>> Reviews 
>> Send this page to a friend

The Invisible Art

The Legends of Movie Matte Painting By Mark Cotta Vaz
and Craig Barron

11-3/4 x 10 in; 288 pp ; full-color images throughout
Hardcover
Published in August, 2002
ISBN 0811831361
ISBN13 9780811831369
This book is currently out of stock. Please check back later or contact customer service for more information.

$75.00  

The Invisible Art -- Since the birth of cinema, movie-makers have created stunning special effects by combining still "matte" paintings with live-action film. Matte painting techniques were closely guarded secrets that never left the studio lot. In this unprecedented retrospective, Mark Cotta Vaz and Craig Barron reveal the history of a visual effect that has defined movies as we know them-from Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane to Star Wars and Titanic. Lavishly illustrated, The Invisible Art showcases the finest examples of now-rare matte paintings and unveils a century’s worth of fascinating stories, legendary personalities, and cunning movie craft. Including a foreword by George Lucas and a CD-ROM that brings to life these moving pictures, this volume is packed with exclusive interviews and a narrative that time travels from the first pioneering "glass shots" to the dawn of digital technology. The definitive book for the consummate movie fan, The Invisible Art conjures a never-before-told story of film wizardry.

Mark Cotta Vaz recently completed his 19th book, a biography of Merian C. Cooper, creator of King Kong which is scheduled to be published by Random House in 2005. Vaz's books on movie history include Industrial Light + Magic: Into the Digital Realm, which documents the second decade of George Lucas' famed visual effects house. He's currently working with filmmaker Leslie Iwerks on the history of Pixar Animation Studios, which will be published by Chronicle in 2005. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Craig Barron has been an innovator in the cinematic technique of matte painting for the last two decades, playing a key role in the effects for films from The Empire Strikes Back to The Last Samurai. A veteran of George Lucas's effects company, Industrial Light + Magic, Barron now heads Matte World Digital. He is currently creating the visual effects for an Imax film on the Universe for professor Stephen Hawking. Barron lives in Marin County, California.