Reading Materials

Here's an interesting collection of books about filmmaking. My suggestion is go through them and if you find anything you particular enjoy go and buy it. Nothing can compare to a real book.

A Critical Cinema 5 - Interviews With Independent Filmmakers
MacDonald engages filmmakers in detailed discussions of their films and of the personal experiences and political and theoretical currents that have shaped their work. The interviews are arranged to express the remarkable diversity of modern independent cinema and the interactive community of filmmakers that has dedicated itself to producing forms of cinema that critique conventional media.

Alanis Obomsawin - The Vision of a Native Filmmaker
In more than twenty powerful films, Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has waged a brilliant battle against the ignorance and stereotypes that Native Americans have long endured in cinema and television. In this book, the first devoted to any Native filmmaker, Obomsawin receives her due as the central figure in the development of indigenous media in North America.

Andrey Tarkovsky - Sculpting in Time (2nd edition, 1987)
Tarkovsky elaborates in much detail on his theory of filmmaking, including editing, music, film acting, and what he calls "rhythm," which he considers the dominant factor.

Art in the Cinematic Imagination
An illuminating exploration of the relationship between art and cinema, from Hitchcock to Scorsese.

Dreams and Dead Ends The American Gangster Film
The second edition of this classic study provides a reintroduction to some of the major films and theoretical considerations of film noir and gangster films in twentieth-century America. Ranging from Little Caesar (1930) to Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Shadoian guides the reader through twenty classic movies of the genre. His approach is to use brief introductions to introduce distinct eras of the gangster films in each of seven chapters. Moving chronologically, he offers plot synopses and close readings of such definitive examples as Bonnie and Clyde, The Public Enemy, D.O.A. and The Godfather, each accompanied by photographs and author's critiques. Compenendia of facts on each film are also provided. This updated version looks a newer films as well as how the genre has moved into the new century. Appendices look at the movie Criss Cross as an epitome of the genre while others offer different lists of gangster films, including the author's top fourteen alltime, fifty post-Godfather films worth seeing, and fifty vintage films.

DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish
Written for the beginner, Practical DV Filmmaking guides you thorough the process of making a film with low-cost digital equipment: from development through to production, post-production and distribution. While the technical tools you need are fully explained, the book concentrates on filmmaking principles throughout, illustrating how these tools can be used to achieve stylistic approaches for innovative filmmaking.

Film Directing Fundamentals- See Your Film Before Shooting Second Edition
Unique among directing books, Film Directing Fundamentals provides a clear-cut methodology for translating a script to the screen. Using the script as a blueprint, Proferes leads the reader through specific techniques to analyze and translate its components into a visual story. A sample screenplay is included that explicates the techniques. The book assumes no knowledge and thus introduces basic concepts and terminology.

Film Production Management
Film Production Management details the steps involved in bringing a screenplay to the screen: organizing, staffing, budgeting, scheduling, securing locations, shooting and postproduction. In addition to offering practical, hands-on help in dealing with each of these steps, this book also covers such issues as contracts, unions, working permits, and insurance. Sample forms used by the production manager are also included. Although it is not about film financing, it includes information on how to work within smaller budgets, enhancing its appeal to independent film makers. This book is primarily for students and film professionals seeking a career change within the film industry, or who find themselves performing some of the tasks outlined within these pages.

Film Production Theory - I više nego toplo preporučujem!
Film Production Theory is an exciting and important book. Most importantly, the book outlines what is at stake aesthetically and philosophically in what appear to be merely technical considerations that enter into the making of film. Unlike many other works that focus upon the finished product, or, upon the personalities behind the product, Geuen's book focuses upon the techniques of cinema, with an eye to clarify what are the assumptions about the nature of cinema that are implicit in those techniques. I consider the book the most important book on film I have read in a very long time, and can't recommend it highly enough.

Film Structure and the Emotion System
Films evoke broad moods and cue particular emotions that can be broadly shared as well as individually experienced. Although the experience of emotion is central to the viewing of movies, film studies have neglected to focus attention on the emotions, relying instead on vague psychoanalytic concepts of desire. Film Structure and the Emotion System synthesizes research on emotion in cognitive psychology and neurology in an effort to provide a more nuanced understanding of how film evokes emotion.

Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition

If Its Purple Someones Gonna Die - The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling
Guided by her twenty-five years of research on the effects of color on behavior, Bellantoni has grouped more than 60 films under the spheres of influence of six major colors, each of which triggers very specific emotional states.

John Costello-Writing a Screenplay
Exploding the myth that a screenplay is the easiest literary form to master, this book navigates a relatively painless path through the screenwriting labyrinth and offers an easy-to-digest, step-by-step guide to writing a script from inception to completion.

Muska And Lipman Publishing: 30 Dollar Film School
Covers the entire spectrum of independent filmmaking, with good chapters on editing and advanced editing techniques. The same advice should also help you make better home videos. The book has tons of illustrations to show you how to do things right.

Myth Mind and the Screen - Understanding the Heroes of Our Times
A systematic attempt to apply Jungian theory to the analysis of films (including 2001:ASpace Odyssey, The Silence of the Lambs and The Piano) as well as a variety of cultural icons and products such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and televised sport. Through these and other examples, John Izod shows how Jungian theory can bring new tools to film and media studies and new ways of understanding screen images and narratives.

Overhearing Film Dialogue
Sarah Kozloff shows why dialogue has been neglected in the analysis of narrative film and uncovers the essential contributions dialogue makes to a film's development and impact. She uses narrative theory and drama theory to analyze the functions that dialogue typically serves in a film.

Matchmoving: The Invisible Art of Camera Tracking
Master the Art and Science of Matchmoving. Written by a matchmoving expert, this book is much more than a technical primer. It helps you think like a pro so that you can find the right solution for your matchmoves, no matter how tricky. You'll also find coverage of tasks that commonly go hand-in-hand with matchmoving, along with advice on the contributions you can make on the set of a infobar-action shoot. Whether you're a student or professional, Matchmoving: The Invisible Art of Camera Tracking gives you the knowledge and perspective you need to quickly and successfully solve every matchmove.

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing
Computer-generated visual effects are now used extensively in feature films, commercials, music videos, and multimedia. The backbone of this process, the final and most important step, is known as digital compositing. The Art and Science of Digital Compositing is a comprehensive reference that provides a complete overview of the technical and the artistic nature of this process. This book covers a wide range of topics from basic image creation, representation, and manipulation, to a look at the visual cues that are necessary to create a believable composite. Designed as both an introduction to the field as well as a valuable technical reference, this book should be of interest to both novices and professionals alike. Written by a working professional in the visual effects industry, the book provides over 250 different images and illustrations (including a 40-page color insert) as well as a complete glossary of compositing and visual-effects terminology. Also included are in-depth case studies from well-known films such as Speed, Independence Day, and Titanic.

The Photographic Eye - Learning to See with a Camera
Learn how to take apart each element of a successful photograph, analyze it, master it, and then put it all back together.

Understanding Cinema A Psychological Theory of Moving Imagery (2005)
Per Persson asserts that spectators interpret, feel or make use of knowledge, assumptions, expectations and prejudices when viewing film. Persson explains how close-ups, editing conventions, character psychology and other cinematic techniques work, and how and why they affect the spectator. Utilizing examples from early and contemporary cinema, the book also analyzes the design of cinema conventions and their stylistic transformations through the evolution of film.

Vincent LoBrutto, The Filmmaker's Guide to Production Design
In this outstanding book on production design, LoBrutto, an independent filmmaker and freelance film editor, goes to great lengths to cover the essentials-storyboarding, set decoration, budgeting, architecture, screenwriting, props, and wardrobe. He begins with an explanation of and introduction to design before dedicating a chapter to each particular facet of production, including one on genres with useful research techniques.

Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film
Drawing on authoritative, international contributors, information on film is extensively documented in this set, which is intended as a film-studies staple. The alphabetically arranged volumes are titled as follows: "Academy Awards—Crime Films"; "Criticism—Ideology"; "Independent Film—Road Movies"; and "Romantic Comedy—Yugoslavia." Subtopics include countries, history, philosophies, and more, with information on individual movies often spread over several entries. Articles range from as few as 5 pages ("Slapstick comedy") to 17 pages ("Italy"). Contemporary topics, such as "Gay, lesbian cinema," are included along with more-expected entries on "Teen films" and "Cinematography." See-also references guide readers to one or more related topics or subtopics, while further-reading suggestions provided after every entry list academic and popular articles and books. The more than 16,000 index entries, with major topics in bold type, make access straightforward. The text is highlighted with photographs varying in size, color, and clarity, along with brief biographies on related figures.
Vol.1- Academy Awards- Crime Films
Vol.2- Criticism-Ideology
Vol.3- Independent Film- Road_Movies
Vol.4- Romantic Comedy- Yugoslavia

Writing, Directing and Producing Documentary Films and Videos
Rosenthal tackles the day-to-day problems from initial concept through distribution, emphasizing the research and writing approach. He offers examples of interviewing, narration writing, and the complexities of editing. The text explains how to write, direct and produce the documentary, whether film or video.

Writing the Short Film, Third Edition
The short film is a unique narrative art form that, while lending itself to experimentation, requires tremendous discipline in following traditional filmic considerations. This book takes the student and novice screenwriter through the storytelling process- from conception, to visualization, to dramatization, to characterization and dialogue- and teaches them how to create a dramatic narrative that is at once short (approximately half an hour in length) and complete.