Magic of Visuals (color version) (ebook)

Magic of Visuals (color version)

by Till Bamberg

When we see a film, we experience it. With all the fibers of our body and our senses. We feel it, we live it. Our body reacts, our perceptions are influenced. Each chapter of this book tries to explain how our body reacts to the respective technique. How do we react in stop-motion? What does the camera view convey to us? What do we feel when it comes to textures? All of this is covered in an introductory way in each chapter. After all, it's all about the different perceptual levels of each technique.

Basically, almost every film consists of visual effects. Even if you hardly see them. Dennis Skotak (who must always be mentioned in the same breath as his brother Robert, because the two always work together) is a master in this field. In 1990 he received an Oscar for THE ABYSS. In this book he and his brother report on many technical details of his work.

In detail, it introduces filmmakers who have made significant contributions in their field, including - this was important to me - some Germans. They are the ones behind the scenes making our dreams come true. In this book, I am also on the trail of my own very personal viewing experiences. When I first saw DEMOLITION MAN (1993), I was excited about the design of a not-so-distant future. I was particularly taken with the scene in the conference room where the screens were spinning. The designer David L. Snyder (BLADE RUNNER, 1982) was responsible for it. And thus it has become part of the book.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET (1984) and THE HIDDEN (1987) are still among the films to which I attribute an uncanny visual power. Each in its own way. Jacques Haitkin was the chief cinematographer of these films. His eye is what prompted me to include him in this book.

The full-grown Xenomorph in ALIEN 3 (1992), the bizarre exterior of Sil from SPECIES, or the Orcs and Uruk-Hais from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (2001- 2003): Gino Acevedo created the appropriate surfaces.

Monsters, mummies, spider women. No decent 1980s horror film was complete without such a monster. John Dods, with his creations on SPOOKIES (1986), helped give me some nice sleepless hours. So he just had to tell more.

No fantastic creature is created just like that, in your head or on the drawing board. It takes many production passes. One, if not the most important in creating a being is sculpting. Gary Pollard was active here, and his skills made ALIEN 3 (1992) so fantastic, or even that HELLBOY - THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008) had so many extraordinary creatures.

Harry Walton is a true legend of stop-motion, a film technique that set standards. As a boy I watched LAND OF THE LOST  (1974 - 76), a television series set in the time of the dinosaurs. Walton was partly responsible for bringing these dinos to life. He also proved his skills in ROBOCOP 2 (1989).

Faraway worlds, utopian sceneries, fantastic landscapes. All this can be developed digitally today. In the past, this had to be painted. Mark Sullivan, a first-class matte artist, was one of those artists. Oscar-nominated for HOOK (1991), he reached the pinnacle with DEMOLITION MAN (1993).

The wand of Harry Potter, the knife of John Rambo, or the baton Hannibal Lecter wields before killing Sergeant Pembry. Props like these, big and small, are what make a movie worth watching. Doug MacCarthy (PROMETHEUS, 2012) and German Simon Weisse (GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014), ASTEROID CITY (2023)) tell us about this. Weisse is undisputed, a true grand seigneur of his craft.

Animatronic effects have always fascinated me. Be it the moving facehugger in ALIENS (1986) or little mice in MOUSEHUNT (1997). When I saw the Constructor's head in PROMETHEUS (2012), I initially thought it was CGI. Yet he was fully animatronic. Gustav Hoegen was responsible for that. Here he tells a lot more about this wonderful technique.

Models and miniatures are indispensable in many films. Model maker Bruce MacRae is not only a legend in model making. He also enhanced movies like TITANIC, STARHSIP TROOPERS or AIR FORCE ONE (all 1997) with his skills. What he tells is simply film history.

German Enrico Altmann was a member of New Deal Studios for over 20 years and worked here on the effects for INCEPTION (2010) or THE DARK KNIGHT (2008).

Academy Award winner John Ottman (2019 for BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY) is a special case. For Ottman is not only a composer, but also an editor of his own works (most of the time). And he already showed this in his feature-length debut THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995), which is a true masterpiece.

For almost 40 years in the business, Frank Schlegel has already worked with directors such as Wim Wenders, Roland Emmerich and Wes Anderson. He talks about front and rear projection and about the time when there was almost no direction in the field of visual effects in Germany.

The whole thing is rounded off with an interview with Dr. Rolf Giesen. In this film-scientific, very critical conversation, we develop theses on the past, present and future of media primarily shaped by images and the change in perception. To express it with a film title: Things to Come.