*As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Over my journey as an independent film maker I have stumbled across a range of different books. All unique, all visually compelling to read. Some of which have played an important role in boosting my knowledge as a film maker. Overall it’s good to be able to break up your film making books into categories but overall hopefully these books help you on your road as a film maker to help you create great content, because ultimately that’s what this is all about.
So here goes:
5 Great Film making books chosen by Film Allegiance
Getting hold of engaging useful content is what makes it all worthwhile.
1. Save the Cat
by Blake Snyder
Fantastic little book. Great tips on screen writing from start to finish. The author explains in detail howt to go from your first draft to screen. it idealises the standard American script writing style used in Hollywood and models that style of screenwriting as the model that works. Which arguably is true in terms of dollar sense. Practically speaking it makes a lot of sense too.
This book gives you a road map or blue print to follow so to speak. Simple, easy read that is good to learn the fundamentals of. It also has a sequel follow up to saving the cat which I would also recommend. Blake Snyder goes into detail in marketing your script in an often humorous tone with an insightful way of portraying the very best of hero characters for your upcoming script. This book covers. A very insightful look into the world of screenplays, genre and sellable creative works.
2. The Winston Effect – The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio
by Jody Duncan
If you are a really visual creature like myself you will absolutely love the art work in this book. From Science Fiction to fantasy this book has it all.
This book really delves into movie creating magic. It goes into minute detail of the mechanics and happenings of the behind the scenes of the making of spectacular pieces of film making particularly from the 80’s and 90’s movies.
The Winston effects passes through time of all the happenings of movie classics like the original Jurassic Park 1993, The Terminator, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and even animated Small Soldiers
From Robots to dragons you can see how carefully constructed creatures and other alien like creatures are crafted and put together to make compelling and realistic props and set design material. A great read for art department fans. Character building taken to a whole new level.
3. Guillermo Del Toro – Cabinet of Curiosities
by Guillermo del Toro and Marc Scott Zicree
Another visual phenomena like you have never seen before. This book very much feels like a vault into the fantastical world of a film making great Guillermo Del Toro. Creator of movies like Hell boy through to Pans Labyrinth. This book captures all the moments of share imagination into the wonderful otherworld inside this directors mind.
It goes into obsessions as a child the processes this director goes through when coming up with compelling ideas to put on the big screen. Some of the graphics in this book are pretty out there but in a good way creating a sense of wonder and awe for its reader.
You can quite clearly see a path being carved out from movie to movie and the development of the likes of vampire killer classic Blade to the dark worlds of fantasy horror fairy tales with an often religious undertone. A must read for any artist.
4. The Five C’s of Cinematography – Motion Picture filming Techniques
by Joseph V. Mascelli
This book quite frankly is awesome. If you are cinematographer and haven’t seen or read this book you are missing out.. big time. This book explains in detail the must knows for cinematography from correctly framing your shot to styles of filming and what you aim to achieve from your shots.
Not only does it describe in thorough detail the techniques for your shoot. It actually shows you the set-ups and how you can apply them to your latest films. More importantly if you are an editor it helps you prepare cinematography set-ups for postproduction and this is key. Ask any editor and they will tell you its about coverage and not getting the best shot its about getting the best workable shot that drives story. Sometimes the most visually appealing shot is the one least thought of that drives character movement, plot development and ultimately movie experience for the viewer. This book nails the must know of capturing the vision from script to the screen.
5. The Everything Filmmaking Book
by Barb Karg, Rick Sutherland, & Jim Van
If one of my film making books look liked the dog ate it, this is the one.
This book has been my go to directory for different elements of film making in short, concise and to the point beats. It breaks down every aspect into a readable format that every new comer to the creative film making world can relate to. Easy to understand and easy to work through formatting makes great reading. The sections contain different genres, the history behind them, what each department does but more importantly a way that new film makers can work each step of the film making process in chronological order .
although this book was published some time ago and the industry has somewhat evolved a lot since release the golden nuggets gained from reading this book will still leave you coming back to reference this book time and time again.
