Episode list

Covers the main British and American studios, their special effects and new means of digital production, in Great Britain and the United States, starting from the phantasmagorical illusions of Georges Méliès to the Disney film Tron (1982); Silvercup Studios in Queens, New York; the creation of a tornado for the cinema; Douglas Trumbull's New Magic (1983) and the Showscan 70mm cinema in 60 images/s.; Pinnewood Studios, Derek Meddings, miniature model and special effects team leader; Peter Parks, Roy Fields for Jeannot Szwarc's Supergirl (1984); the Optical printer or "Truca" in French (from the word "truc" = trick), and its working method; Christophe Tucker, make-up artist for The Company of Wolves (1984); Christopher Reeves for Superman (1978); David Speed for Morons from Outer Space (1985); Electric Dreams (1984) sequences, with Ian Kelly (video engineer), and Shelly Elbourne (title designer); the creation of the Supergirl's gene, with Richard Lester, director, David Puttnam, and Ilya Salkind, producers.

The fourth program in the series, "France: La Règle de L'illusion", is devoted to the history of the major film studios in France.

With nearly 120 films produced each year for an audience of around 20 billion viewers, Chinese cinema has become one of the first in the world. Only three of the seventeen studios in the country are responsible for most of the production.