Customer Reviews

The Making of Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book along with the making of Jurassic Park is one of the best books of fimaking, it truly reveals all the secrets of this dazzling film, its a pity that this one didn't include the story development (for that you'll have to buy the Art of Star Wars), You most read this book if you wanna know more of this film. And realize how much digital scenes they used; believe me there are more than you can imagine.

This a great Star Wars Book on the making of star wars episode 1 the phantom menace. Their is so much great stuff on the making of episode 1. Say what you will about star wars episode 1 the phantom menace but this book is a great making of book on a star wars film. Very good book and well written.

Good follow up to the movie and how it was made a little dry in verious areas but all in all a good book.

Can't believe this movie is already 11 years old. Interesting now so many years out to read about all the ground they were taking in digital technology. Knew it then, but now with photo realistic video games and animated movies everywhere.. Phantom Menace was really one of the keystone moments in developing the technology we have now... and this is a good history of what they were doing... but seriously George.. Jar Jar!! sigh...

Well,to begin this review I must say that this is an incredibly interesting behind the scenes (BTS)look at one of the most successfull films of the 90`s.
I don`t think I've ever been looking forward to any film as much as this (may be except the Lord of the Rings),and it was really a pleasure to watch it,although I was a little bit disappointed on the childishness of the movie.
But with the incredible special effects,I was more than pleased to see how they were done. And I bought this book and became very happy. It contains nearly all you need to know about SW Episode I. It follows the movie as it developed from beeing just an idea to the most impressive CG effects movie I'd ever seen by that time. In the introduction,George Lucas says how he had to develop an entire new world,which is an interesting read about how he created the new characters and locations. Anakin needed a mother,Obi-Wan needed a master and Palpatine needed an apprentice. The first chapter contains some great preproduction artwork and notes for every drawing. They are really nice,and definitly worth having (some of them does not appear anywhere else). It also has some notes when looking for good cast. They needed a man who looked like a new Alec Guiness for playing Obi-Wan and they needed a 8-year old boy who could really act to play Anakin. That wasn`t easy to find.
There are also some pics of the fantastic clothes featured in the film,as Amidala`s dresses.
The second chapter is mostly about the shooting itself. It is interesting to see how the stunts were performed and how they built up all the locations on Tatooine. There are also some good shots of the cool masks that people wore during the podracer sequences. In this chapter,there are also lots of interviews with the crew,especially George Lucas.
The third chapter is about the special effects and it`s named "I could do whatever I wanted". If you didn`t knew this already,I can say that Lucas was planning this film already in '77,but he waited until now,because now he could create all of the fantastic characters and environments with the help of today's computers. There are lots of interesting BTS images here,such as the podracer arena - one before,with just about 50 people,and one when after the CG adding,with thousands of people. And it looks terrific!
At the back of the book,there is a complete list of all people that were ever involved in the project,taking up approx. 15 pages!
Over all,this is a great Behind the Scenes look at Episode I.
It has everything you could ever want from such a book. So if you have any interest in Star Wars,behind-the scenes of cool movies,or just special effects,then this book is definitly something. And if you think there is too little artwork,don`t worry - there is another book named "The Art of Star Wars". Buy both of those and the Visual Dictionary and your Phantom Menace collection will be complete!

Rumor-mill has it that Laurent Bouzereau will be given a commentary track on the soon to be made Episode One DVD, let us hope he offers up the same insight and humor found in this written edition.

My poor son (nine years old)loved the photos and behind-the-scenes picture captions, but he was baffled by the text, which is really geared toward adults. But the LucasArts details were wonderful, and the myriad details and interviews were lots of fun. Read it with your kids, or give it to the teen interested in film-making, but if your little one haggles for this particular Episode One book, give it a pass.

This book provides a snap-shot of film-making at the end of the century. The story of Star Wars episode I's crafting in 150 pages. Packed with detail. Short quotes from people involved, from cast to crew, pepper the text adding colour and information. Well illustrated, clearly told and attention grabbing. Thorough in its scope and ecomomic in language, good reading and eminently collectible. A suitable companion to Thomas Smith's, Industrial Light and Magic: The Art of Special Effects (1986), which covered much on the special effects of episodes IV-VI. A contribution to the myth of Star Wars.

When I bought this at my nearby spaceport, I've been looking and reading it ever sinse. I'm a BIG star wars fan, and have been fascinated by the story line! Well, I've got to go to Jupiter! Read it! it's out of this world!

If you don't mind wading through what seems to be Lucas'self-promotion through the writers of this book, the "Star Wars:The Making of Episode 1, The Phantom Menace" is an OK edition to your Sci-Fi collection.

Authors Laurent Bouzereau and Jody Duncan do a great job detailing the production of the movie, but their writing is bogged down with Lucas worshipping, which paints the production of the movie as nearly flawless and all involved in the making of the movie as near gods. The writing appears to be driven by Lucas himself, who seems to be overly concerned about the image he projects.

But lovers of the movie will find this book enticing nontheless, because of the masterful artwork and production details on many of the technological filmmaking breakthroughs -- most notably the rampant use of digitization to create new worlds in the film. Those details alone, make this book a moderate winner in the nonfiction "how it was done" books. END