Prometheus: The Art of The Film

Alright here it is, Ive been patiently waiting for this movie and of course, the art of book all year. I even went and saw a 10am show (in digital 2D) just yesterday before opening the book up at Lincoln center. HUGE theater, completely empty. I love seeing movies in big empty theaters. Like whatever, this franchise has gone all over the place over the years and so the odd departures didn't bother me- but one thing that stuck with me was the fact that particle systems are no match for actual atmosphere. You can see it! Literally! Just watch Alien with real atmospheric, and put it next to Prometheus with all the digital effects. No match for the real thing. It all ads to the atmosphere of fear and terror, which was missing from this film. Those opening shots?- and how awesome they were? -another example of the point Im making. But hey- thats how they make movies now, and thats just how it is and thats all I will say about the movie-
Onto the art book-
The thing I didn't like about this book is the thing that makes me really like it- tons of Ridley Scott drawings and storyboards (and they're awesome!) Not a whole lot of other art- oh yeah c'mon, tons of art in here, but lots of Film Outs and Renders, some great paint over renders, but a minority of actual paintings. Again- thats how they do it now a days- creating concept designs in 3D cuts out so many steps in the process along the production pipeline- so it makes sense but still, I am going to miss the actual paintings. Theres some good ones in here and the film outs are cool looking and you get to see everything you want to see, so yeah, if you like this movie you will probably like this book and you should get it for the Ridley Scott storyboards alone.
One small complaint and this is only for real book freaks, but the paper Titan uses is really glossy and kind of cheap feeling, and the book designers chose to do a lot of two page spreads of a lot of stuff I want to look at, a little bit of a bummer. Looks great on InDesign or whatever they use to lay the pages out, but that seam down the middle on the actual book- argh- just a personal peeve. I digress.


Prometheus; The Art of The Film
Mark Salisbury
Titan Books (June 2012)
186 Pages (HC)
ISBN 978-1781161098
11 x 10 x .8

A steal for 24 bucks on amazon