Mad Dreams And Monsters

A spectacular and comprehensive authorized retrospective of Oscar-winning visual effects master Phil Tippett, founder and namesake of iconic Tippett Studio From Star Wars to Jurassic Park and RoboCop to Starship Troopers, special effects master Phil Tippett has brought his magic to some of the most iconic films of all time. His unparalleled career in visual effects spans more than 40 years, with two Academy Awards, one BAFTA, and two Emmys. This stunning book celebrates Tippett’s career, from early Super 8 explorations through his groundbreaking work with Industrial Light & Magic, DreamWorks, and beyond. While Tippett’s first love remains the stop-motion animation that made him a Hollywood legend, he was present at the birth of big-screen digital effects, and his genius has evolved with the times. In 1984 he founded Tippett Studio, which has come to specialize in digital effects. Packed with over a thousand behind-the-scenes photographs, Mad Dreams and Monsters includes never-before-published stories from the master himself and a veritable who’s who of visual effects luminaries—a must-have for movie fans, film students, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by movie magic.

From cinema's earliest days, being scared out of your wits has always been one of the best reasons for going to the movies. From B-movie bogeymen and outer space oddities to big-budget terrors, Monsters in the Movies by horror film maestro John Landis celebrates the greatest monsters ever to creep, fly, slither, stalk or rampage across the Silver Screen. Landis also surveys the historical origins of archetypal monsters, such as vampires, zombies and werewolves, and takes you behind the scenes to discover the secrets of the special-effects wizards who created such legendary frighteners as King Kong, Dracula, the Alien, and Freddy Krueger. Monsters in the Movies by John Landis is filled with the author's own fascinating and entertaining insights into the world of movie-making, and includes memorable contributions from leading directors, actors and monster-makers. The book is also stunningly illustrated with 1000 movie stills and posters drawn from the unrivaled archives of the Kobal Collection. Contents Introduction by John Landis... Explore a timeless world of fears and nightmares as John Landis investigates what makes a legendary movie monster • Monsters, chapter by chapter... Feast your eyes upon a petrifying parade of voracious Vampires, flesh-eating Zombies, slavering Werewolves, gigantic Apes and Supernatural Terrors • Spectacular double-page features... Thrill to the strangest, scariest, weirdest, and craziest movie monsters ever seen • The ingenious tricks of movie-making... Marvel as the special-effects wizards reveal how they create movie magic • A monster-movie timeline... Discover John Landis's personal selection of landmark horror films

The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

A behind-the-scenes look at the world of special effects discusses a wide range of ingenious techniques--from computer graphics and optical compositing to matte printing and model construction--used in such films as "Star Wars," "Poltergeist," and "Raider

Once David Hero was an ordinary man living in the real world. Now he is trapped in the Dreamlands, cut off from the waking world. David Hero's dreams and nightmares have become his own reality. Swollen, glowing oddly in the gloom of night, the moon hangs lower and lower over the Dreamlands. Its weird, unearthly light transforms beautiful landscapes into twisted nightmares and imperils the sanity of any who walk abroad after sunset. Beams of terrible power stab the unsuspecting earth, destroying the land, shattering buildings, and dragging people into the shrieking sky, straight toward the hellish moon! David Hero, once a man of the waking world, finds himself fighting side by side with his worst enemies--Zura and her zombie armies, the Eidolon Lathi and her termite men--against the slimy, many-tentacled moon monsters. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The way that special effects are designed and then created in films is explained in this lavishly illustrated book that traces the development of the ILM company of George Lucas.

This book proves that the filmability of an original work becomes a criterion of faithful film adaptation. A theory or a theoretical work is to de-mystify illusions and misconceptions which were concocted by the ruling class ideologues. As part of RYOTA NAKANISHI’S FILM STUDIES TRILOGY (Hong Kong, China; 2021-2023), the 1st book A Study of The Three Act Structure (2021) explained the human-centric nature of The Three Act Structure as organism; the 2nd book Marxist Film Aesthetics (in Chinese; 2022) explained the nexus of Marxist aesthetics on cinema and general art practice defined as intrinsic nature / logic of an intrinsic object and dialectically turning them into specifically accurate methodology; this 3rd book (2023) is specifically written for one of the grave aesthetic issues arising in media after screening, film adaptation and its fidelity to the original. Thus, this one is for promoting media-literacy, not mainly for the pure methodology of film adaptation.

A loving look at “disposable” horror culture from the 1960s and 1970s. Over two glorious decades the horror film waged war on good taste, exploiting every taboo and bursting every envelope along the way. TRASHFIEND is the definitive guide to the chaotic, creative and endlessly entertaining golden age of horror cinema. Scott Stine (author of The Gorehound’s Guide to Splatter Films series) shines a fond but satiric light on everything from low budget horror films to grisly comic art, lurid movie magazines to late-night creature features, campy monster toys to exploitive poster art. Packed with reviews, trivia, interviews, anecdotes and rare illustrations, and written with witty and insightful flair, TRASHFIEND will fascinate aficianados, nostalgists and cinema lovers of every stripe for a fun, energetic and critical look at this beloved genre.