We Make Our Own Destiny Behind The Scenes Of Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time

When Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions unite to create a movie, the result is bound to be epic, magical, and full of adventure. In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Rendition, Zodiac, Jarhead, Donnie Darko) stars as a young prince who must prove his innocence with the reluctant help of a conquered princess. As he searches for a dangerous artifact that has the potential to prevent the unleashing of an Earth-destroying sandstorm, he faces deceit, betrayal, and treacherous, black-cloaked Hassasins. This beautifully designed narrative will describe in detail every aspect of the movie-making process, from casting to costumes to computer graphics. Author Michael Singer takes readers on an extraordinary journey, recounting the links in the Prince of Persia chain—from the wildly popular video game to the film project, spearheaded by one of the world’s most successful producers, Jerry Bruckheimer. A veritable oasis of exclusive photos and insider information, the book includes information on the production, makeup, location filming, stunts, and special effects, as well as profiles of the films’ incredible stars!

Game designers, authors, artists, and scholars discuss how roles are played and how stories are created in role-playing games, board games, computer games, interactive fictions, massively multiplayer games, improvisational theater, and other "playable media." Games and other playable forms, from interactive fictions to improvisational theater, involve role playing and story—something played and something told. In Second Person, game designers, authors, artists, and scholars examine the different ways in which these two elements work together in tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), computer games, board games, card games, electronic literature, political simulations, locative media, massively multiplayer games, and other forms that invite and structure play. Second Person—so called because in these games and playable media it is "you" who plays the roles, "you" for whom the story is being told—first considers tabletop games ranging from Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs with an explicit social component to Kim Newman's Choose Your Own Adventure-style novel Life's Lottery and its more traditional author-reader interaction. Contributors then examine computer-based playable structures that are designed for solo interaction—for the singular "you"—including the mainstream hit Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the genre-defining independent production Façade. Finally, contributors look at the intersection of the social spaces of play and the real world, considering, among other topics, the virtual communities of such Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) as World of Warcraft and the political uses of digital gaming and role-playing techniques (as in The Howard Dean for Iowa Game, the first U.S. presidential campaign game). In engaging essays that range in tone from the informal to the technical, these writers offer a variety of approaches for the examination of an emerging field that includes works as diverse as George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series and the classic Infocom game Planetfall. Appendixes contain three fully-playable tabletop RPGs that demonstrate some of the variations possible in the form.

The Fountain of Youth has been the object of desire for many adventurers since Ponce de Leon was rumored to have discovered it in the early sixteenth century. For Jack Sparrow, the fountain is equivalent to the ultimate freedom: eternal life. But regardless of whether or not Jack finds the Aqua de Vita, he has already been immortalized—in the hearts and minds of Pirates fans all over the world. Those fans have been waiting with immense anticipation since the last scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End hinted that Jack was destined for future endeavors. And now, it is certain that they will not be disappointed. With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Walt Disney Studios usher in a new era. A new director, Rob Marshall, is at the helm of the franchise, and he is sure to guide the film on a course to great bounty. The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides showcases all of the incredible visual development that went into the creation of the film. Concept art, digital renderings, costume sketches, prop schematics, and storyboards are the prized cargo aboard this ship of dreams, and they are accompanied by informative text written by the film’s unit publicist, Michael Singer. For any sailor who wishes to preserve a bit of Pirates lore forevermore, this book is tantamount to a sip from the cup of life.