Today sees the launch of the brand new Cinefex visual effects blog. It's just gone live so, frankly, the best thing you can do is stop reading this and go there instead. The inaugural post is written by Cinefex publisher Don Shay, and it does a splendid job of setting out the new blog's agenda. While the … Continue reading Launching today – the Cinefex blog
Tag: Special effects
Rush – VFX interviews completed
I've just finished interviewing for my Cinefex article on the visual effects of Rush. The last meeting on my list took me yesterday to Leavesdon Studios in Hertfordshire, UK, where I spent a fascinating hour with my final victim - sorry, interviewee. He's deep into preproduction on a new project, so it was fantastic to … Continue reading Rush – VFX interviews completed
Revisiting Cinefex (40): Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
You need a pair of big name stars to put on the front cover of Cinefex #40. Who you gonna call? Why, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, of course, garbed as Ghostbusters and waving their nutrona wands in an image from Ivan Reitman's 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II. The supernatural vibe extends to the back cover, … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (40): Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Revisiting Cinefex (39): The Abyss
It's a shame there are no books about the making of The Abyss. I hear the behind-the-scenes stories are as enthralling as the movie itself. Wait a second ... here's issue #39 of the popular visual effects journal Cinefex and - what do you know - all 80 pages of it are devoted entirely to James … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (39): The Abyss
Revisiting Cinefex (38): Terry Gilliam
Ready to be enchanted? Then take a look at the front cover of Cinefex #38, which shows the fanciful hero of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) dancing an aerial waltz with the goddess Venus. The two figures are half-scale miniatures, though at a glance you'd swear they were alive. The chap on the back cover is … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (38): Terry Gilliam
Revisiting Cinefex (37): Star Trek: TNG, The Fly II, Oxford Scientific Films
Putting the world's most iconic spaceship on the front cover must have helped shift a few extra copies of Cinefex #37. But wait a second. Isn't that the USS Enterprise from Star Trek - The Next Generation? What's a TV show doing on the cover of a journal that's all about cinematic visual effects? Maybe … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (37): Star Trek: TNG, The Fly II, Oxford Scientific Films
Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob
Jeremy Irons playing dead might seem an odd choice of picture for the front cover of a visual effects journal. All becomes clear when you realise this is a still from David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, a film that both advanced the craft of split-screen 'twinning' and allowed its director to indulge his fascination with 'body-horror' makeup … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob
Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013
I was sad to hear that legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen died yesterday at the age of 92. I say filmmaker because, although most people think of him as a master of animation (which he undoubtedly was), Harryhausen's hands-on approach to almost every aspect of his craft puts him firmly in the ranks of cinema's auteurs. … Continue reading Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013
Revisiting Cinefex (35): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow
Cinefex #35 contains behind-the-scenes stories on two big films of the late 80s, although both front and back covers feature just one: Robert Zemeckis's milestone marriage of live-action and animation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? While the front is dominated by Roger himself - looking as manic as ever - the back is reserved for his … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (35): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow
Revisiting Cinefex (34): Beetlejuice, Batteries Not Included
The cover of Cinefex #34 presents me with a problem. How do I describe the front cover without saying the name of the character out loud? What's that? It doesn't count if I write it down? Well, sorry, I just can't take that chance. Let's just say the scary animated snake-man comes from one of … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (34): Beetlejuice, Batteries Not Included
Graham Edwards 