Jody Duncan

basically a coffee table book about the production of avatar (2009). similar to the kind of information you would get in particularly good dvd extras (less so the featurette kind, moreso the massive documentaries in the lord of the rings extended edition kind). and it’s undeniably satisfying seeing some of the gorgeous, full-page (oftentimes two-page) pictures ranging from concept art to production photos to stills from the movie. and i get that you oftentimes get similar things in the show more form of b-roll in the aforementioned “making of” documentaries, but having the pictures on a glossy page in a huge book physically in your hands satisfies on a completely different level.

i loved all the insights i got from hearing from cameron and others in this book. there are so many little examples in here that speak to the fact that cameron’s priorities in storytelling mesh up so well with the kinds of things i look for and enjoy as a member of the audience.

i’m also just so impressed by the amount of attention he pays to tiny details no one’s really going to notice but will still make a huge difference taken in the aggregate. it’s kind of incredible that avatar’s visuals have aged as well as they have considering how heavily reliant the film is on cg, and that kind of attention to detail has a lot to do with it. also the fact that cameron is apparently very into the nuts & bolts of the technology of filmmaking and was just constantly pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible and pushing his team and himself to invent new technology on the fly.

speaking of movies whose visuals have aged astonishingly well, i kind of didn’t realize how much this movie had in common with lord of the rings, thanks largely to the contributions of weta workshop and weta digital. so i think that helps explain why i like it so dang much.

also, while i want to be careful with this last point, i think this book actually may have tempered some of my big-picture problems with the narrative in avatar. there were passing references to studio executives being concerned that audiences wouldn’t be able to connect with na’vi main characters etc, and it was quite transparently dumb but it did remind me how transparently dumb studio executives can often be. and given the amount of money, buy-in, and leeway cameron needed from these same execs, it’s entirely possible that some of the more frustrating aspects of the film’s narrative may have been there to appease them.

again, i’m not excusing anything, and i’m not even sure this is exactly how things went down because obviously that kind of dirt isn’t going to come all the way out in a pretty coffee table book, but it was still something that made me think. show less

A great book for fans of DragonHeart, but also a wonderful way for fans of movies in general to understand the process that goes along behind the scenes. The photography is very detailed and the images are simply beautiful, reflecting the beauty of the set and movie itself. There is an art quality to the layout as well, giving an almost scrapbook feel to the pages as you read; textured and occasionally dimensional images and larger, highlighted quotes from within the book are set into pages show more where the actual text wraps beautifully around to accommodate them.

The only part of this book that was not captivating was that in some parts the "play-by-play" feel of the telling of production or post production took a little away from what had already been written. Suddenly I found myself wanting to move along through the explanation of a scene rather than actually read it. Fans of the movie might find this and the description of scenes they already know well to be a bit tedious.

Overall, this is a very interesting read that actually inspired my own creativity and rekindled my love for the DragonHeart universe. show less

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy is not only my favorite comic book trilogy of all time, it's easily my favorite movie trilogy of all time. When I heard that a book was being released that chronicled the making of all 3 films, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on it.

The book is separated into several sections detailing the stunts, the marketing, visual effects, casting, writing and overall shooting of the films. Hand in hand with the write-ups are beautiful photos showcasing show more behind the scenes action as well as choice stills from the movies themselves.

The author, Jody Duncan Jesser, really did her research in interviewing a lot of the cast and crew in coming up with more than a few interesting and funny stories. One in particular involving Tom Hardy training and bulking up in an attempt to outshine Christian Bale had me laughing out loud. I'll keep from spoiling it but moments like that are reason enough to pick this up.

If you're a fan of the films, I can't recommend this enough. There's so much information contained within here that I wasn't aware of! Granted, there aren't any groundbreaking stories or mind-blowing revelations but the little things like Ledger's routine of getting into character or the creative process regarding set design as well as the viral marketing techniques really satisfied the Batman geek within me.

A worthy companion piece for completists or anyone who appreciated the work put in by Nolan and friends to create easily the best feature film adaptation of The Dark Knight yet. show less

With complete storyboards as an appendix, this chronologically tells the making-of story from deal making with Michael Crichton before the book was out to post-production. Among the most interesting things to me was how this movie was pivotal in the emergence of CG. That is, while over investment and resources were going into animatronics, puppetry, and costumes a skunkworks of CG put some output in front of Spielberg. He was so impressed with the results he tilted the direction heavily into show more CG during production.

A lot of the development story includes why scenes were filmed in what order, what was deleted from the script or finished film, and the physical effort put in by actors such as during the car falling through the branches and clumbing the wire fence. show less