Cinemachines: An Essay on Media and Method

The hero stands on stage in high-definition 3-D while doubled on a crude pixel screen in *Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk*. Alien ships leave Earth by dissolving at the conclusion of *Arrival*. An illusory death spiral in *Vertigo* transitions abruptly to a studio set, jolting the spectator. These are a few of the startling visual moments that Garrett Stewart examines in *Cinemachines*, a compelling, powerful, and witty book about the cultural and mechanical apparatuses that underlie modern cinema. Engaging in fresh ways with revelatory special effects in the history of cinematic storytelling-from Buster Keaton's breaching of the film screen in *Sherlock Jr.* to the pixel disintegration of a remotely projected hologram in *Blade Runner 2049*-Stewart's book puts unprecedented emphasis on technique in moving image narrative. Complicating and revising the discourse on historical screen processes, *Cinemachines* will be crucial reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the movies from a celluloid to a digital medium.