Spielberg makes his audience feel something, whether he’s shooting a kids’ adventure, a dramatic chase, or the darkest war scene. The auteur always employs a core set of techniques that make each shot crystal clear and evoke the most intense emotions from the audience. This book shows you how. From tension to tearjerker, these moves will make your scenes memorable enough to be talked about for years to come. Spielberg directs films that cover everything from childhood dreams to the horrors of war. He always hones in on the emotional center of a scene. This book unravels the secrets of his core techniques, and shows how you can use the same simple camera moves and setups to make your films full of wonder, thrills, and emotion.
Want your film to sizzle with danger? Then learn from the master of tension and action. Using Tar-antino’s secret tricks for creating conflict, keeping dialogue taut, and letting all hell break loose, you will enhance your own shooting style. Whatever your budget, get the action pumping with the camera setups and moves revealed in this dynamic book. Quentin Tarantino is a master of tension, suspense, shocking moments, dazzling dialogue, and off-beat humor. This book shows you why the best moments in his films work so well, and how you can use these ideas to enhance your own filmic style and stun your audience.
Every year, thousands of actors struggle to navigate today’s film and TV business while also wanting to grow as performers, as artists. These actors tend to be risk-takers, mold-breakers, and are interested in defining who they are. They are looking for advice and guidance about art and about commerce. The Authentic Actor is for them. The actor’s path today begins with two questions: Who are you? What do you know? Beginning with personal authenticity, The Authentic Actor reveals a holistic approach that fuses discovery of the “actor’s fingerprint” with skills for managing performance, career, and life – as artist, businessperson, and citizen.
This is the latest edition of a book that has sold over 75,000 copies since its first printing in 1984 by producer/publisher Michael Wiese. An indispensible tool for any producer, this “industry bible” has been updated with the latest digital technologies for production and post-production – the standard for most films today. Downloadable budget templates are free and easily accessible at www.mwp.com. They can be adapted for any production and can save you tons of time and money. The templates include different budget levels for narrative features, non-fiction features, and short films. The book goes through a 14-page Master Budget template line-by-line with an explanation for every line item in any budget. As it guides you through each step, you can use this book to put together budgets for proposals, treatments, and productions. Maureen Ryan, Co-Producer, Academy Award™-winning film, MAN ON WIRE
The book’s journey into the future of television begins with “You Are Here,” delving into “The Great Convergence” of television and Internet and the vortex of change we all inhabit now. Then, glancing back, we explore “The Old World” of broadcast television to understand how we got to this moment of transition. Next, traveling “Between Worlds,” we visit cable television and see how the boundaries between network, cable, and Internet are mutating. After that, we enter “The New World” that ranges from empires like Netflix and Amazon down to Kickstarter-funded web series, and all the creative expressions that abound. Finally, we look ahead to the “Far Frontier” of interactivity and transmedia and a distant, fantastic future. All these experiences are focused on how a writer, producer, director, or entrepreneur can use the emerging possibilities to create original television now and in the coming decade.
Screen storytelling is an essentially collaborative process. Writers need feedback but too often the notes they receive stall them and even demoralize them. This book unpacks the whys and what-fors of all the most commonly given notes on scripts, stories, and writers themselves. Coming from the perspective of experienced Hollywood professionals, Notes to Screenwriters offers insightful and concise guidance on the entire storytelling process, as well as what comes before it in the life of the writer, and after it in the marketing of the screenplay. It is a unique blend of classical storytelling principles combined with practical knowledge of the contemporary marketplace. This book is destined to be a resource for every writer who gets past the initial stage of writing a first draft and needs sage counsel for what to do next.
In celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai ⎯ one of cinema’s most superb and influential achievements ⎯ Richard D. Pepperman presents this elegant book as a master class, and illustrates, with beautiful strokes of insight, how and why this film has inspired generations of filmmakers. Here is a handbook for directors, screenwriters, and editors, and a guide for all curious lovers of cinema.
There is a revolution happening in entertainment and it is all the Internet’s fault. It’s a revolution that is changing the rules for television and filmmaking and the major studios are scrambling to figure out their place in this new world. Independent filmmakers have discovered that web television is a fantastic way to break into the industry creating many opportunities. But as with everything new, this vast ocean called web television can be hard to navigate. This book gives you a comprehensive map to web television and walks you through the crucial steps on how to fund, film, market, and distribute your web series opus.
There are plenty of books about the craft of screenwriting, and a handful about pitching your screenplay. However, little can be found on how to go from writing to pitching in the professional space. There is no formula, no three-step plan. Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide to a Screenwriting Career unlocks pragmatic guidance for constructing a screenwriting career, delivered by a sought-after industry authority who works with writers both novice and professional.
This second edition of Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video covers the current landscape of postproduction process, taking the reader step by step through the editor’s journey from receiving dailies to delivering on film, tape, file, or disk for YouTube, cinema, Blu-ray, or TV. The book guides the filmmaker through the operation of digital editing systems, sound and music editing and the mix, and tape, tapeless, and film workflows. The middle section lasers in on how to edit the footage: Make cuts, video effects, overlaps, and cheat shots as well as how to approach different genres such as comedy, documentary, drama, and music videos. The final section takes on music and sound editing and the mix, and wraps up by describing finishing processes including online, negative cutting, and DI processes.