Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: Five Keys to the Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television [Paperback]

Jed Dannenbaum (Author), Carroll Hodge (Author), Doe Mayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2003

Five keys to creating authentic, distinctive work, whether you are a student, professional or simply love making films on your own

For Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out, three professors at the renowned University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television interviewed fifteen outstanding filmmakers, then distilled their insights into the "Five I's" of creativity. Learn how to:

• Uncover your unique creative voice (Introspection)

• Work from real-life observations and experience (Inquiry)

• Draw on your nonconscious wells of creativity (Intuition)

• Strengthen your creative collaborations (Interaction)

• Communicate at the deepest level with your audience (Impact)

This comprehensive approach provides practical exercises that will enrich and transform your work, whether you are looking for a story idea, lighting a set, editing a scene or selecting a music cue.

The participating filmmakers, who have collectively won or been nominated for 39 Oscars and 27 Emmys, are:

Anthony Minghella, writer-director (The English Patient); Kimberly Peirce, writer-director (Boys Don't Cry); John Lasseter, writer-director-producer (Toy Story); John Wells, writer-producer (ER); Hanif Kureishi, writer (My Beautiful Laundrette); Pamela Douglas, writer (Between Mother and Daughter); Renee Tajima-PeÑa, director-producer (My America...or, Honk If You Love Buddha); Ismail Merchant, producer (The Remains of the Day); Jeannine Oppewall, production designer (L.A. Confidential); Conrad L. Hall, cinematographer (American Beauty); Kathy Baker, actor (Picket Fences); Walter Murch, sound designer-editor (Apocalypse Now); Lisa Fruchtman, editor (The Right Stuff); Kate Amend, editor (Into the Arms of Strangers); and James Newton Howard, composer (The Sixth Sense).

Editorial Reviews

Review

Norman Lear If I were a film or television student starting out, it's the book I'd want to read, because it tells you to create from your gut and your heart and your spirit.

Victoria Riskin screenwriter and President of the Writers Guild of America, west Indispensable reading for students and professionals alike.

George Stoney Professor of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University Creative Filmmaking is entirely fresh and different and welcomed.

William McDonald Head of Production, UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media In Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out, the authors have stunningly codified an elusive process media educators must attempt to articulate every day in every classroom. This practical, illuminating and inspiring book will become a foundation text in film schools around the world.

About the Author

Carroll Hodge, Jed Dannenbaum and Doe Mayer are professional filmmakers who also teach film production at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. You can visit them at www.creativefilmmaking.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (February 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743223195
• ISBN-13: 978-0743223195
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, completely original approach, February 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: Five Keys to the Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television (Paperback)

This book is a hybrid of interview collections and workbook exercises, designed to help filmmakers with their creative processes, not using the dumbed-down how-to-manual approach that so many filmmaking books employ, but in an intelligent and subtle way that engages and challenges the reader. These authors have assembled a formidable list of filmmakers -- the brains and souls behind The English Patient, Toy Story, E.R., Boys Don't Cry, many more -- and asked them more than the usual-suspect kind of questions, and by doing so have managed to go deeply into the creative process. The book interweaves the interviews with anecdotes, proverbs, and a group of creativity exercises which are several levels above the kind of artists' self-help books that have sometimes insulted our intelligence in the past. Ever wonder how Anthony Minghella thought of the opening shot for The English Patient? Or how Merchant Ivory get those stellar casts? This book actually tells you things you want to know, and then challenges you to go out and make a movie.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiration for teachers and students, December 23, 2003

By 

"ninajane52" (Florence, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: Five Keys to the Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television (Paperback)

I teach a seminar for teenagers in digital video. When I started designing the curriculum, it was mostly a "how-to" kind of thing. After reading this book, I changed the whole focus of the seminar. I asked the kids to look inside themselves and think about what they, personally, had to say. I said, "You are like kids who have been given a big box of crayons. Do you want to scribble on the wall, or do you want draw something special from your heart?" When they turned in their treatments for their video projects, they had taken the ideas of this book to heart.
This book should be required reading for anyone who teaches filmmaking or is starting out as a filmmker. It will get them on the right track!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Filmmaking From The Inside Out, May 26, 2003

By 

K. Haber (Beverly Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: Five Keys to the Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television (Paperback)

"Creative Filmmaking From The Inside Out," is a brilliant book! This book utilizes industry experts, who through their own experiences and examples, explain the creative process of filmmaking from concept though completion.

At the end of each chapter, the authors outline suggestions and exercises to evoke the reader's own creativity and abilities.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is either interested in filmmaking or is already involved in a film career, as it is always fascinating to see how successful people approach their own creative problems. Creativity is the one commodity which Hollywood is always looking for, but for which there are no formulas.