Visual Effects for Film and Television

This is an amazing book. It covers every conceivable aspect of getting visual effects onto film (and videotape), and is particularly strong on historical techniques that are probably not familiar to a new generation of filmmakers, who have been raised to think that computers solve all problems. It's an incredibly dense collection of information. This is not a book about using computers to do visual effects - it is about capturing, as much as possible, the desired effect in camera, through a variety of ingenious means. I've been working in this field for 25 years, and I still found myself saying "ooohhh, so that's how that works" on several occasions. It's very strong on using historical examples to illustrate particular techniques, which always makes things much clearer (full disclosure: I know the author personally). As well as describing how to do things (including options and variations on a theme), this book also is very good at pointing out potential problems and things not to do. This is good information, obtained the hard way, and readers should cherish it. There is also some information on opticals and digital compositing, and even less on straightforward computer generation techniques. But those topics are well served by many, many other books, while Mitchell's book covers territory that is not often treated. Anyone seriously interested in this topic should read this book.

Professional digital effects pioneer Mitch Mitchell presents Visual Effects for Film & Television, a thorough guide to visual effect processes used in television complete with step-by-step guides, integrative approaches to film, video and digital techniques, chronologies of development from the oldest to the newest processes, and much more. Mitchell has worked in visual effects since the early days of color television at BBC, and his list of achievements ranges from effects for "Doctor Who" to the recent smash hit movies "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", "Troy", and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". Chapters cover photography for effects, composite photography, combining action with pre-shot backgrounds, computer-based technqiues and much more. Organized for quick and easy reference or on-the-job use, Visual Effects for Film & Television is a "must-have" tips, tricks, and techniques manual especially for professionals, yet also invaluable for students and amateurs seeking to push their talents a step beyond simple home movies.