books about films?

Started by (kelvin), April 24, 2003, 08:37:24 AM

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(kelvin)

April 24, 2003, 08:37:24 AM
Can anyone recommend really good books about films and cinema? (i.e. film theory, the technical aspects, editing, cinematography, screenwriting, great directors etc.)

Thanks a lot.

Ghostboy

#1
April 24, 2003, 08:53:54 AM
The Film Sense (by Sergei Eisenstein).

On Directing Film (David Mamet)

Truffaut/Hitchock (Truffaut)

On the purely technical side, Cinematography and Film Lighting (both by Kris Malkiewicz (sp?) ).

(kelvin)

#2
April 24, 2003, 09:13:56 AM
The Hitchcock-interview by Truffaut is really great.
I haven't read the one by Eisenstein...sounds interesting. I think Tarkovsky has also written something ("The Sealed Time" or so?) . Does anyone know Gilles Deleuze's books about film philosophy?

©brad

#3
April 24, 2003, 09:20:52 AM
Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting by Robert McKee (yeah its the guy in Adaptation) is the screenwriting bible, so says my professor.

MacGuffin

#4
April 24, 2003, 09:27:26 AM
The faber & faber series of directors: Scorsese On Scorsese, Hitchcock On Hitchcock, Lynch On Lynch, etc.

Cinema Of Loneliness - Robert Philip Kolker

Rebel Without A Crew - Robert Rodriguez

Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes - John Pierson
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Duck Sauce

#5
April 24, 2003, 10:08:56 AM
I read "Hello! He Lied:True Strories from the Hollywood Trenches"

it is about Lynda Obst (sp?) the woman who produced the fisher king and sleepless in seattle. It was moderatley amusing but not informative or interesting enough to recommend.

rustinglass

#6
May 08, 2003, 03:42:03 AM
I just bought "directing motion pictures" by terence st john marner and I really like it.
"In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don't have experience of the west, they even believe that western shit is pie."
-Emir Kusturica

(kelvin)

#7
May 08, 2003, 12:01:10 PM
I'm about to read "Film directing shot by shot" by Steven D. Katz. Looks rather interesting...

SoNowThen

#8
May 08, 2003, 12:19:11 PM
Quote from: cbrad4dStory: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting by Robert McKee (yeah its the guy in Adaptation) is the screenwriting bible, so says my professor.

It's great. I took his seminar. A must for any screenwriter


As to the Katz book, I don't really like it. It made me all self conscious about the line, proper set-ups, etc. I feel it's outdated. It took me a year to forget it and just shoot my own way.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

RegularKarate

#9
May 08, 2003, 12:57:13 PM
Quote from: chriskelvinI'm about to read "Film directing shot by shot" by Steven D. Katz. Looks rather interesting...

I have this book... it was our textbook in our Storyboarding class.

More of a guide to the visual aspect of direction (composition)... pretty good book... still haven't read it cover to cover yet.

godardian

#10
May 08, 2003, 02:02:42 PM
If "books about film" isn't exclusive to just books about filmmaking, then these are the books about film that I've found most engaging, informative, and inspiring:

-For Keeps by Pauline Kael

-The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris

-The Devil's Candy by Julie Salomon

-Making Movies by Sidney Lumet

-Shoot to Kill by Christine Vachon

-Notes on Cinematography by Robert Bresson

-The sections on Godard, Persona, and "Theatre and Film" in Styles of Radical Will by Susan Sontag, as well as all her film essays (from Robert Bresson to sci-fi disaster movies) in Against Interpretation.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

SHAFTR

#11
May 08, 2003, 03:46:20 PM
I have an autographed copy of Roger Ebert's Book of Film
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

Derek237

#12
May 08, 2003, 04:03:16 PM
"Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," I forget the author, but I know that they just turned the book into a documentary that's supposed to pretty good.

godardian

#13
May 08, 2003, 04:06:10 PM
I second that... Biskind's book is wonderful. I can't wait for the documentary... A Decade Under the Influence, is it??
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

SoNowThen

#14
May 08, 2003, 04:06:12 PM
Peter Biskind


...and it's my fav film book ever. I read it at least once a year.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.
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