SPECIAL EFFECTS

Lavish full-color spreads reveal the secrets behind Hollywood’s special effects in this oversized book, where actors fly, vanish, or turn into aliens through the use of pulley systems, blue-screen backgrounds, and elaborate make-up. Plenty of shots from current movies (e.g., The Borrowers, Lost in Space) serve as cutting-edge examples, and show the crews on the sets of films, setting up snowstorms, helping puppets walk, and packing the punch into pyrotechnics. Perhaps most interesting of all is the discussion of Computer Generated imaging (CGi) and its eventual use in returning such stars as Marilyn Monroe to the big screen. There’s plenty here for budding Hitchcocks and Spielbergs to unearth in the name of lights, camera, and special-effects action. (index) (Nonfiction. 7-12)