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Books and Movies for Newbies


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Guest Ken Maskrey

The one video that is a MUST SEE for all new filmmakers is Into Oblivion with Steve Buscemi..not a tutorial by any means, but you'll see more of how a real low budget set works in that movie than anywhere else.

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The one video that is a MUST SEE for all new filmmakers is Into Oblivion with Steve Buscemi..not a tutorial by any means, but you'll see more of how a real low budget set works in that movie than anywhere else.

It's actually called Living In Oblivion.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...
New users on this forum often ask for book recommendations, and suggestions of movies to watch specifically for camera technique.

 

Cinematography.com has compile a list of books at http://cinematography.com/shop/books.asp

There are 45 books in that list. Maybe someone could volunteer to pare that down to a few (less than 10) of the best books?

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For me for beginners I would suggest - in the following order from simple to more complicated:

 

Reflections: Twenty-One Cinematographers At Work (Paperback)

by Benjamin Bergery

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Twenty-O...1353&sr=1-1

 

Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography (with InfoTrac ) (Paperback)

by Dave Viera

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Film-Digita...1562&sr=1-1

 

 

Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz

 

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Lighting-Kris-M...1262&sr=8-1

 

Cinematography (Screencraft) (Paperback)

by Peter Ettegui

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Film-Digita...1562&sr=1-1

 

New Cinematographers by Alex Ballinger

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...lex%20Ballinger

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  • 4 months later...

I'd have to recommend:

"Set Lighting Technician's Handbook" by Harry C. Box

"American Cinematographer Manual" by Stephen H. Burum

"Film Lighting" by Blain Brown

There are three books by Paul Wheeler that are also very good. There's one for film, digital, and HD... they're very good.

"Reflections" by Benjamin Bergery and "Film Lighting" by Kris Malkiewicz are very good at covering a variety of things.

In my opinion, one of my favorites is "If It's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die" by Patti Bellantoni... I think it highlights the collaboration between the Director, Cinematographer and Production Designer in a way that isn't covered very often. More than that, it covers how colors in visual storytelling enhance and effect the story.

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  • 2 months later...

Here's three fantastic books, all British, all out-of-print, all expensive, but worth the search:

 

Photographic Theory for the Motion Picture Cameraman

Practical Motion Picture Photography

both by Russell Campbell, and

 

Principles of Cinematography, by Leslie Wheeler.

 

The first Campbell book is basically an expanded version of the Wheeler, almost chapter by chapter.

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Guest Glen Alexander

What about anything by Roger Corman? Robert Lippert? Bert I. Gordon? Sandy Frank? ha ha ha

 

yes I still watch old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000...

 

I"d like to read more about the practical and personal antecdotes rather than some stale old book

 

the the 'one-shot' directors,

 

the one who went ballistic with lilly tomlin

 

the director whose main style was slow zooming, ha ha

 

these are classic, think david mullen posted about these.

 

example

what is Lucas really like on a set?

Coppla "?

insert name here " ?

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  • 5 months later...
lol, sooooo many books to choose from! :blink: I am a complete beginner, so could someone please give me one or two books to choose from. That would be greatly appreciated.

 

JJ

 

 

What do you want to know? :)

 

 

Of course, I'll recommend to anyone who is just getting a start in this business to begin by reading What I Really Want to Do: On Set in Hollywood. I've lost count of the number of established professionals who tell me that they wish this book had been available before they got into the business. Really, if you want to be in the industry, there is SO much more to know than the technical nuts & bolts (T-stops, lenses, etc.)

 

What I Really Want to Do puts the job you want into context so that when you do read everything else (the nuts & bolts books), then it makes a whole lot more sense. For a list of some of the excellent nuts & bolts books as well as other resources available (websites, movies), please visit www.whatireallywanttodo.com and click on the Additional Resources link at that top.

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lol, sooooo many books to choose from! :blink: I am a complete beginner, so could someone please give me one or two books to choose from. That would be greatly appreciated.

 

JJ

For a complete beginner, "The Five C's of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli. And also Blain Brown's "Cinematography: Theory and Practice : Imagemaking for Cinematographers, Directors & Videographers"

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...mmm... Hi,

 

I'm looking for a quite complete book that doesn't leave me with the... 'this is quite basic' feeling. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I've found most of the books are quite basic...

 

Would you say the ASC Manual (both volumes) is worthy? I've seen it named a couple of times and sounds like a good one. And could someone (if you've read it) summarize a bit what's in each volume?

 

Thanks a lot,

Rut

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There is a difference between a technical manual / reference guide and a textbook -- the second is meant to be read as a book, the first is meant to use for reference, though the ASC Manual does mix in articles with the charts and whatnot.

 

Certainly if you are a shooter, a reference guide like the ASC Manual is worth owning. When I was a film student, I picked up a used version from 1980 that was quite fun to flip through.

 

I find that "intermediate" level textbooks on cinematography tend to go beyond technical issues (at that point, better covered in technical manuals) and concentrate on real-world experiences of professionals. They tend to be interview books. Truth is that once you get beyond the basics of photography, most of the challenges of cinematography tend to be artistic and logistical more than technical.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Principles of Cinematography (Leslie J. Wheeler) is an interesting read, though a bit punishing for total beginners and very, very technical.

 

His son, Paul Wheeler BSC, has written three books on Cinematography which IMHO are a bit more user-friendly - Practical Cinematography (great starting point and mainly about 16mm or 35mm film), Digital Cinematography (mostly Digibeta) and High Definition Cinematography (take a guess).

 

That said, to paraphrase someone famous - if you're looking for rules in art, there's the laws of physics and that's about it. Really, get a camera and some lights and see what works.

 

However, reading definitely helps to give you an idea of what to aim for and I'll also vote for Blain Brown's "Cinematography" as an encyclopedia of sorts.

 

Something I don't think anyone has mentioned in this thread is the American Cinematographer magazine - published monthly and available from the ASC site, it details the work of cinematographers past and present. A lot of it is big films, but it is a very interesting read nonetheless.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I've just ordered the "Cinematographer Style" DVD and found it very entertaining. Of course it includes only interviews and no footage that explains what they are talking about. But I think it's a helpful source for a cinematography - beginner who needs a good starting point to get into it.

 

I've also started reading through "Masters of Light" that includes 15 interviews with some of the greatest cinematographers of all times (including Hall, Storraro, Willis, Williams, Zsigmond etc.).

 

Both sources are in my opinion not useful to carry around on a filmset while shooting a movie, they are no instruction manuals or "how to shoot a movie?" - guidances but you get a very close look into the world of cinematography and its theoretical and technical aspects

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  • 3 weeks later...
...mmm... Hi,

 

I'm looking for a quite complete book that doesn't leave me with the... 'this is quite basic' feeling. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I've found most of the books are quite basic...

 

Would you say the ASC Manual (both volumes) is worthy? I've seen it named a couple of times and sounds like a good one. And could someone (if you've read it) summarize a bit what's in each volume?

 

Thanks a lot,

Rut

 

Hi

 

What about "Hands-on Manual for Cinematographers" by David Samuelson? How does it compare to the ASC Manual? Ultimately, im looking for a book that'll help me learn how to light and film a sequence correctly. For example, how to use a light metre to light a scene or how to wokr out correct focal lengths to use etc.

 

Tom

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What about anything by Roger Corman? Robert Lippert? Bert I. Gordon? Sandy Frank? ha ha ha

 

yes I still watch old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000...

 

I was going to say... Roger Corman isn't exactly who'd I'd look to for GREAT cinematography. But The Gunslinger was one of his better ones.

 

I've always enjoyed THX-1138

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