Masters of Illusion

List Price: ~~$19.95~~
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases

(Click here)

Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada

Product details

Actor: Masters of Illusion
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 30 minutes
Release Date: 2000-06-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Homevision
Studio: Homevision

VHS Movie Reviews of Masters of Illusion

Movie Review: Excellent, but beware of errors
Summary: 5 Stars

I enjoyed watching the video and have used portions of it in the university classes that I teach. Technically, it is quite good and the story line is captivating. But the slick production value of the video doesn't guarantee that they got all the facts right. I've heard grumblings about the National Gallery focusing on famous artists, giving them more credit for innovations than they deserve. For instance, Durer was a great artist, but the makers of this film give too much credit. Durer's contributions to linear perspective are overstated in the video, and his understanding of linear perspective was actually quite poor. I found it helpful to supplement my understanding by reading articles by Christopher Tyler (available online) that clarify the history and facts surrounding the development of linear perspective. Tyler is one of the great unheralded scientists of our generation, so take a look at his work in this area (mostly available online, via the Smith-Kettlewell website, I think).

Movie Review: Great film for Renaissance History Class
Summary: 4 Stars

I teach World History and this film is a very good introduction to the art of the Renaissance and the technology behind it. Beautiful examples of art with many of the Masters of the Renaissance included. It is also short, which helps to keep students engaged and interested! I really like this one!

Movie Review: Interesting But Not Outstanding
Summary: 3 Stars

I bought this because it was used in a class I am taking and I wanted to review it. The price seems high for such a short (about 30 minutes) tape. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable and educational. It summarizes how the painters of the Renaissance developed mathematical models that enabled them to create realistic-looking perspective in their work, so that a flat painting could appear three-dimensional. The past is linked with the present, since these same principles are still being used today to create realistic sets and special effects for movies. The material should be easily understood by anyone at a high school level or above.

Movie Review: INEXCUSABLE
Summary: 1 Stars

THIS VERY SHORT VIDEO (NOT 30 MINUTES LONG) HAS UNACCEPTABLE POOR SOUND AND BADLY RECORDED IMAGES. THE CONTENT WAS FASCINATING BUT THE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS MADE THIS VIDEO UNWATCHABLE. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Movie Review: One of the best - we need this on DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars

This exploration of visual illusions, explained by James Burke in the context of its discovery by the Renaissance masters, and now used by Hollywood special effects wizards is certainly of the most valuable and entertaining educational videos ever produced. If you teach art or film, or if you are a student of any age, your education is incomplete unless you have seen this film.

Works of Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Rapheal and others are used to illustrate the technical and artistic achievements of the Renaissance, but within a very contemporary context of how we see the world in reality or artificial illusion. This is about the discovery of how to make a two dimensional image appear in three dimensions through an understanding of light, shadow, color, and vanishing point perspective.

Seeing this film on low resolution VHS does not do justice to the quality of these master works. This film is a prime candidate for release on DVD. So, when will the world be able to learn from this extraordinary work in the detail and resolution only DVD can achieve?

Write your own review

Summary of Masters of Illusion

The extraordinary special effects we enjoy in films today are based on principles established more than 500 years ago by Renaissance masters such as Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and Raphael. This film examines artistic and scientific discoveries of the Renaissance, provides new insight into a remarkable visual revolution, and uses modern technology to analyse the old masters in amazing new ways.

This documentary hosted by James Burke is a fascinating examination of the concept of how we see things, specifically how images that appear to our eyes to be three-dimensional are rendered convincingly on flat surfaces. Starting out in a movie studio special effects lab, Burke explains how visual illusions practiced today actually began during the Renaissance, when painters first mastered the skills of incorporating the idea of depth into paintings. The principle of "linear perspective," in which parallel lines all diverge to a common vanishing point, sounds complicated, but the examples shown in this documentary make the idea perfectly clear to the layperson. By way of contrast, paintings completed before the Renaissance are shown, and it's immediately clear to the viewer that artists who hadn't mastered perspective drew scenes that appear flat on the canvas. But when artists such as Brunelleschi and Michelangelo practiced using perspective, art suddenly jumped forward. Quotes from Leonardo da Vinci's writings, in which he talked about perspective and the effects of light, are offered along with examples of his paintings that illustrate beautifully how a master used a scientific principle to create great art. This is an unusual documentary that makes fascinating a subject that most people have never considered, though it relates to things we see everyday. --Robert J. McNamara

General Video

Video Genres

Movies most talked about in General Video

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (6pc) Image

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (6pc)
Mystic Fire Video; Release date: 1998-10-27; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $44.00
Price in other shops: ~~$99.98~~

Latcho Drom
New Yorker Video; Release date: 1998-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $59.90

Nova - Trillion Dollar Bet
PBS; Release date: 2000-02-29; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $74.00

Four Days in November
MGM (Video & DVD); Release date: 1998-09-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: ~~$14.95~~

The Pagan Invasion: Halloween-Trick Or Treat
Tapeworm; Release date: 1999-11-16; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: ~~$19.95~~

Walt Disney's True Life Adventures - The Living Desert
Walt Disney Video; Release date: 1998-06-16; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $39.99
Price in other shops: ~~$44.99~~

Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns
Pbs Home Video; Release date: 1995-04-16; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Price in other shops: ~~$149.88~~

Sarah Plain And Tall
Republic Pictures; Release date: 1995-03-21; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.07
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

The Century-America's Time (Boxed Set)
ABC News; Release date: 1999-03-23; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $62.59
Price in other shops: ~~$74.99~~

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Warner Home Video; Release date: 1998-09-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $24.50

Similar Video, DVDs, Audio CDs

The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern
by Carol Strickland
Andrews McMeel Publishing; Published: 2007-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.03
Price in other shops: ~~$22.99~~

Who Gets to Call It Art?
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP DISTRIBUTION; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $16.94
Price in other shops: ~~$26.99~~

Chuck Close - A Portrait in Progress
Release date: 2003-12-16; DVD
Best price: $14.91
Price in other shops: ~~$19.95~~

Simon Schama's Power of Art
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $23.49
Price in other shops: ~~$49.98~~

How Art Made the World
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-08-01; DVD
Best price: $22.77
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers & Tides
Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $14.39
Price in other shops: ~~$26.95~~

Perspective Made Easy
by Ernest R. Norling
Dover Publications; Published: 1999-01-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: ~~$8.95~~

Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century (Seasons One & Two) Image

Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century (Seasons One & Two)
MUSIC VIDEO DIST; Release date: 2003-11-18; DVD
Best price: $32.58
Price in other shops: ~~$49.98~~