By: Mark Cotta Vaz Publisher: Chronicle Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Chronicle Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: May 26, 2005 Release Date: June 15, 2005
Product Description: The origin of Batman, the crown jewel of all superheroes, will be revealed for the first time in Batman Begins, the highly anticipated film from director Christopher Nolan (Memento). A contemporary, innovative incarnation of a character and story that have captured people's imaginations for six decades, Batman Begins hits theaters Summer 2005 and stars Christian Bale as the Dark Knight. Full of exclusive photographs of moody sets and exotic locations, as well as concept art, storyboards, and costume designs from the movie s creative team, this oversized hardcover documents the newest spectacular portrayal of the most popular and enigmatic superhero ever conceived. The Art of Batman Begins is a must-have for artists, Batman aficionados, and filmgoers everywhere.
BATMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics 2005.
Slightly lacking in depth Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1O0G2KVNUEO7M This book is also pretty light on content, just like The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and Full Shooting Script. It explains very little on the production of the movie. You might probably even get more information on Wikipedia.
There are pretty detailed storyboards in the book, even if they are only a few pages. The paintings and concept art to be lacking in comparison to movie stills. A lot of movie stills were included. Some of these movie stills occupy a whole page, or two by themselves. By themselves, they really served no purpose.
The cinematography for the movie was great. The composition was amazing. But there are too few reference paintings included.
This book is only for the hardcore movie fans. Batman fans won't really miss anything if they stick to their comics.
The probable reason for the lack of depth, I believe, is that not much material was provided to the author, Mark Cotta Vaz. His two other art books which I have, The Art of The Incredibles and The Art of Finding Nemo, were fantastic.
Poor insight into the film. Absolutely pales in comparison with similar books that came out in the 80s such as the Star Wars sketchbooks. After reading this sycophantic gloss, you'll actually feel like more of a groveling Batman groupie; Mark Cotta Vaz excels at superficialities while denying the reader true criticism. Simply, there is little understanding of the artistic mind and what we have here is nothing much more than 50 or so production pieces of art, most of which do not differ from the final product to any appreciable degree.
For instance, a little foam-rubber mock-up of the Batmobile takes up an entire page. Also, Cotta Vaz thinks a quote from Nolan such as "Gotham City is like New York on steroids" is a revealing statement. I give one star for a smattering of info. regarding various props and the reasoning behind them. But even this is something akin to a DK "Visual Guide" not an exploration of a film's artistry.
Disappointing I was extremely disappointed with this book. Not only does it include very few of the conceptual design artworks from the movie, some of the artworks are displayed in the whole page that you can't help but wondering, did they run out of photos, pictures when composing this book? Also, without the inclusion of the film's script (which they published as a stand-alone scriptbook) I feel like I've been ripped off my money. I hope the Art of the Dark Knight book doesn't suck like this one.
Bad customer service I ordered this book and realized the day after I placed the order that my boyfriend had bought it for himself. When I emailed the seller to see if it was too late to cancel my order and the reason I got no response. I sent another email 2 days later and I still never received a response. I then got the book (which I'm stuck with) and not even in good condition! BAD EXPERIENCE.
The Art of Batman Begins It was a pretty easy fast read. I wish it had more info as, "Behind the mask of Spiderman" written by the same author. Nice pics and info but I finished reading it in a couple of hours at the most.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
