Although i didn't expect to find it so interesting, finally it was really good! Not only does it explain thoroughly every, if not all, technique of the motion picture industry, but it also has a lot of reference to really successful movies! Especially the section that refers to the special effects landmarks makes it unique and complete. It is not something you find in every book and thus it makes it really special.. It has a lot of images and really good explanations and descriptions.. Simply one of the best books on the subject!!

Once I picked up the Special Effects book, I seriously could not put it down. This book is truly amazing as it serves not only as an information source, but it is also very entertaining. The first half of the book goes through the decades starting with the 1900's. In each time period Richard discuses the new advancements in film making during that decade, along with writing about some of the best movies form that time. Some of the classics include Singing in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, and many Hitchcock movies. The second half of the book focuses on individual aspects of movie magic. From make-up and costumes, to lighting and pyrotechnics. The book cover many recent movies like Titanic, Star Wars Episode I and The Matrix. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the entertainment field. The book is easy moderate to read and full of amazing color pictures that you won't find anywhere else. Some of the pictures are accurate diagrams of film processes, such as animation, digital effects and camera techniques. I feel that form reading this book I gained a lot of basis knowledge needed to better understand the industry. Did you know that most of the snow used in movies is simply shredded paper? Or how about the fact that 90% of dialogue is movies is recorded and dubbed after the movie is shot! Find out hundreds of more amazing facts in Richard Rickitt's Special Effects: The History and Technique.

So your interested in Film Special Effects, well here it is. This book covers everything you'll ever need to know. The past, present and future of Film Special Effects are covered, from Blue Screening to Make-Up and Models to fully Computer Animated Characters that jump out from the screen. Every page has a beautifully layout with many colour diagrams and stills from films. The explanations are clear and precise allowing for easy to follow and understandable descriptions.

The price tag may be high but I highly recommend splashing out and purchasing this book. I definate buy for anyone interested in this field.

A helpfull book for the begenier artist it is very depictive and helped me imensly with my drawing style.

This is a very good book for the 12-14 year old age group. The things they like to draw are in this book, drawn in a manner that gives young people confidence. My students love to try each page.

Exploring the complex relationship between America and Korea, this story is set in the aftermath of the Korean War. It's about the abandoned children of American GIs and their survival.

Fox Girl is Hyun Jin, and her best friend is Sookie, a teenage prostitute kept by an American soldier, and there's also Lobetto, a lost boy who makes his living running errands and pimping for the neighborhood girls. Hyun Jin learns that Sookie is her sister, and that Sookie's mother is her "real" mother, and with that, life changes for all of them.

This is a mother-daughter tale, filled with pathos, sadness, terror, and the starkness of survival, and it shows how the girls use their bodies to earn a living. Other characters include Grape Auntie, Duk Hee (real mom), Chazu (the GI "John") as well as Harariya Base, and China Town and the Monkey House.

I wasn't in Korea in the aftermath of the war, but I spent about 13 months there during the late 60's, and the view was that it was "the best kept secret in the world." This book shows how that probably evolved into what it ultimately became, and I found this book to be sad and unflinchingly honest in its portrayal. But a cautionary note: there's adult and sexual situations, and if this kind of thing offends you, you should probably find something else to read. I found it compelling reading, and it sometimes broke my heart, and oftentimes made me angry. Recommended.

There are other biographies out there that fill the same niche "Fox Girl" does, but it's hard to think of it as a work of fiction. No doubt Nora Keller's experience writing "Comfort Woman" provided plenty of background for the author to make "Fox Girl" ring true. Hyun-jin speaks with the voice of naivete, and it's up to the reader to fill in warnings left unsaid as she follows a common path of survival through the GI support infrastructure known as "America Town".

Nora Keller strains at the end to provide something of a happy ending, although it's more like the temporary relief felt from getting off a bed of nails - an afterthought, perhaps, demanded by the publisher for the benefit of the audience. Why, and how, did Hyun-jin get so irrational about her desire to raise her sister's daughter at any cost? It seems out of character with the rest of her personality which the experience of her own (possibly artificially induced) miscarriage doesn't quite justify.

The interview with the author at the end of the book, along with the Social-Studies like questions make me think that Nora wrote the book with high-school English class discussions in mind - and indeed, if "Lord Of The Flies" qualifies, then so does "Fox Girl".

Fox Girl, by Nora Okja Keller, is a very well written story of survival. It takes place right after the events of the Korean War and shows how it affects the children as they grow up. The main character is Hyun Jin. In the beginning, she lives on a military base with her family and her only friend is an ugly young girl everyone calls Sookie. Sookie, as a child, was in total awe of her beautiful mother and her many boyfriends. Little does either child know, however, is that Sookie's mom is a prostitute. The chapters that tell of their childhood are extremely amusing with the naive thoughts of the young girls about Sookie's mother. These chapters are not all fun and games, though, for they foreshadow Sookie's destiny. Hyun tells of Sookie's mother's talks with them about sex and men which seem to influence how Sookie lives her life later in the book... The book grows slightly darker when the girls grow up and Sookie ends up becoming one of the most beautiful young women in the neighborhood and gets into her mother's profession. Hyun's opinions are as interesting as the story from beginning to end. Overall, this all makes for a good read, at anytime, especially if you have a spring break or summer vacation coming up.