A Century of Stop Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman

The best book on the art of Ray Harryhausen with plenty of immages. Un volume fantastico di scoperte e tecniche affascinanti

This is a great book, and it has quickly become one of my favorite Amazon purchases ever.Just about anything you've ever wondered about stop-motion animation is both talked about AND illustrated in this book.There are seven chapters. After some introductions, the first chapter is an overview of what is stop-motion animation, drawing in detail on Harryhausen's examples. Then a chapter on the early pioneers. Then, of course, a long chapter on O'Brien. Then an almost-as-long chapter on Harryhausen. Then there are three concluding chapters, on contemporaries of O'Brien and Harryhausen, the next generation after them, and the contemporary world of stop-motion. There are two pages of footnotes that provide great details and some behind-the-scenes gossip.Although I love this book, I only gave four stars because of just a few nit-picking issues. One, it really isn't a general history of the field, it is a review of the O'Brien and Harryhausen careers with "additional information" on everyone else. Two, there is SO MUCH information sometimes the pages are too full. Sometimes a page will have the narrative of the book, an extended quote from one of the people and also multiple captions for the many photographs and illustrations. Sometimes it took a little effort to sort out what I was reading. Three, this is a high-quality book, with heavy paper stock, but my edition contained three pages with typography smears. The smears didn't obscure any text, but they really seemed out of place since the overall quality of the book was so high.I really recommend this book highly. I would have liked to have seen more about the contemporary world--the final chapter is the shortest--but there is so much here that I will be reading and re-reading this book for a long time. Great stuff.

Very authoritative and well illustrated, though some of the illustrations could have been bigger.

Lots of great, high quality glossy photos in here. The book feels strong, its covers hard and protective. And hey, it's written by the Godfather of stop-motion, Ray Harryhausen. Even if you don't like to read, this book is worth the purchase just for the vintage photos and rarities only Harryhausen could offer. Lots on information and fun facts on the medium and a great section on Willis O'Brien. Weather you're an animator yourself, or just a fan of the arts and fine animation, you cannot go wrong with this book. And amazon's got the best price on the web to boot.

IT WAS A THOROUGH AND ENGAGING LOOK AT AN ART FORM EASILY PUT ASIDE IN LIGHT OF TODAYS CGI AND MOTION CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES. THE LAYOUTS ARE WELL DESIGNED WITH LOTS OF INFO ESPECIALLY FOR THE EARLY YEARS PRIOR TO WILLIS O'BRIEN'S DEBUT. THE COMBINATION OF COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY IS WELL PRODUCED, AND PEOPLE FROM DANFORTH TO ALLEN TO MUREN ALL GET BEAUTIFUL COMMENTARY. IT IS A WORTHY 3RD INSTALLMENT TO HARRYHAUSEN'S PREVIOUS EDITIONS AND AND HE AND DALTON ARE GENEROUS TO THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN UP THE MANTLE OF SUCH A DIFFICULT PROFESSION.A LOVELY ADDITION TO THE FIELD OF SPECIAL EFFECTS BOOKS!!!