Reddit reviews The Filmmaker's Handbook, 2013 Edition
We found 14 Reddit comments about The Filmmaker's Handbook, 2013 Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The Filmmaker s Handbook A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age
http://www.amazon.com/The-Filmmakers-Handbook-Comprehensive-Digital/dp/0452297281
Filmmakers handbook. I read this after film school. I could have saved myself a years with of school if I just read this and invested the film school money into making films..
Has pretty much everything
the filmmakers handbook
This might help.
Well, I can't tell you that these are essential reads by any means since I wouldn't consider myself well-versed in film literature, but here are some books that I really enjoyed:
Stanley Kubrick: Interviews - this is part of a whole series of books of compiled interviews of well-known directors, including David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, etc.
Myth & the Movies - deconstructs the classic "hero's journey" storytelling trope and how it's commonly used as the structure for screenplays.
Good Scripts, Bad Scripts - breaks down traditional storytelling rules and evaluates movies which have followed the rules and broken them, whether for better or worse.
The Filmmaker's Handbook - a comprehensive breakdown of the technical areas of film and video production, from how film cameras work, to digital video editing, to distribution. Basically a textbook, this is considered by some to the the "bible" of film and video production.
https://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054RVNTQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
Both of those will do you a world of good for learning a lot of the basics and ways to look at things. The Filmmaker's Handbook that someone else mentions is also great.
Estudei cinema em 2010, na época um dos livros indicados no curso era o Power Filmmaking Kit, o livro é um overview de toda produção cinematográfica, eu recomendo. Um mais recente que segue a mesma linha, e mais bem avaliado na amazon é o The Filmmaker's Handbook, porém esse eu não li.
Sobre roteiro, um dos mais indicados é o Story do Robert Mackee, o cara tem cacife em Hollywood, tem uma cena no Adaptation, onde o personagem do Nicolas Cage está com writer's block e vai numa palestra do Robert Mackee pra tentar resolver o problema, é um dos meus filmes favoritos, recomendo tanto quanto o livro. Tem também os livros do Sid Field, que também são bem influentes quanto a roteiros.
Sobre edição, In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing, do Walter Murch.
Sobre atuação e direção, da uma lida sobre o Stanislavski, que desenvolveu o Método(já ouviu falar em atores metódicos? foi daqui que saiu), Stella Adler que estudou com o Stanislavski e escreu sobre atuação/direção também.
Watch FilmmakerIQ, DSLRguide, D4Darious, Basic Filmmaker, Film Riot, Every Frame a Painting, LightsFilmSchool, nofilmschool and etc. similar channels that you discover on your own
Watch a fuckton of movies.
Make your own projects--write, shoot, direct, light, etc. just create stuff and learn about what specific parts of the process intrigue you the most, and focus on those.
Read this book and also this book.
Get on set, that's how you'll gain most of your experience. Start as a PA in the production department and you can work your way up from there to another department. Get on as many sets as you can in the beginning, like indie shorts and web series and student films, and make friends with the people you meet. BE A NICE PERSON AND STAY IN TOUCH WITH PEOPLE.
Be open to all the possibilities and don't assume you know what all the jobs are and what they involve, because you don't. You never know what you'll end up being interested in--as an aspiring writer/director I really wanted to learn cinematography (I dropped out of school) by working in camera department and tried to transition to being a 2nd AC or camera PA from just a regular PA on a student thesis so I could learn the ins and outs of how cameras work, however I ended up being assigned to G&E (grip and electric) which I wasn't thrilled about. However I ended really enjoying it and a year later it's still what I do.
You'll go through bouts of discouragement and experience lots of ups and downs, and it'll be easy to lose hope quickly, but the only way you'll know for sure that you'll fail is if you give up, so don't ever give up if this is really what you want to do.
Hooboy. If you pull this off make sure you write a screenplay about it.
Okay, so we'd all be here for weeks trying to teach you everything you need to know. Google tutorials on your 5D, on your lenses, on the GoPros, whatever. You need to know those the most first. If you're shooting the "making of" of the commercial, you're probably not going to be using your own lights except for when you're shooting interviews, so look up lighting techniques on lighting interviews.
Read this book. It's massive. It's a text book, but it's a great book to learn from. You aren't going to be able to read the book in a week, so focus on the chapters about cameras and lenses and such. Read the rest before you accept any other jobs.
Honestly, man, my conservative mind is saying to see if it isn't too late to turn the job down. Just say something comes up and you won't be able to make it. If you screw this up, then it may be a bigger humiliation than just backing out.
My liberal mind says get used to coffee and don't sleep until this shoot is done. I'm still in amateur status myself, so I get the whole you gotta start somewhere thing. Learn everything you can through google and that book if you can swing 1 day shipping and just keep it BASIC. Don't try anything fancy or shit.
Good luck.
Hey man. I definitely got heated. Might have something to do with sleep deprivation and the marathon of HIMYM I'm currently on.
Regardless, excuses aside. Sorry man, shouldn't have been that harsh.
I would LOVE to go into detail about every single one of your shots and what I would've done and what I thought needed work. But to be honest. It's all subjective. It's an art. You might like something that I hate.
THAT BEING SAID, there are some basics you should really avoid. And there are are things you need to learn in order to accurately pull that idea out of your head and successfully get it into film.
Instead of yelling at you. I'm gonna gather up some resources for you that I really hope you take the time to learn from.
Now I stated that
"You wasted 2:45 seconds. A lot of short films can make a grown man weep in that time"
I would just like to show you an example of what 2:42 seconds can do.
Here's the list:
QUICK VIDEOZ UP IN DIS BITCH:
Hands on lecture about Cinematography
Get out of AUTO mode! Some quick tips on shooting with a DSLR. I assume you're using a DSLR because that's what I started with. Regardless of camera this is great advice to start with
Wise words from my man Kevin Smith on independent filmmaking
Intro lecture on pre-production, script writing, and filmmaking in general
More DSLR tips and tricks
READING MATERIALS YO, READ DIS SHIT:
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Filmmakers-Eye-Cinematic-Composition/dp/0240812174
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Filmmakers-Handbook-Comprehensive-Digital/dp/0452297281
Now I understand if you can't afford to buy the books. When I was in highschool I was lucky enough to be able to beg my friends to borrow their camcorders in order to film my shorts. It's how I got started.
That being said I don't want to break rule #2 of this subreddit that I fucking love.
THAT BEING SAID.
LET'S JUST SAY.... THAT A CERTAIN BEARDED PIRATE.... IS CHILLING AT A CERTAIN BAY... AND IF YOU JUST GO TO HIM AND SAY THE WORDS "The Filmmaker" I'M SURE HE COULD HOOK A BROTHA UP WITH SOME OF DEM KNOWLEDGE PAPERS YA DIG?
Anyways brother/sister. I'm sorry about being harsh on your film. I wish you the best of luck in the future. All the stuff I've thrown your way you don't have to go through it all in one sitting. Just delve into some of them on your freetime every now and then.
Peace bitch. (I mean bitch in the nicestest most Aaron Paul way possible)
The Filmmaker's Handbook is a great read that covers all aspects of film making
Cinematography: Theory and Practice We had to read this book in film school. I can honestly say I learned more from this than I did any of my teachers lectures.
Rebel Without a Crew Is more inspirational and entertaining that informative, but it's worth a read. Written by Robert Rodriguez during the making of his first uber-low-budget feature film.
Glad I could help!
I'm glad you asked about books. Advice from the internet (including mine :)) has its limits. Here is what I recommend [Referral Links]:
Again, hope this is helpful and best of luck!
Bill
What area do you want to focus on? Film theory or production? There are a lot of good books on both, and it my opinion that you should brush up on both. But, you don't necessarily need books on either as there are plenty of on-line resources on both. But here are some good books for beginning film making.
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Movies-Introduction-Film-4th/dp/0393913023/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372746403&sr=1-1&keywords=looking+at+movies+4th+edition
You can find better prices by getting earlier editions of the book. These are all books that I've had in film school and you can learn a lot from them.
http://www.amazon.com/Film-Art-Introduction-David-Bordwell/dp/0078007879/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372746555&sr=1-1&keywords=film+art+an+introduction
http://www.amazon.com/Filmmakers-Handbook-Comprehensive-Guide-Digital/dp/0452297281/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372746624&sr=1-1&keywords=the+filmmakers+handbook
But check out http://vimeo.com/videoschool
I hope this helps.
I haven't gotten to the bit on editing yet but as a general tool for all around filmmaking, I've found this book to be amazing so far. Really well written and extremely detailed.
Not free, but worth it - I would start with The Filmmaker's Handbook (https://www.amazon.com/Filmmakers-Handbook-2013-Steven-Ascher/dp/0452297281).
It has detailed and extensive knowledge on almost every aspect of independent and industry filmmaking. Excellent book if you're trying to get a grasp on filmmaking as a practice. It was a good starting point for me.
The question is too monolithic to get you any deep useful information. It's like asking "I don't know how to drive, but do any of you have any tips on how to win the Indy 500?"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Filmmakers-Handbook-Comprehensive-Digital/dp/0452297281 is pretty much the defacto reference guide. Reading it cover to cover will allow you to gain a very shallow baseline knowledge quickly.
There are also producers guides (specific titles escape me at the moment, but I'm sure other redditors will pick up the slack) that will have release forms, information on setting up an LLC, dealing with distribution, general marketing, film festivals, and so on.