Before modern moviemaking, the building of imaginary worlds was mainly the realm of fiction writers, from Dante Alighieri to J.R.R. Tolkien. Fantastic details of character and costume, weapons and monsters, history and architecture and technology, were conjured in the author's imagination, and again in the mind's eye of the reader — but never seen in real life.
Movies would change all that. Now the director, production designer, cinematographer, and prop-master were tasked with creating complex, believable fantasy worlds before our very eyes. Costumes, props, sets, and special effects all had to be fabricated physically and made to look realistic to the camera and the theater audience. “Worldbuilding” moved into the real world, giving us rich imaginary realms from the Flash Gordon serials to The Wizard of Oz to the Planet…
