material Aki's shoulder pads are made of, but heck, I don't care about that! I went to see this movie for the astounding CGI, and I bet everyone left the theater thinking, "How did they do that?" THAT'S what I want to see - the phenomenal artistry of this movie. This book gives you none of that. It's like, here's the concept, and look here - Bam! We have the final product. Wowee, isn't it so amazing how this little line sketch here has turned into this grand scene in the movie? Amazing, aren't we?

Hello?!What happened in between?

There are a few peeks here and there of how the artists drew and evolved the art, but the pictures were small and not much was devoted to this, very unfortunately. And for a picture book of this quality, I was surprised to see what poor quality graphics they had for some of the b&w pictures - you can actually count the pixels.

Anyhow, it was disappointing. After reading it, my question of "How the heck did they do that?" remains unanswered. The only saving grace of this book is a little outtake at the end - the whole crew doing a Britney Spears routine. I got a chuckle out of that.

Let's be honest here, Whether or not you liked this movie, you have to acknowledge the unbelievable amount of talent and artistry that went into making it. It took 4 years to make this movie, and it definately didn't do as well at the box office as it should have. Granted the plot wasn't the best in the world, but this book is NOT about the plot. Its about what really made this movie impressive, the breathtaking CG. If you're a fan of art, then you will love this book. The bottom line is, this is the highest quality Computer Generated graphics ever created, Its a whole new genre for film-making. Buy this Book!!!

I was eagerly awaiting the publication of the book on the making of Final Fantasy : The spirits within . I was very curious , and I could say excited,about the kind of graphic layout, photographic content and story line development that the book would document given the fact that the movie is so incredibly detailed and crafted. My expectation was that book would be as ground breaking like the movie. I was very disappointed in reading and studying the book. It is nothing like the movie at all; not the meticulous and rigurous attention to detail, or the sharpness in digital imagery that among other things makes the film such a amazing work of digital art. It does not convey the mood of the movie. This book is about process and in that sense documents it very well; from the laying out of the story boards to the more technical aspects of the making of the film. It is very well organized but there is not balace between the way the text is displayed and the fantastic digital imagetry which characterizes the movie. It seems rushed; The quality of the pictures is very poor in many instances, so dark that you can hardly see the images.They are simply too small to really appreciate all the details. The same happens with some of the beautifully rendered conceptual sketches and drawings; they are too small to study. The text and color background occupies too much space in the page at the expense of the the graphic information and pictures; that in my opinion is what makes this book such a disappointment. Many of the images of the movie are so haunting,poignant and intriguing and it is precisely that sense of awe,wonder and dreamlike illusion that is missing from the book. The book series on the making of Stars Wars are much better in the way that they achieve a balance between both image and information ,its layout and the documentation of the creative process. I would recomend this book nonetheless because it provides a fascinating view of the production process of this new film genre and still some images are incredibly gorgeous.

This is a great book for a great movie. Final Fantasy is a mark in the industry of games, and now in movies too.
Unhapply, the authors dont explain technical approaches, what is very important in a film like this.
But i have used it in my animation classes, and specially the roughs, sketches and scene previews have turn on the ligh over the head of my pupils.
I hope someone could write a book about analisys of the technical aspects of this mark in animation industry.

The only reason you'll want to by it is to have a wonderful collection of stills from the movie (and many that aren't from the movie). There's quite a bit of filler text (for example, the entire script from the movie takes 20 pages), but it's still chock full of pictures. Buy it for that reason and you'll be very very happy.

How can a person complain about "too much making"? After all, the name of the book is: "The MAKING of Final Fantasy". I personally would have loved to read more articles on the VERY tech-y side of creating the characters skin textures, but that would have probably bored and confused general readers. I was expecting the transcription of the dialouge to occupy a chunk of the book, but luckily, it doesn't. You might need a magnifying glass to read it anyway. Excellent display of pre-production work and funny "secrets", like cameos of chocobos and The "Gooch" himself(director Hironobu Sakaguchi) in CG form! Mr. Sakaguchi also provides the foreword. The book is lite in text, but the pictures do all of the talking for you.

Length:: 0:27 Mins

When the movie first came out, it showcased to the world what computer graphics is capable of, especially on the human animation and acting part.

This book provides a nice look into how Final Fantasy The Spirits Within was created.

The concept art included are mainly designs of vehicles, sets, props and storyboards. Since this is a "Making of" book, it talks extensively about how the art is related back to the story. Among them are subjects like creating flames, flares, using motion capture for acting, composition and other general production techniques.

Character design is lacking in the book. Even though several pages are devoted to each character, there wasn't any concept art on how they come up with the characters. All that is included are the bio stats, film stills, and 3D rendered posed models.

This is a great book companion to the movie.

(Check out my Amazon profile for other books I've reviewed.)

Even though the movie was sub-par in plot this book makes up by being filled to the brim with pictures and information about the groundbreaking special FX.

"The Making of FF: The Spirits Within" contains hundreds of pictures of scenes from the movie, and conceptual designs. As a student majoring in graphic design, I found the conceptual design pictures especially intriguing. It was insightful to see how major companies work out storyboards etc for movies. The book also includes interviews with various designers involved in the movie about conceptualizing characters and of making the plot.

An area that I found disappointing was the lack of detail that was devoted to the "Phantoms". The "Phantoms" sections consists of only a couple of pages which was highly disappointing since I found them one of the best points in the movie.

This book is an excellent buy for anyone who enjoys special FX and is a great compliment to the DVD release of FF:The Spirits Within. (Out Oct 23 in case you forgot) :]

If you ever wanted a great behind the scenes book on the movie that is the greatest ahievement by computer animation with realistic 3d characters, check this book out.

This book features full page color on every page turn. Interviews with all the creative people that made it happen, original script accompanied by all the storyboards, character designs, as well as many "how we did it information" on animation, motion capture, lighting, VFX. compostiting, and final production.

Great buy for any animator.