Editing and Special/Visual Effects: Behind the Silver Screen: A Modern History of Filmmaking

The expert contributors together trace how the arts of editingand effects have evolved in tandem, starting with the 'trick films'of the early silent era, which astounded audiences by splicingin or editing out key frames, all the way to today's cutting-edgeeffects technologies. Multiple filmmaking techniques are exploredthroughout, from classic Hollywood's rear projection and matteshots to the fast cuts and wall-to-wall CGI of the contemporaryblockbuster. The book introduces readers to the analog and digitaltools used in these crafts, showing the impact of changes in the filmindustry itself.

Kristen Whissel is a professor of filmand media at the University of California,Berkeley. She is the author of SpectacularDigital Effects: CGI and ContemporaryCinema and of Picturing AmericanModernity: Traffic, Technology and the SilentCinema. She is guest editor of two specialissues of film Criticism journal, on digitaleffects and on 3D.