I got a lot of nice notes in response to yesterday's Peter Ellenshaw tribute. Though what I thought was kind of intriguing was the theme that ran through many of these e-mails. Which was:
"How I wish I'd had the chance to stand in Peter Ellenshaw's studio and watch that man work. See how the special effects for all those classic Disney films were done."
Well, if you really want to know how special effects are done, have I got a book for you.
Copyright 2006 Titan Books
"The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio" (Titan Books, October 2006) is this great behind-the-scenes look at the career of a true visual effects visionary, Stan Winston. Who actually started his career at Walt Disney Productions back in the early 1970s. Where he worked as an apprentice in the studio's make-up department while "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" was being shot.
Stan honed his skills while he worked at Disney. Sketching many of the celebrities that Winston would encounter while walking around the lot. Here you see a caricature of Jonathan Winters (Who was making an appearance on "The Mouse Factory" at the time) as well as a more formal portrait of David Tomlinson in his Professor Emelius Browne garb.
Building on what he learned during his Burbank apprenticeship, Winston quickly became one of Hollywood's top make-up artists, receiving great acclaim for the old age appliances that he created for the "Roots" mini-series and the "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" TV movie.
Given that Stan had an obvious gift when it came to making young actors look old, Disney officials brought Winston back to Burbank to work on "Something Wicked This Way Comes." Where he first had to make Jonathan Pryce look impossibly old. Then -- in order to make it look as though Mr. Dark came to a suitably gruesome end -- Stan created several robotic versions of Mr. Pryce that looked even older.
Given how much Winston enjoyed working with those remote-controlled Mr. Darks on "Something Wicked This Way Comes," Stan looked for other projects that offered similar challenges. Which is why Winston was thrilled when he was hired to work on James Cameron's "The Terminator."
And given the great job that Stan's staff did on "The Terminator," Cameron quickly hired Winston to work on his next project. Where Stan's crew then had to bring to life an even larger creature: The fearsome Alien Queen from "Aliens."
And given the amazing job that Winston Studios had done on that film, Steven Spielberg then recruited Stan to create the animatronic dinosaurs that he needed for the "Jurassic Park Adventure Pack" films.
And today, Stan Winston Studios is probably Hollywood's top effects house. Whether you need a special make-up appliance, an animatronic creature or a digitally animated creation, Winston's people can handle it. Which is the Mouse continues to seek Stan out, recruiting his staff to work on Walt Disney Pictures projects like "Inspector Gadget" and "Eight Below."
This handsome 336-page hardcover book is just like you were given the keys to Stan's studio and were invited to rifle through his files. You'll find lots of great behind-the-scenes photographs as well as many work-in-progress sketches. Which will give you some real sense of all the hard work that went into the creation of some of your favorite films.
Which (admittedly) isn't quite as cool as standing behind Stan Winston and actually watching him work. But it's pretty damn close.
So if you really want to learn more about how special effects are actually done in Hollywood today, then I suggest you pick up a copy of "The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston Studios." This genuinely entertaining & informative book (Which was written by effects industry expert Jody Duncan) is a must-have for all you movie mavens out there.
Looks like a thrilling book, with many wonderful photographs! Stan Winston has done some amazing things in his career :)
A ture tribute to this brilliant artist is an early film he did about a guy turning into a killer bat. Not a great picture-in fact I caugh the riff that was done on it while watching "Mystery Science Theater 3000".
In spite of all, the bat effects were excellent.
Looks like good stuff. Thanks for the tip.
Great shout on reviewing this book Jim. Was pleasantly surprised to see it featured on the site when visiting earlier this week as the second I saw the book prior to Christmas I just had to have it as I'm a big fan of this kind of stuff. Suffice to say it was in my Christmas stocking !
In terms of the greatest blockbusters from the 80's onwards I'd say Stan Winston Studio has had the biggest impact in terms of effects along with Industrial Light & Magic and this book is not only beautiful to look at but also (as Jim says) genuinely interesting and entertaining. I've read many "Behind the Scene's" books that just blend from one to another (King Kong, Revenge of the Sith, etc) simply stating facts but this is something special. The author is just about the best around when it comes to covering this kind of material & you can't fail to be impressed when looking at Stan & his team's body of work.
Of interest to Theme Park fans is quite how many times Stan refers to the good points and bad points that he learned from major animatronics used in top-end theme parks. For example Spielberg was very certain that much of Jurassic Park could be filmed with live-action dinosaurs using Universal's King Kong figure as a reference. I wonder if Steven's heart was heavy the day the Mummy killed off Kong over in USF ?
To summarise, if you're a fan of creature effects, animatronics & make-up in terms of how they're used in movies or simply are interested in this kind of genre you really couldn't go wrong in picking this up. Perfect in every aspect.
What an impressive resume! Always appreciate your book reviews.
Up until recently, Stan Winston Studios has been contracting mostly commercial work for companies like Jimmy Dean Sausage and Knorr. Only recently have they brought in a large motion picture production job and now it's a "closed set", with a very secret film project in-house. Although SWS has adapted to change in the industry by developing their own digital production studio, it seems more and more traditional special effects and creature design shops are being adversely affected by an increase in digital effects.