The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explores cinema’s roots in stage magic and sleight of hand during “Like Magic,” to be hosted by sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay, special effects supervisor Shane Mahan, and stage and screen illusion designer Michael Weber on Wednesday, November 20, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will explore cinema’s roots in stage magic and sleight of hand and show how visual deception drove the development of movie special effects, on Wednesday, November 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Hosted by sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay, special effects supervisor Shane Mahan, and stage and screen illusion designer Michael Weber, “Like Magic” will examine how some of the techniques used in the earliest “trick films,” such as forced perspective, cuts, dissolves and multiple exposures are still used by filmmakers in the digital age.
Using scenes from films including Georges Méliès’s The Magician (1898), Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1946), Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), Neil Burger’s “The Illusionist” (2006) and Rupert Sanders’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2012), the program will show how some of the techniques used in the earliest “trick films,” such as trick perspective, cuts, dissolves and multiple exposures, are still used by filmmakers in the digital age. The night will include live demonstrations and conversations with some of the films' creative teams who will reveal how many of these scenes were created.
Wednesday, November 20, 7:30 p.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
General admission seating is unreserved.
TICKETS: $5 general admission/$3 Academy members and students with a valid ID. For more information, and to purchase tickets to the event, visit www.oscars.org.
Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
