Cinefex
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''Cinefex'' launched in 1980, was a quarterly journal covering
visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...
in films. Each issue featured lengthy, detailed articles that described the creative and technical processes behind current films, the information drawn from interviews with the effects artists and technicians involved. Each issue also featured many behind-the-scenes photographs illustrating the progression of visual effects shots – from previsualization to final – as well as the execution of miniatures,
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, makeup and other related effects. ''Cinefex'' was made available for the
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, enabling users to purchase digital copies of back issues of the magazine.


Publication history

The magazine was founded by Don Shay, who alone wrote and produced the first issue, which covered the effects work in the films ''
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'' and '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture''. Earlier, Shay had written extensively on the stop-motion effects work in the original 1933 film ''
King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'', published in the British publication ''Focus on Film'', and had authored a definitive piece on the effects in ''
Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...
'' for the magazine ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
''. Shay had also published five issues of an earlier fantasy film magazine from 1962-67, titled ''K'scope'' (for Kaleidoscope, which appeared on the cover of the first issue), as well as collaborating with Ray Cabana on the one-shot magazine ''Candlelight Room'' in 1963. A defining characteristic of Cinefex is its unusual 8”x9” configuration, a format Shay chose to enable him to reproduce film frames in a format similar to their original film aspect ratio. The magazine was entirely reader-supported for its first ten years. In 1990, advertising director Bill Lindsay launched an advertising program that enabled Shay to hire editor Jody Duncan, the publication's head writer for several years, and later, associate editor Joe Fordham. In late 2015, as the quarterly magazine transitioned into bimonthly publication, Cinefex blog editor Graham Edwards joined the team as a full-time writer. In 2004, Don Shay received the Board of Directors Award from the
Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and ...
for "illuminating the field of visual effects through his role as publisher of Cinefex." A 2014 event sponsored by the Visual Effects Society and held at UCLA celebrated "36 Years of Cinefex," and featured a panel discussion with Don Shay and Jody Duncan, moderated by Matte World Digital founder Craig Barron. That event highlighted the magazine's definitive coverage of the most explosive and innovative era in visual effects history, a period that saw the early use of
motion control Motion control is a sub-field of automation, encompassing the systems or sub-systems involved in moving parts of machines in a controlled manner. Motion control systems are extensively used in a variety of fields for automation purposes, includi ...
technology in ''
The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...
'', the development of
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(showcased in the groundbreaking 1993 film ''
Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
''), the pinnacle of
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techniques, as executed in 2009's ''
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'', as well as advancements in hydraulics and robotics employed in practical, in-camera effects. In 2014 Shay retired as publisher, handing the reins to his son, Gregg – who took over ownership in 2016. As larger, better-funded magazines folded, ''Cinefex'' – once described in ''Hollywood Reporter'' as ‘a niche survivor’ – expanded from quarterly to bimonthly publication beginning in 2016. In its February 2021 issue, ''Cinefex'' announced its final issue of the magazine after 40 years of publications. Gregg Shay, the magazine's publisher, cited the effects of
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as a reason for the magazine to officially end and discontinue its publication.


Reception

In 2001, twenty years after the original publication of Cinefex, Ramin Zahed of ''
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'' praised the magazine, writing that it "is one of the few places where you can turn to when you’re desperate for the right information about special effects credits."


See also

*
List of film periodicals Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...


References


External links

*
fxguide story and podcast interview with Don Shay
* {{iTunes Preview App, 512379220 Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Film magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1980 Magazines published in California Magazines disestablished in 2021