Industrial Light & Magic: into the Digital Realm

Industrial Light & Magic

by Mark Cotta Vaz, Patricia Rose Duignan, Steven Spielberg

This 330-page coffee-table book combines the writing of Mark Cotta Vaz and Patricia Rose Duignan with more than 600 photographs and illustrations to chronicle the accomplishments of Hollywood's hottest special effects company. Industrial Light & Magic, where Duignan spent two decades of her career, was founded by George Lucas to create the effects for his groundbreaking movie, Star Wars. Since then ILM has continued to pioneer new technologies which have led to SF classics such as "E.T.," "Terminator 2" and "Jurassic Park". This books offers a behind-the-scenes look into the magical moments ILM has helped create.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Art, Star Wars, Reference

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Mark Cotta Vaz is the author of over twenty-one books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His recent works include Mythic Vision: The Making of Eragon, The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion, and the biography Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong, which was a Los Angeles Times bestseller.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book carries on the story started in Industrial Light and Magic the art of special effects and take the company through the budding era of digital and computerised special effects - from its early days (they pioneered the technology in starwars Return of the Jedi) through to at the time of the books printing pretty revolutionary films. As a result the book does feel slightly dated - even more so that the first volume - as with that you KNEW you were looking at models and camera effects - here you KNOW you are looking at computer generated images - the difference is that with models you feel a warm and nostalgic - with early computer graphic you feel a little cheated - even more so after we now take for granted films like AVATAR. But please do not think i am being negative or too harsh with this - there are still models (for example the Last Crusade) and amazing computer graphics - (for example the terminator films) - the problem is that these ARE the best in the business and they set the bar even higher with each breakthrough and creation.
If you love films and special effects this is one you need to read.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

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(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Terminator, Ghostbusters, The Mask are just some movies that have benefited from Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects studios George Lucas created to provide effects for his Star Wars movies. Today, the studio has gone on to create even more visuals for the ever demanding entertainment industry.

This book takes a comprehensive look into the history of Industrial Light & Magic since it was founded in 1975. It is packed with production stories on the movies the studio has worked on. It answers a lot of question in respect to how certain effects are created and shot. The writeup is filled with numerous quotes from the crew and they provides very interesting view points.

The book is published in 1996 and naturally it doesn't feature the recent movies. But still, it's really cool to look at how movies are made back in those days, and how it has evolved. At 328 pages fill with information, this book is a great resource for movie makers and people interested in movie making.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catching ILM at their prime - the 80s and early 90s - this is full of great information and even better pictures, detailing the operation across all of its range (films, TV, commercials). There's an attempt to explain the digital revolution but, for me, it got confused and tech-heavy and suffers for that. Four stars for the practical effects bits, two for the digital.

[Tracey]

Ginnie - get for Scott?

[Pepe Córdoba escamilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy detallado y exhaustivo libro sobre la mítica compañía de efectos especiales. Repleto de imágenes curiosas y anécdotas.