The Film Book

Product Information

A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques. Superior to David Fincher’s 2011 Hollywood remake, this is an unsettling film that executes its distressing motives superbly by paying close attention to Steig Larsson’s alarming book. Some scenes are taken from later books in Larsson’s Millennium Series, but this in no way undermines the excellence of Oplev’s taut thriller. You never want to miss an opportunity to learn from a true master, and that’s exactly what Something Like an Autobiography provides. There have been many conversations about just how close to the mark the many stories that Peter Biskind explores in Easy Rides Raging Bulls are. But one thing is fairly certain: that by the time you get to the end of his gossip-y book, you’ll have a list of films to watch that’s comfortably in double figures (assuming you’ve not seen them before, of course).

Film books | Books | The Guardian Film books | Books | The Guardian

Producing is an all-encompassing term. This is one of my favorite books on the list because it takes you through what a producer actually does on each sized film. It also gives a clear structure of how someone moved up in the ranks to become a creator that works with other creators. Hawks’s superb version of Raymond Chandler’s novel works for many reasons. Yes, the partnership of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall as Philip Marlowe and Vivian Rutledge is inspired, but it’s the manner in which all involved maintain the enigmatic core of Chandler’s book that really delights. Film noir at its finest and one of the best film adaptations ever. And let's be honest: never let it be said that the people in the film industry aren’t a rum bunch. Rather than think of their own films to bring to the silver screen (does anybody still call it that?), they just let authors pen their finely crafted words and stories and then turn those into motion pictures (does anybody still call it that?). Like we said, a rum bunch.Scorsese has already said that he doesn't care about box office numbers since they are not a good way to measure art, but the box office is all that studios in Hollywood seem to care about. Spielberg’s 1974 Jaws shoot was one of the most notoriously difficult productions up to that time, which is why this first person account by Carl Gottlieb (who co-wrote the screenplay, and co-starred as Mayor Vaughn’s right-hand man) is so valuable. It’s also fast and funny — Gottlieb’s roots were in improv comedy — and captures the tribulations and irritations of location shooting as few other volumes have. First piece of advice: get the audiobook. Blessed reads it himself. Second piece of advice: head to the chapters on Flash Gordon, and the making of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Utter gold. In an op-ed essay in The New York Times, Scorsese writes that cinema is about “revelation, aesthetic, characters—the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures, the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves.” That is all absent in Marvel movies, he wrote, adding that while “many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures,” ultimately “what’s not there is revelation, mystery, or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.” In what remains his most uncharacteristic film to date – yes, even more so than Hugo – Martin Scorsese shines an uncomfortable light upon the romantic and societal practices of upper class life in New York in the 1870s. Edith Wharton’s classic novel is handled with subtlety and nuance from Scorsese and the leads – Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer – are uniformly entrancing.

Film Book, New Edition: A Complete Guide to the World of The Film Book, New Edition: A Complete Guide to the World of

What makes the best book-to-film adaptations? Well, for us it's not about loyalty to the source material, although that helps. It's not about keeping every single detail, nor is it about being faithful to the characters. What the greatest book adaptations do is elevate the prose, transposing it to a different medium but keeping the heart of the source material. Again, I'm not the best with this stuff, so I love reading and getting better. This book has the nuts and bolts of what goes into creating the looks of your favorite films but also stories of how challenges were overcome on set. It's a problem solver's dream. Solid gold satirist Armando Iannucci took a slightly unconventional approach to his 2019 adaptation of David Copperfield. Colourblind casting sees Dev Patel lead, an inspired choice. There’s a lot of joy in this film version too, even as several of the book’s characters fall into destitution. Breezy, bright and colourful, The Personal History of David Copperfield is worth streaming Technically, this is only loosely based on the beloved children's Peter Rabbitseries, and it's a direct sequel to the first Peter Rabbit(2018). But, if you love bunnies and cute antics and Rose Byrne as Beatrix Potter, give the film a watch when it's released in June. And if you have kids, definitelyget the books.

While I tried to avoid screenplay books here, I did want to mention this masterful autobiography. Goldman is one of our greatest storytellers and he weaves an excellent tale detailing how it all happens. He doesn't shelter you from the ups and downs. The Reel Truth: Everything You Didn’t Know You Need to Know About Making an Independent Film by Reed Martin Mark Kermode has done a trilogy of books thus far that are his broader takes on cinema (as opposed to, for his instance, his excellent BFI tome on Silent Running). I’ve enjoyed the other two – Hatchet Job and The Good, The Bad & The Multiplex– a lot. But It’s Only A Movie just about edges them for me. Editors are often the unsung heroes of the film. Walter Murch is one of the greatest editors of all time, so it's nice to hear Hollywood from his point of view. He details every step he's taken plus strategies he uses to control the edit. It's helped me learn to speak with editors and to trust them. I get caught so much in the writer's chair that I forget there's a world outside of screenplays. If you're new to Hollywood or aspiring to visit and work here, this book gives you all the details on the how and why of every job in town. It walks you through the titles and why they matter.

Books on Filmmaking for 2022 - No Film School Read the 20 Best Books on Filmmaking for 2022 - No Film School

Published: 1 Oct 2023 In brief: Withnail and I: From Cult to Classic; Light Over Liskeard; Hellish Nell – review This tete a tete has two of the greatest directors of all time chatting openly about their movies, style, substance, actors, and just the process. It's a revealing look at the master of suspense and the way his mind works.

Read the 20 Best Books on Filmmaking for 2022

There are so many books on screenwriting out there and so few of them actually matter. If you want to read about the industry and the way to craft stories, you want to read the best advice out there. You can't make a movie or short without money. So where does it come from? This book takes you through the best methods when it comes to gathering the cash you need. I love the practical ways it dictates and the ways it offers to help you find grants to maximize your income. The book by Matthew Logelin, titled Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love, tells the story of losing his wife to a pulmonary embolism...27 hours after she gave birth to their daughter. So both the book and the movie, with Kevin Hart in the lead role, promise to be absolute tearjerkers. Kurosawa gives the reader insight into what it means to be a director. What it means to live that life beyond the business or the craft. How it changes you as a human being.