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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Coffee Table Book!, December 6, 2009
This review is from: Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know (Paperback)
This is not so much a textbook as it is a hip coffee table book -- imagine a landscape-bound picture book of hit movie scenes, or an artsy encyclopedia of film edits. If you're looking for something deeper and more academic, check out the author's previous book, Cut-By-Cut. This new, fun book isn't software / hardware specific (definitely not a manual on Final Cut), but instead gives a brief reason for using each technique, along with corresponding screenshots that anyone can understand. When should you use a Black Out? A Flash Frame? An Insert? What is Universal Time? Without getting too philosophical, this book addresses not the "how" but the more important "why" for each, and there are over 50 of these featured techniques inside. The overall focus of this book is using film editing to serve the story, rather than distracting from it. As it says, "If you find yourself bored, confused, or suddenly aware of the movie theater or your life and not the movie, a series of bad cuts has probably led you there." It tempts me to watch a movie in slow-motion and see how many of these editing tricks I can spot. Suggestions: flip through this book often for brainstorming, or keep it in the lobby to impress your clients. Great as a gift: it's so collectible and creative-looking that anyone working in the film business would love to have it on the shelf.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you like film you'll like this, November 3, 2009
This review is from: Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know (Paperback)
When we watch a film we are usually carried along with the story and not very conscious of what goes into capturing our attention. We usually aren't aware of how the film was made, and when we are it's usually a sign that it wasn't made very well.
With a lot of pictures and not too many words this book gives film buffs a huge insight into how movies work, especially how hundreds of small pieces of film, usually just a few seconds long, are put together to keep the story going forward. Putting these pieces together is called editing and Chandler is good at explaining it. (probably because she has done a lot of it.).
Along with showing us what we are seeing on the screen she also supplies names for all the different types of `cuts'. Knowing the names will make you more aware of what you are seeing and make you sound smarter the next time you are talking about a movie.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have on Director's shelves, December 22, 2009
This review is from: Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know (Paperback)
Gael Chandler's new book "Film Editing" published by Michael Weise Productions, provides a beautiful visual reference for anyone interested in learning the visual language of film time. The numerous stills selected provide excellent examples of screen direction, parallel actions, point of view shots, matching color and much more through the selected stills from contemporary motion pictures. This is a book that beginning film students as well as professionals can refer to as a reminder as to why the cut takes place and how to abbreviate moments in a film to make them more effective or to lengthen moments to intensify the suspense. Screen direction can be particularly confusing to new directors and editors and this book addresses these issues through the use of stills. This book is a must have for directors, producers, editors, cinematographers and anyone interested in the construction of a scene shot by shot. Should be in every filmmakers library.
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