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Smoke and Mirrors: Special Visual Effects B.C. (Before Computers)
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About Smoke And Mirrors: Special Visual Effects
Visit The Twilight Zone, journey to The Outer Limits, experience 2001: A Space Odyssey, and boldly go on a Star Trek! See how motion picture special effects were created “B.C.”—Before Computers! From Lon Chaney to Ray Harryhausen, from Georges Mèliés to George Lucas, meet the magicians— many of whom never received screen credit—who conjured up everything from ferocious dinosaurs battling a giant ape in King Kong to sinking the Titanic and shaking up Los Angeles in Earthquake. They brought Frankenstein to life, introduced generations to the beloved Wizard of Oz, and during World War II gave audiences a taste of warfare in films like The Flying Tigers. In the 1950s they helped us survive a War of the Worlds and took audiences along on Captain Ahab’s hunt for Moby Dick. Even the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy needed their services to shoot wild “gags” safely. Hundreds of rare, unpublished behind-the-scenes photos from classic, Oscar®-winners—and obscure productions—reveal the tricks of the trade: miniatures, matte paintings, makeup effects, special props, mechanicals, animatronics, stop-motion—and much more! Mark Wolf wrote a series of ground-breaking articles on the art and history of special visual effects for Cinefantastique, American Cinematographer, Cinema Journal, and FXRH. He then moved to Los Angeles and worked on educational films for Triad FX. Wolf later founded Wizard Works, providing visual effects, custom props and stop-motion for Roger Corman ( The Nest), Mel Brooks ( Spaceballs), Francis Ford Coppola ( Captain EO), William Friedkin ( C.A.T. Squad), Ron Shusett ( Total Recall), and others. Wolf earned his Producer’s stripes on the cult classic Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity. Soon, Roger Corman invited him to produce genre pictures for New Horizons/Concorde and Wolf contributed to Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall, Slumber Party Massacre, and many others. Later, Wolf was active with independents such as Cannon, Vestron, Trimark, 21st Century, and Ulysse Entertainment.
