BOOK REVIEW:
You
might not be familiar with the name, Stan Winston but his
resume speaks for itself.
Remember
movies such as “Terminator”, “Aliens”
and “Jurassic Park”? Do you have an idea how those
wonderful, out-of-this world characters and creatures come
to live on the silver screen? Now you can take a look at how
the man who started out to be an actor transforms himself
into a makeup and creature effects maestro in “The Winston
Effect: The Art & History of Stan Winston Studio”.
This book
takes you on a journey from the beginning to the present sans
boring details or juicy snippets. What you have is a captivating
account of how Stan Winston works its way up to clinch a couple
of Academy Awards and a respected marquee name in the industry.
Writer/Editor
Jody Duncan who helms from renowned effects magazine, Cinefex
interviews Winston’s crews past and present and of course
the man himself for all the accounts. Winston himself is frank
with his views on his competitors, achievements and failures.
Duncan even includes plenty of conceptual drawings, behind-the-scenes
stills, and beautifully taken shots of crew working at Stan
Winston studio in this 336 pages book.
With the
increasing usage of digital effects in recent years, the presence
of this book only goes to show that physical effects to some
extent are able to pull off what the former is unable to.
In spite of this, it kind of saddens me to see a wonderful
craft that is dying in the fast-moving media industry.
And
so why wait? There’s no better alternative to acquaintance
yourself with Winston than this comprehensive hardcover book
detailing his effects work and get a deeper understanding
of a form of handicraft which
only a handful can accomplish including the legendary Ray
Harryhausen of course.
CHOICE XCERPT:
“At this phase of my life, it is time for me to spend
more time with my family and less time working. It is time
to let my business have its own life, to let the artistes
who have been with me for more than twenty years continue
what I started here - and to keep doing it long after I'm
gone. My hope is that Stan Winston Studio will be like Walt
Disney Studio in that it started with one person but ended
up being a lot of very creative people continuing to create
wonderful things.”
VERDICT:
James Cameron created “The Terminator”.
Steven Spielberg brought us dinosaurs. But its Stan Winston’s
wizardry that brought them to live. Check this book out!
Review
by Linus Tee
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