Editorial Reviews
Product Description:Includes a foreword by Steven Spielberg!
The supernatural wonders of Ghostbusters. The lively three-dimensional toons from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The unstoppable liquid-metal T-1000 cyborg of Terminator 2. The incredibly life-like digital dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. The thunderous African stampede in Jumanji. These award-winning special effects have one thing in common: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
For more than twenty years, George Lucas and the technical wizards at ILM have literally changed the face of movie-making with their stunning, often unbelievable, visual effects.
Industrial Light + Magic: Into the Digital Realm chronicles ILM's second monumental decade--from 1986 through the mid-nineties--and includes a special discussion on the latest groundbreaking visual effects in the soon-to-be released Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope.
During this seminal period, ILM virtually redefined visual effects and blazed a trail into the digital realm. With more than six hundred lavish full-color photographs, this fascinating book takes you behind the camera and into the rarely seen workshops, offering an amazing look at the men and women who create movie magic. We follow the intricate crafts of matte painting, model making, and optical compositing as they are transformed into digitally driven systems, and we track the contributions of model and creature makers, animation specialists and optical technicians, and the unsung stage hands and pyrotechnic experts.
Packed with astounding information about ILM's technical innovations and remarkably clear explanations--including a revealing look at ILM's work with TV commercials and theme park attractions, a comprehensive glossary of essential terms, and detailed screen credits for all the company's film projects--this volume will enchant and enlighten all of us who have ever marveled at what we've seen on the screen and wondered: how did they do that?
Amazon.com Review: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.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
The 2nd decade of ILM in a great book!, November 5, 2006
By
Douglas Cardoso (Brazil)
First there was ILM, covering the 1st decade of this fantastic Special Effects Company.
This is the second book of the series, covering the main movies from the second decade of existence of this company.
An execelent finishing, great value book (although it is a litle expensive, the book quality is exceptional).
Essencial to all Special Effects lovers.
Fantastic!, June 17, 2005
By
A. Ross (New Zealand)
One of the greatest 'making of' writers Patricia Rose Duignan's Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm is one of my all-time favorite books, charting the journey of ILM from fledgling company in George Lucas' garage to the No.1 Special Effects company in the world. Insightful and comprehensive, this is flawless reading and has some great accompanying images from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and surprisingly some of their lesser-known movies like Willow and Hook. An essential movie book, I just love every page, so carefully written, so rich in detail, it leaves the reader feeling that they have experienced something very special. Fantastic and brilliant. BUY IT NOW!
Pricey, but well worth it., January 25, 2004
By
OverTheMoon (overthemoonreview@hotmail.com)
The book is huge and heavy. Every single page has at least several great color photographs and it is a big book. You will love to read about ILM's ventures into the digital realm. It is very technology orientated, but not too much and does talk about the film making process and ILM in general. This is well worth looking at especially for fans of ILM or those who want to see what goes on behind the scenes or for those looking for a career in this direction. This is a good place for inspiration.
Although it does not cover the more recent movies you will still get the picture here. It starts by talking about go-motion and then moves onto the first ever digital sequence and how much people slaved over it before going into detail with the evolution of that process and of the special edition of Star Wars and Speilberg's "J. Park".
The book looks fantastic. Keep it for your grandkids. I am sure they will love you for it. This is the kind of book that you will turn to time and time again just to see "how they did that".
The Future of the Magic, June 15, 2000
By Mark Hills (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
For 25 years Industrial Light and Magic has woven magic into countless films, either subtle images through `invisible' effects such as matte paintings or through eye-popping visuals that stand out vividly against the film backdrop. ILM has made it's mark on history, for not only have they been and still are the premiere effects house in Hollywood, they have innovated and invented more technology than any other studio, additionally they have won awards for the processing and compositing technology they have created. ILM had to be the best at special effects, because their flagship title - STAR WARS - demanded the best, because that's what Lucas wanted.
`Into the Digital Realm' isn't so much an abandonment of ILM of the traditional methods of special effects, rather a point of departure for the new technology and all of things that led up to it. Indeed, ILM's work on `The Hunt For Red October' submarine work involved flying the submerged vessels from wires in a smoky room - effects do not get any more traditional than that. Released in 96, the book doesn't mention that Phantom Menace or even that the film is in production. It does have some revised images from the Star Wars special edition. As with the previous tome, this one is packed with hundreds of color photos, plus the same beautiful gate fold images.
If the center piece for the previous book was Star Wars, Digital Realms' focus is obviously Jurassic Park, because it was the first film to use CG on so large a scale, even more than Terminator 2, which ILM also did. Jurassic Park was also the test bed and showcase piece that convinced Lucas that computers had finally matured enough to bring what he had in mind to the screen for the new Star Wars films. More is the pity, because I came to loathe most of the aliens in the Phantom Menace. Digital Realm clearly explains in easy to understand terms how effects - both new and old - are accomplished, be it something as simple as making it appear as if buildings are actually much taller than they or having a velociraptor walk _behind_ a plant situated in the foreground. I have both of these wonderful books, and I strongly recommend them to anyone who is curious about ILM's history and the process of how effects are made.
Extraordinary, April 9, 2000
By Shahrad M.Fazeli (Iran)
An extraordinary book about an extraordinary company. You will know all you want to know about special effects wizardry. The book is well published, even watching its pictures is joyful.
