Special Effects - Still in Search of Wonder

Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-231-12563-5
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 228 mm, Gewicht: 345 g

Reihe: Film and Culture Series

Designed to trick the eye and stimulate the imagination, special effects have changed the way we look at films and the worlds created in them. Computer-generated imagery (CGI), as seen in Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Men in Black, and The Matrix, is just the latest advance in the evolution of special effects. Even as special effects have been marveled at by millions, this is the first investigation of their broader cultural reception. Moving from an exploration of nineteenth-century popular science and magic to the Hollywood science fiction cinema of our time, Special Effects examines the history, advancements, and connoisseurship of special effects, asking what makes certain types of cinematic effects special, why this matters, and for whom. Michele Pierson shows how popular science magazines, genre filmzines, and computer lifestyle magazines have articulated an aesthetic criticism of this emerging art form and have helped shape how these hugely popular on-screen technological wonders have been viewed by moviegoers.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pierson, Michele

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgattungen, Filmgenre
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Professionelle Anwendung Digitale Animation

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Special Effects and the Popular Media1. Magic, Science, Art: Before CinemaNatural MagicScience FictionsScientific AmericanMillenial Magic2. From Cult-classicism to Techno-futurism: Converging on Wired magazineThe Limits of ConvergencePhoton and Stop-motion animationCorporate-futurism/Techno-futurismHome-production3. The Wonder Years and Beyond: 1989-1995On GenreReinventing the Cinema of AttractionsDigital ArtifactsRetro-future/Retro-vision4. Crafting a Future for CGIThe Case of EditingDisaster StrikesAn Aesthetics of ScarcityThe Public Life of NumbersConclusion: The Transnational Matrix of SFNotesBibliographyIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Michele Pierson is lecturer in film studies and visual culture at the University of Queensland, Australia.