Cinefex

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Cinefex

Cinefex is a magazine that, in each issue, specifically focuses in-depth on the technical aspects of the special, or rather the visual effects, used in motion picture productions or, less frequently, in a particular television production which had been groundbreaking in this regard. Launched in 1980 under stewardship of Don Shay, it has become the foremost periodical magazine on "special effects", as it was known at the time, in the business and is (as of 2015) still being published. Its very first issue was equally dedicated to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the movie Alien. Editorial staff has included at some point Mark Cotta Vaz.

Though there is a certain overlap in the subject matter with the contemporary magazines American Cinematographer and Cinefantastique, Cinefex's focus lies on the various aspects of creating of what is presently called "visual effects", whereas American Cinematographer is focused on the actual filming techniques and Cinefantastique, together with the other contemporary publication, Starlog, covered a lesser in-depth but wider range of behind-the-scenes aspects. As such, the magazines can be considered complimentary.

Having become a leading publication on the subject matter of visual effects, the magazine has seen several international variants in translation, released by local publishers; In Japan the magazine had by far the longest run, and was intermittently published from mid-1983 onward by several publishers, though the contents were not in sync with their American counterparts at first. The first publication run lasted for only twelve issues and ended in December 1985. [1] The magazine was relaunched in July 1993 with a restarted numbering as reference books (and thus endowed with ISBN-numbers) in a vertically orientated format, as opposed to the standard American lying format. In 2003, Cinefex LLC. pulled the license of the relaunch publisher Toys Press Inc. for copyright violations, after it was discovered that they had released unsanctioned side productions based on licensed Cinefex copy, among others a 1997 Star Wars book. [2] The first relaunch run had lasted for 39 issues. [3] From June 2006 onward the magazine was relaunched, synchronized for the American version contents with an one issue lag, for a second time by Born Digital, Inc. with again a restarted numbering in the format its predecessor had employed.

Less successful and far shorter-lived efforts were undertaken in France (five issues plus one single October 1992 issue, stemming from a failed relaunch attempt), Italy (seven edited issues, renamed "CineVfx" for the last three issues [4]) and Russia (which lasted somewhat longer as at least 29 issues were known to exist by January 2012 [5]). As if to underscore the growing importance of Chinese digital effects companies play in the motion picture industry, publisher Don Shay launched the Chinese-language version of the magazine on 29 July 2015 in a ceremony at the Chinese Dexter Studios, Beijing. Its publishing company had released the first, vertically orientated issue four days previously, synchronized with issue 142 of the American source publication. [6]

Noteworthy is that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has not received any coverage in Cinefex.

Notable issues

Of particular relevance to Star Trek are the following issues:

Issue	Cover	Contents
1, March 1980 (USA) 4, 1 May 1984 (Japan)	USA cover Japan Cover	Star Trek: The Motion Picture: "Into the V'Ger Maw with Douglas Trumbull", Don Shay, pp. 4-33 As of 2015, this Japanese issue is the only known foreign-language edition to carry a Star Trek-themed cover.
2, August 1980		Star Trek: The Motion Picture: "Greg Jein-Miniature Giant", Brad Munson, pp. 24-49 "Star Trekking at Apogee with John Dykstra", Don Shay, pp. 50-72
18, August 1984		Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise", Brad Munson, pp. 42-68
29, February 1987		Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: "Humpback to Future", Jody Duncan Shay, pp. 4-31
37, February 1989		TNG Season 1: "Special Effects The Next Generation", Glenn Campbell & Donna Trotter, pp. 4-21
42, May 1990		Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: "Sharing the Pain", Paul Mandell, pp. 44-68
49, February 1992		Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: "Letting Slip the Dogs of Wars", Kevin H. Martin, pp. 38-60
61, March 1995 9, 20 December 1995 (Japan, 1st relaunch)	First printing cover ASIN B000OONICE Reprint cover ASIN B002JHSFA4 Japan cover ISBN 492493058X	Star Trek Generations: "Kirk Out", Kevin H. Martin, pp. 62-77
69, March 1997	First printing cover ASIN B0016M0O0W Reprint cover ASIN B0057BAEVC	Star Trek: First Contact: "Phoenix Rising", Kevin H. Martin, pp. 98-119
77, April 1999 23, 28 December 1999 (Japan)	First printing cover ASIN B005MSJK7Y Reprint cover ASIN B000KGAE28 Japan cover ISBN 4924930288	Star Trek: Insurrection: "Lost in the Briar Patch", Kevin H. Martin, pp. 68-95
93, April 2003	First printing cover ASIN B0015MQPW4 Reprint cover ASIN B00723P5GW	Star Trek Nemesis: "Through a Glass Darkly", Bill Norton, pp. 88-111
118, July 2009 14, 26 September 2009 (Japan, 2nd relaunch)	First printing cover Reprint cover ASIN B005RPUTXQ Japan cover ISBN 9784862460912	Star Trek: "A New Enterprise", Joe Fordham, pp. 40-71
134, July 2013 30, 30 September 2013 (Japan)	Variant cover 1 Variant cover 2 Reprint cover ASIN B00EW0SQ5A Japan cover ISBN 9784862461759	Star Trek Into Darkness: "Dark Side of the Earth", Joe Fordham, pp. 70-91 The Star Trek cover was the rarer variant and has become collectible.

External links

• Cinefex.com - Official website
• Cinefex at Wikipedia