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Production Design and Art Direction (Screencraft Series) Review

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Production Design and Art Direction (Screencraft Series) ReviewTexts on Production Design are just plain fun to read. When I received this text I looked with great anticipation at the big white space and contemporary layout on the cover. Turning that first page, and the second page, and third to see more, and more, white space, accompanied by extremely small print and small reproductions of rare conceptual drawings, storyboards, photos and architectual drawings from films designed by 16 masters of their craft, was a disappointment.
Compared to books like "Hollywood: Legend and Reality" Edited by Michael Webb, from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, which also had rarely seen drawings and photos, the visual layout and design lacked impact and clarity. Print within the storyboards, often important clues to how the scene was shot, is hard to read.
Ettedgui's beautiful book is an illustrated interview book, but the interviews prove anecdotal more than educational.
Compared to the Text: "Film Design", compiled by Terence St. John Marner, part of The London Film School Series, 1974, the explanation of how production design was technically done on individual films was meager.
In "By Design, Interviews with Film Production Designers", LoBrutto knows what questions to ask in interviews with 20 masters of their craft to relay meaningful information about how the film industry, as well as these designers, work. Ettedgui's work cannot compare in content to LoBrutto's.
As an independent reviewer, I review books on the filmmaking craft for what they can help you learn about the craft on your own. This is a beautiful book. If your eyesight is 20/20 or better you might not even mind the small print, but once past the intial oh-oh, ah-ah of the size, design and layout of this large text, the content rates not much more than 3 Stars.
Pamela Jean Curry, Film Director in Training at Film Studio Faux,Parody of Motion Picture Film Studio Training.Production Design and Art Direction (Screencraft Series) OverviewIn Production Design and Art Direction sixteen of the world's greatest production designers discuss their craft, revealing the creative process which led to the look of the most memorable films of our time.Contributors include Dean Tavoularis (Godfather Trilogy), Dante Ferretti (whose work with Fellini, Pasolini and Scorsese covers the span of the best of Italian cinema) and Anna Asp (Fanny and Alexander).As aesthetically appealing as any art book, Production Design and Art Direction is densely illustrated with drawings, scripts, storyboards and models, as well as stills from the films. This book is part of the Screencraft series, which includes the enormously successful Cinematography, also by Peter Ettedgui and published by Focal Press in the US. The text is based on the words of 16 masters of the craftBeautifully produced and lavishly illustrated with drawings, scripts, storyboards, models and stills from memorable filmsPart of the Screencraft series, the first books to explore the crafts of filmmaking by tracing the entire creative process through the eyes of leading practitioners

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Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking Review

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Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking ReviewThe book touched on all the challenges of indie filmmaking in a clear and concise way. He discussed what areas you should focus on and what areas you can spend less money and time while still getting a great film as your final product. Elliott explored the psyche of the indie filmmaker too by bringing his own easy to understand explanations of why things work the way they do.
His anecdotes really help explain why things work the way they do on low budget productions. He is gifted at giving you insights into the small things you can change that show big improvements on camera. This book eases your mind about not having enough money to make your film. And hopefully give you the courage to put your film out there.
I recommend that any filmmaker who has little or no money buy this book. With Elliot's expertise, you can gain value insights into telling the story that you want.
Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking Overview

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Filming the Fantastic, Second Edition: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography Review

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Filming the Fantastic, Second Edition: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography ReviewWow! It covers enough information on the current art of special effects to give the neophyte an excellent overview of what's possible and for the professional to accomplish.
This book is going on my shelf next to Raymond Fielding's The Techniques of Special Effects Cinematography, Bernard Wilkie's Creating Special Effects for TV & Film, Special Effects in Motion Pictures by Frank P. Clark and Bernard Wilkie's The Technique of Special Effects in Television. The huge advantage for Mark's book is that it brings the classic techniques into the digital age. It is full of Illustrations and photos that serve his text well.
Mark's experience from decades of personal and notable professional work is evident from the real world solutions he offers. His personal anecdotes and techical instructions give the reader useful and practical knowledge of a wide variety of techniques.
What I liked is the appreciation and references to the great masters of effects like Willis O'Brien and Albert Whitlock and many others.
Mark Sawicki knows his stuff and presents it for the curious and the advanced film maker.
Well done. I highly recommend this book. A must for Effects Artists everywhere. I kid you not!Filming the Fantastic, Second Edition: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography Overview
Don't waste valuable time and budget fixing your footage in post! Shoot the effects you want effectively and creatively the first time. This full-color step-by step guide to visual effects cinematography empowers you to plan out and execute visual effects shots on a budget, without falling into the common pitfall of using high-end computer graphics to "fix it in post," which can be an expensive, drawn out process. Instead, learn how to put your shots together before you start shooting-whether you're working in digital or film. Learn how to effectively photograph and create miniatures, matte paintings, green screen set ups, crowd replication, digital rear projection, and so much more to create elements that will composite together flawlessly.

The main purpose of effects is to promote the story, not just to wow an audience with amazing tricks created digitally. This book describes methods for creating seamless effects that don't call attention to themselves but enhance the scene as a whole. The technical foundations of film and digital capture are given in the introductory chapters of the book, and you are presented with real world scenarios that illustrate these basic concepts in a practical sense. Step-by-step illustrations of photographic element creation empower you to learn how to effectively pre-plan and execute your own visual effects challenges.
* Hundreds of full-color set photographs show you exactly how it's done* Includes step-by-step information on green screen setup* Real-world examples and exercises throughout

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Planning the Low-Budget Film Review

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Planning the Low-Budget Film ReviewIf you are making your first legitimate movie where people besides your friends and family are depending on you not to screw up big time and you just searched Amazon for books on filmmaking and you need a no-nonsense step by step guide to help you through the behind the scenes process, this is the book for you!
I work with a comedy group in California, and we recently shot our first budgeted short film. As I am the most organized member of the group I was appointed the "Line Producer" and put in charge of making the whole thing come together on the back end. Coming from a theatre background, I knew what went into putting a stage performance together, but I was in the dark when it came to preparing for a film. After scouring Amazon (and a few other sites) this book seemed the most adequate to help me prepare for my job.
I've worked in film before, so a lot of the books I looked at about making a movie spend 2/3 of their volume explaining the difference between DV and Film and what a DP does, but I needed something that cut through that introductory fat, and would help prepare me for pre-production and detail exactly what went into pulling a film together.
This book is that book. It was my bible. It was glued to my side like Biff's Sports Almanac in Back to the Future 2.
Mr. Brown walks you through everything that goes into "making it happen." From breaking down the script into a functional shooting schedule to preparing an accurate budget to determing how far behind schedule you are to making sure there is a place for people to go to the bathroom, it's all in there. Additionally, the book even helped me to prepare for a lot of the basic legal and propreitary issues that we would encounter.
Brown also peppers the book with great anecdotes that help you avoid the pitfalls and roadblocks that he himself has encountered on large feature films like The Goonies. Yeah, The Goonies, you can't mess with someone who worked on The Goonies.
This book is essential. Bottom line. Read it. Love it. Use it.
Make well prepared movies.
Be a hero for your production.Planning the Low-Budget Film OverviewFinalist, 2007 Benjamin Franklin Awards, for Best New Voice Nonfiction and Professional/Technical

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The Art Direction Handbook for Film Review

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The Art Direction Handbook for Film ReviewInformative, visual, with many insightful interviews! Nobody has ever told our everyday work life from inside like this book.Its technical yet personal approach explains how we really communicate and create in the art department. It is also exciting and valuable to read my peers' approaches and thoughts. This book will guide you through the traditional art direction process, and prepare you for the digital filmmaking. Highly recommended to all film schools and to anyone who wants to know about the art department!The Art Direction Handbook for Film Overview

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Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing Review

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Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing ReviewThere are quite literally no other books like this one. Most of the other "Directing" books out there are either "Interview" books or "Indie Filmmaker" books, or even "Film Theory" books more suitable to a classroom. As such, there are very few "How-To" and/or "Tell it Like it Is" books by written by WORKING PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORS. And why not? They're *working*; they have no time to write books!
So these Authors have Authority-- now how about their Approach? Leveraging their decades in the Industry, the Authors lay it all out step-by-step:
- Prep: Break-down, Casting, Design, Blocking, Scouting, etc
- Shoot: Directing, Running the Set
- Post: Working with Editors & Post Supe's
- Being a Director: The Demands of the Job, & Getting Started
And it's all from the standpoint of How-To: comparing practical ideas, issues, tips/tricks, etc between Network, multi-camera, single-camera, MOV, and even some 'Feature Film' perspectives. We're not talking (just) "where to put the camera"; we're talking "how to shoot half a feature in eight, sometimes seven days", because "TV is low-budget filmmaking".
But know what's even *better* than all that? Here's my favorite parts:
- Job Requirements for being a Storyteller
- Being a Leader/Leadership qualities of a Director
- Six Steps to Problem Solving
- Suggestions for Dealing with stress
- The Business of the Business
This is the Real Stuff-- as anyone who's spent time on a hot set, herding cats, unsnarling Gordian knots & chasing the sun will tell you...
I particularly appreciate their encouraging, practical, keep-your-eyes-on-the-ball approach to the field of Hollywood filmmaking. They not only share a ton of hard-won advice, they also leverage their massive list of highly-skilled, well-known Director friends, and persuade them to share *their* hard-won advice too!! Bonus!!
And I really love their tongue-in-cheek tone: Who else would (dare) publish a 'real-world' vocab list, & include the definition of a "Two-T" shot? :-D
Highly Recommended.Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing Overview

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Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction Review

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Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction ReviewThe product copy above does not do justice to this splendid and sumptuous doorstopper on Hollywood art direction. The photographs are the payoff here, literally hundreds of production stills detailing on-the-set constructions and activity. My eye tells me that I have not seen most of these photos before in other Hollywood books. I think the book would serve better if it cut off after the 1970s and included more on the silent era and 1930s when the concept of art direction in film was nurtured and flourished. The 80s are focused on special effects and much of the new millennium material look like nothing more than Town & Country layouts. Nonetheless, the bulk of the book will take the Golden Era Hollywood fan to another place and time in American history, creative and socially.Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction Overview
Who can forget the over-the-top, white-on-white, high-gloss interiors through which Fred Astaire danced in Top Hat? The modernist high-rise architecture, inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead? The lavish, opulent drawing rooms of Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence? Through the use of film design-called both art direction and production design in the film industry-movies can transport us to new worlds of luxury, highlight the ornament of the everyday, offer a vision of the future, or evoke the realities of a distant era. In Designs on Film, journalist and interior designer Cathy Whitlock illuminates the often undercelebrated role of the production designer in the creation of the most memorable moments in film history. Through a lush collection of rare archival photographs, Whitlock narrates the evolving story of art direction over the course of a century-from the massive Roman architecture of Ben-Hur to the infamous Dakota apartment in Rosemary's Baby to the digital CGI wonders of Avatar's Pandora.

Drawing on insights from the most prominent Hollywood production designers and the historical knowledge of the venerable Art Directors Guild, Whitlock delves into the detailed process of how sets are imagined, drawn, built, and decorated. Designs on Film is the must-have look book for film lovers, movie buffs, and anyone looking to draw interior design inspiration from the constructions and confections of Hollywood. Whitlock lifts the curtain on movie magic and celebrates the many ways in which art direction and set design allow us to lose ourselves in the diverse worlds showcased on the big screen.

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Cinematography: Theory and Practice, Second Edition: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors Review

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Cinematography: Theory and Practice, Second Edition: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors ReviewBlain Brown's text has become invaluable to me as an instructor of film studies. While my discipline is generally interested in examining the results of great cinema, I find so few of us understand how these iconic moments are created. So, Brown's efforts not only guide potential cinematographers, but they are equally as valuable to the scholar.
To exemplify his points, Brown draws on some student favorites such as Fight Club, Kill Bill, Blade Runner, and Rain Man. Nonetheless, the author also includes some older/more obscure films which are sure to delight cinephiles: 2001, City of Lost Children, The Fall, Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, and Citizen Kane. These examples are large, colorful, and deftly underscore Brown's points. In fact, even the examples that are specifically constructed for this text are quite lovely (and that is never the case!) Kudos to the author for making a genuinely engaging text.
Brown devotes much needed attention to lighting (from simple to sublime). Likewise, he thoroughly addresses color, camera movement, and exposure. Personally, I really enjoyed the focus on obvious-but-oft-overlooked aspects of film. For instance, I frequently have to scour new texts for a solid entry on breaking-the-fourth-wall. So, I enjoyed Brown's example of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Certainly, he could have selected a number of "serious" instances, but this film is one of the most memorable examples. It really worked! Brown's lack of pretension is showcased in this moment. He discusses all manner of film: mainstream, classic, art-house, and indie. Very smart and very appreciated, indeed.
Brown's text is lovely to peruse and amazing to read cover-to-cover. Make this a new addition to your professional library. You will not regret it!
Cinematography: Theory and Practice, Second Edition: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors Overview
There's more to being a DP than holding a light meter! With this book as your guide, you are on your way to learning not only about the equipment and technology, but also about the concepts and thought processes that will enable you to shoot professionally, efficiently, and with artistic mastery. A leading book in the field, Cinematography has been translated into many languages and is a staple at the world's top film schools. Lavishly produced and illustrated, it covers the entire range of the profession. The book is not just a comprehensive guide to current professional practice; it goes beyond to explain the theory behind the practice, so you understand how the rules came about and when it's appropriate to break them. In addition, directors will benefit from the book's focus on the body of knowledge they should share with their Director of Photography.

Cinematography presents the basics and beyond, employing clear explanations of standard practice together with substantial illustrations and diagrams to reveal the real world of film production.

Recognizing that professionals know when to break the rules and when to abide by them, this book discusses many examples of fresh ideas and experiments in cinematography. Covering the most up-to-date information on the film/digital interface, new formats, the latest cranes and camera support and other equipment, it also illustrates the classic tried and true methods.

New! A DVD and website features hours of video footage, offering key instruction in topics such as camera basics and essentials, lighting, shooting methods, and much more.

Topics include: .Concepts of filmmaking .Language of the lens .Cinematic continuity .Lighting for film, digital, and HD .Exposure .HD cinematography and shooting .Shooting in HD .Image control and filters .Bleach bypass processes .Lighting as storytelling .Shooting special effects .Set procedures and other issues
* Full color illustrations bring issues of color and light to life* The definitive guide to cinematography, covering the full range of creative and technical issues in the field * NEW! A DVD and website with hours of video, demonstrating techniques and taking the reader behind the scenes on a professional shoot

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Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration Review

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Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration ReviewThe first thing I did when I decided to make my feature film was to bring in a DP. Mike was a guy I worked with backstage on some musicals and a guy I knew who was a hard worker, easy to get a long with, didn't put up with crap and someone that I could trust. I also had a chance to work with a guy who had professional lights, professional equipment and was willing to "help out." Though this other guy was available, I went with Mike because I had relationship with him. And I'll be honest with you: He taught me more than I realize.
Ms. Frost book is about those relationships. Those "getting on the same page" moments that define the film-making process. When you think about it - you need to have EVERYONE on the same page - from the sound guy, to the actor, to the home owner whose home you're abusing in the process of making your film.
What Ms. Frost does in her extremely detailed book - is give the director all the tools he or she needs to find that common ground with the Cinematographer. To get on the same page. To recognize what it is that the Director of Photography (or the guy who showed up with the really nice camera) brings to the ENTIRE process. She takes you through everything from lens choices and film stock to cameras and aspect ratios so that you have some understanding of what is going on in your DP's head to create an environment of trust and understanding. To create the magic that is film-making.
What magic? When I made my film we were filming at night a poignant scene at the loudest cemetery in Washington State (in which we had no official permission to film). We were using a consumer Canon HV20 camera. My daughter, who was on pain meds and kind of drowsy, held up a box light we purchased from Ikea - power fed by a generator 20 feet away. We got the actors in place and Mike looked through the camera. Like a kid on Christmas morning he motioned me over: "Look at this!" The shot was beautiful. It was magical. It conveyed everything I could have ever wanted in the scene. Could I have got that shot myself? I highly doubt it.
Still...what makes Jacqueline Frost's book stand out is not only the great information that she provides, but the hundreds of quotes from cinematographers about all the aspects of cinematography. This is THE book that takes you into the mind of the cinematographer and helps you, the director, become better at your craft. Excellent.
Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration OverviewThe essential handbook for directors and aspiring filmmakers who want to get the best visuals for their films while establishing a collaborative relationship with their cinematographer. This is the only book that focuses exclusively on the relationship between the director and cinematographer.

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