Customer Reviews

$30 Film School

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just finished principal photography on my film project. I'm not going to go all gushy and say that this book is the only reason I was able to summon the inner strength that sustained me in my time of need, it's a bright shining beacon of inspirational integrity blah blah frickedy transparent sock puppet infomercial blah. Because that's not the case. Nope. If you're looking for something like that, you need more help than a printed page can provide.

However.

$30 Film School is a real tough love way to get your inner muse in motion. Other reviewers have gotten tangled up in the whether or not the technical information herein is relevant & useful. That's not really the point - as you either know or will soon find out, every single aspect of moviemaking is an infinite onion of complexity and you can lose yourself in specialization (in which case you should get a gig at a studio as a wardrobe person or set painter or whatever) or you can get enough of it into you so you can function and then just keep on moving.

The core to this book is deep punk, and as someone who once had the sides of his head shaved and the top painted blue, that DIY ethos was instilled in me on a genetic level. And the core question in $30 Film School is: "Whenever problems arise, as they surely will, you have to stop and ask yourself 'Am I going to allow this to prevent me from making my art?' "

So while the information contained in the book is all available elsewhere in greater depth (HDforindies, cinemaminima and other blogs), the message that is wrapped around that info is at once reassuring and challenging. You CAN do this. And if you can ... then there is no excuse for you NOT TO.

You will make mistakes. Dean has made many of those same mistakes; and he shows & tells the lessons you should learn from those mistakes so that you do not make them again (or if you do, at least do them in a new & interesting way)...

This book kind of delivers what it promises. It does go into discussions of all aspects of indie film making (although it focuses way too much on docu's, the filmmakers specialty) However the book is best suited for those without much knowledge of film making. This is not a substitute for more detailed reading, and one would be hard pressed to make a film of any quality based solely on this text. I would not expect one book to cover everything involved in film making. I was put off by the attitude of the writer. He has a 'I'm anti-hollywood so I am cool' type writing style which gets a little old by page 100 and ends up talking too much about himself and not enough about the work. His hubris is also off-putting (This book takes the place of $20,000 worth of film school) Of course it doesn't. No single book could (but many books and experience can), and to suggest otherwise is not respecting the art or science of filmmaking. I would recommend this book highly to anyone who is just getting into film or video production, and would even recommend it to veteran filmmakers as it would be impossible to not pick up a few pointers on all the subjects covered. Also the included DVD contains some nice items. This book is perfect for the person who wants to make home movies with their friends, but should be viewed as a starting point only for any legitimate film.

First let me say there were a lot of good Movie Making 101 kind of tips in this book-which is what I wanted-so on that note it was very good and informative. Like others who have reviewed this book I agree that the author can be pretencious. However as he himself says through out the book-sometimes that is what is required to get your project taken seriously ie: if you don't promote/believe in yourself who else will?. I agree with that and wish I had some more of that drive in me. The times when it doesn't serve him well are, for example; when boasting that on the shelf over his desk are only books that HE wrote, CD's with music HE made and his OWN movies. The DVD that came with the second edition has samples of movies made by people who also read this or the earlier version of this book. Some are VERY professional and intimidating while others made me think "hell, I could do a movie better than this!" and therefore were quite encouraging. I don't know if that was the authors intention or not. My biggest complaint about this book is that far too many pages are devoted to raising money, producing, promoting and even touring (with your completed movie). For a beginner like me it didn't seem very relavent. If a person is making movies that require fund raising and promotion on that level, I'd imagine they don't need to read this "how to" book on movie making. Maybe I'm wrong? There is also quite a bit of time devoted with very specific instruction for the windows based movie/sound editing software that the Author reccomends-great unless you will not be using those programs-which is the case for me (see below for note on this) So in conculsion this book is worth reading and I gained knowledge that I'm sure will help me make better movies. Would I reccomend buying it at full price? ...(versus amazon) ... NO. However as the $18.95 Film School I fully endorse it! ----NOTE: When I bought this book I also bought "iMovie 6-The Missing Manual by David Pogue". It has much of the same generic Movie Making 101 information as this book but also (as the title suggests) instruction on how to get the most from iMovie software. So if you are going to be editing your sound/movie footage on a Mac using iMovie or Garage Band this book might be better suited for you. For me they were a great "one- two punch" and complimented each other very well.

When I turned 44, i decided to make videos and wanted to make documentaries. I did not have the time or interest in film school.
I bought this book, and have used it like an instruction manual, I use the release forms provided, the lighting tips, camera angles suggestions, but more so it gave me the confidence to go interview people and make videos. The first video I made (in my life) was a little over a year ago.

YouTube made us a content Partner last month! and our videos have been used in visitor centers and historical locations in several southeastern USA.

I have an example of the first video I made on my YouTube Site, then all the videos that followed, so you can see how this book helped me progress.

We owe a great deal of our success to this wonderful book,

thanks you for writing it.
Dan
AKA DanTraveling
www.dantraveling.com

If you don't have any experience as a filmmaker, you might conclude that this is a very good book. If you have made a few films, you're probably going to rate this as "one star" although I'd rate it "zero" stars due to the fact that he's giving aspiring filmmakers some very bad advise.

I was amazed at how little helpful information was actually contained in a book that is over 500 pages long. Dean, who has only produced two documentaries for nonprofit organizations, seems to think he's an accomplished filmmaker.

The CD that comes with the book is, however, very revealing. If you're planning on following Dean's approach to "film making" you can watch the "films" that some of his "students" have submitted. I assume that these were the "best" ones that were submitted. If THIS is what you want your films to look like, then this is the right book for you.

If you want to produce documentaries for nonprofit organizations, there is some helpful information on the legal aspects of how to do this. This consists of about three pages of useful information... so I figure I paid ten dollars per page... Too bad I have no desire to shoot documentaries.

Much of his technical information is simply false. At one point he tells his readers that digital video provides a much clearer image than film, and that the audience doesn't like the image to look so real. What??? Then he goes on to advise using a really cheap digital camcorder to make the video look more like film. When he's talking bout what type of media to record on, he refers to it as "medium" in the section entitled "Medium." Some of this is really laughable.

When it comes to the subject of fund raising, he doesn't have a clue how to do this, unless you're doing a documentary for a nonprofit group, so he advises us to walk up to people on the street and ask them for a hundred dollars. Really??? I wonder how many times I could do that before getting arrested?

In the chapter entitled "Dealing With Criticism" he foolishly instructs you on how to "deal" with criticism by "ignoring" it. After all, as Dean posits, you know more about what you're doing than those ignorant critics who are really just jealous, wanna-be filmmakers. This is extremely bad advice for anyone who is serious about a film making career. I keep notes on every little bit of criticism that I receive whether it's from a professional critic or from somebody's grandmother as it's all relevant. While it's true that you can't make changes to adapt to every little thing that people would have done differently, by keeping track of criticism you can identify areas where you really do need to improve. Look for trends; for example, if multiple sources didn't like the lighting, chances are your lighting wasn't as good as it could have been.

And all of this babble about the advantages of guerilla shooting? I've got some news for you; most legitimate distributors require that you provide a "Chain of Title" which includes, among other things, talent releases, proof of Copyright, and yes, location agreements giving you permission to film on someone's property.

I generally find that if I ask a small business for permission to shoot on their property, they are usually very happy for the free publicity that they will get by having their business in a feature film. Some may say no, but ask and you shall receive. Dean clearly doesn't have enough experience to understand this or to understand the serious legal repercussions, both civil and criminal, that guerilla shoots can bring. It's BAD advise and you can get into a lot of trouble. Get permission, and get it in writing. It's really not that hard to do.

In addition to being clueless on the subject of film making in general, he rambles on and on about his political and socioeconomic viewpoints which is very annoying as he's just as clueless and hypocritical on those subjects as he is on film making. Dean insists that making money is somehow "wrong", but I wonder how much money he's made on this worthless book?

At one point, he goes so far as to say that if you wear anything other than a white tee shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, that you are not a true artist and you are just a poser; you're not in it for "the art of it." Again, he is too inexperienced to know that most filmmakers and crew members wear all black clothing as it is non-reflective and this makes it possible for you to work very close to what you are shooting without affecting the lighting and, in some situations, makes it possible for you to work in the background without being seen.

I guess he needs to tell Rodriguez and Tarantino that they are just "posers" and not real artists as they don't know how to dress properly.

The fact of the matter is, it DOES take money to make films, and there's not anything wrong with making money. Producing and making money creates jobs and helps the economy. If I shoot a film, and it makes a profit, that means I can shoot more films, hire more cast and crew, and grow my production company. Win, win, win. Try explaining that to Dean. This guy is a hack.

Don't waste your money or your time reading this silly book.

This is by far the best filmmaking book in my library. I've gone through flagship classics like Film Directing: Shot by Shot and The Filmmaker's Handbook but no other book I've read is this informative and at the same time so easy to digest. Don't think twice about getting this book. I needed a miracle because I'm self-financing a feature in July of 2007 and I found it in Michael W. Dean's $30 Film School. Thanks MWD!

I bought this book hoping to learn the basics of making movies. What I received was way more comprehensive than I expected. That's a very good thing! Mr. Dean covers every aspect of film making from writing a screenplay to marketing the finished product and everything in between. He also recommends what kind of hardware and software to buy.

Because technology moves so fast these days some of the tech information has become dated. Also none of the information is complete. For example if you want to write a screenplay to sell you will need a lot more information than this book provides. I does however familiarize the reader with the basics of making and marketing your own film.

Mr. Dean has a natural writing style that makes for an easy read. He does come off as very anti-establishment. Self admittedly he has softened up some on this view.

If you want to make movies on a very low budget, this is the low budget way to learn what you need to do. And yes, I am a graduate!

$30 film school is absolutely essential reading for anyone looking to make that leap from filmmaker wannabe to filmmaker. Dean is encouraging from page one to the very end of this massive tome. He reinforces that not only CAN you do this but you MUST. If filmmaking is in your blood and you want something worth far more than all the filmmaking classes at all the colleges in the country, drop $30 and enroll in this film school!

Must not be missed!

This book is much more than a "how-to" on film making. It is filled with real life experience covering everything from concept to final product. You will learn set etiquette, how to obtain financing, bits of wisdom regarding credit cards, technique, equipment, vocabulary and more, so much more. This book is filled with pearls of wisdom, like the author's comment about keeping your word. A promise made is a promise kept. This, to me, demonstrates the author's wisdom, credibility and passion to the art.

I admit, I was skeptical when I first saw this book, but it has become an invaluable resource in my library. Think of this book as a valuable and incredibly handy multi-tool. I cannot convey how much this book means to me. Thank you, Michael Dean.

After reading the $30 Film School, I found that it is an excellent resource for beginning filmmakers. It gives them the basics and fundamentals to effectively and efficiently create, market, and sell their first film. I gave the book 4/5 stars because I feel is glosses over the most important aspect of film making, which is the story. I wish it would have spent more time explaining students how to brainstorm, write, and organize their ideas into scenes and explain the art of rewriting scripts. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in cultivating their ideas and putting them on the big screen.