William A Chapman Jr Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Has any one here bought "Grammar of the Film Language" if you have what was your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I tghink it's really good but I've never actually read it properly. why not go to a bookshop and flick through it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Bradley Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Its an awesome book, its essentially an in depth guide to blocking and film grammer with diagrams to illustrate the text. I read it about a year ago and now I use it from time to time to check storyboards and shot lists particularly in multiple camera shoots. The diagrams are grossly sexist, seriously all the women in the illustrations are in bikinis or naked! worth a read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steven Beverly Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 The diagrams are grossly sexist, seriously all the women in the illustrations are in bikinis or naked! OK......I'm looking for a downside here? :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Shani Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 i read this book and its good but if you want to learn about the subject you beater buy the "Hollywood camera work" DVD its amazing series teach you the same thing but in 3d animation so you can see the moves and hows it cut great thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent De Paula Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Got this book from Samuel French Bookshop in Sunset Boulevard in L.A. and I highly recommend it. I don't think they have updated it since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinemalone Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 Actually, Film as a language has been refuted as a polemical associative reasoning. Film is not a language because language is made up of arbitrary signs (letters don't have an immediate correspondence to pictures), language has morphemes at its base-filmic images does not, and it is also impossible for a film to be grammatically incorrect. The rule of one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees is merely a suggestion. Films like Stagecoach even ignore this rule without disrupting the audience. This is not to say that film is not LIKE a language. This is just saying that you might end up spending quite a bit of time learning hifalutin (haha) words, like metonymy, synechdoche, trope, and various others to explain how a shot or scene makes meaning. This is all gibberish of course, without the experiential knowledge of the world which you already have. I would highly recommend on the other hand, reading genre convention criticism instead. Or if Camerwork is what you are after, look for a book on camera work, and not "grammar." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted October 29, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted October 29, 2007 "Cinemalone", you need to go to My Controls and change your Display Name to a real first and last name, as per the forum rules listed when you registered. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Newton Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I'm a newbie here myself, but have to say, I have a copy of Grammar of Film Language, and I enjoy it. I wouldn't say it's a major reference tool, but it's useful to kick-start your brain into thinking three-dimensionally when it comes to blocking. I have to make the writer/director switch a lot, so books like that can help get you back into the mindset of blocking versus scripting. Have a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 look for a book on camera work, and not "grammar." ? Have you actually read this book? It isn't at all a book on 'film critique'. It actually is a book on how to use the camera...it has many illustrations and diagramns showing how to block different types of scene. It is quite practical and not 'theoretical' at all. http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Film-Languag...8376&sr=8-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Peline Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 i read this book and its good but if you want to learn about the subject you beater buy the "Hollywood camera work" DVD its amazing series teach you the same thing but in 3d animation so you can see the moves and hows it cut great thing Ram, Did you buy this? Is it worth it? It seems quite expensive but I'd love to get this...if I were a richman... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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