Customer Reviews

The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who love films but don't really know what's involved in their getting made, this is an excellent guide. Of course, it's even more indispensible for those who hope one day to make a film but aren't currently involved in the business. I emphasize "business" here because this isn't really a guide to the art of making films; you could imagine a similar book called "The Entrepeneur's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to establishing your own business in the age of the internet" and it would cover the same types of topics. For a guide to the art of filmmaking/directing, my favorite book is "Film Directing Fundamentals" by Nicholas Proferes. But for the practical and day to day and big picture of the business of filmmaking, "The Filmmaker's Handbook" is Indispensible: an excellent and thorough introduction and guide to the processes, the people, the arrangements, the contracts, the details that go into making films, especially independent films.

I required this book as one of the textbooks for my film history course on "American Independent Film" because it seemed to me there was no better way to indicate to students how much is involved in getting films made. It's a very helpful piece of the course and gives students a perspective that they wouldn't get from my own emphasis on film theory and criticism.

As an aspiring young filmmaker, the first thing I was told to do was go out and get a copy of the Filmmaker's Handbook. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the book had been updated in March of 1999, and that now it included all kinds of information about the digital age. I have learned so much from this book. The book goes over the entire film process, and does it in a straight-forward manner. It is a great start for beginners, yet it includes a rich amount of information for the professional. Anyone who has ever thought about a career in film really needs to get a copy of this book. Written in a manner that neither patronizes nor confuses the reader, the Filmmaker's Handbook is the best book I have skimmed or read on film, and believe me, I've looked at a lot.

This book doesn't need 1,000 words - it speaks for itself. We recommend it to all our students as the best value text book to have. An excellent primer before moving on to specialist books. I don't want to be responsible for our students spending a fortune on books, so I tell them that if they can't afford much, then this is the one to get. The problem with many film books is that you can spend a fortune on getting the wrong ones. There are lots of other good books but more expensive and this has all the basics you need to learn before you specialise.

I'm getting into film production but don't have time to attend a real film school. And I'm basically interested in the mechanics of filmmaking - so this book The Filmmkaer's Handbook is perfect.

It gets down to all the basics of filmmaking. If you want to know what a line producer does, how light meters work and the ratio of film stock to projection, this is the book for you.

It's thick but easy to read with nice B&W illustrations. As a novice and somebody who wants to know how a movie is made this book is perfect. I was really impressed by how simple and to the point this book was on the mechanics and made it an easy read. I will keep in hand at all times for reference as well!

Very well done and exactly what I was looking for in a filmmaking book!

I was assigned to read this as a textbook for my film class and wow, this book gets down to every little technical detail you could think of when it comes to making movies. This is definitely an invaluabe resource for anyone who's interested in making narrative, documentary, experimental, or corporate movies with a video or film camera(s).

The book explains the differences between the multitude of film systems from super 8 to 35mm, it goes into detail about how the camera works, discusses how to take care of your equipment and why, and goes all the way up to funding and distributing your movie. There are nine appendices which includes charts and calculations on how to adjust certain aspects of the camera/lens/etc. to get the certain look you want. So if you're on a set and need to adjust something on (or inside) the camera but are unsure of the calculations, it's just quick flip of the book to the appendix to find what you need.

The book also deals with the scientific features of filmmaking so anyone can get a better idea of how the various aspects of filmmaking work and which way of doing things is best for the filmmakers particular needs.

A few problems arise however. The technical jargon can be overwhelming sometimes and may require you to reread a paragraph several times in order to get a clear understanding of what the author is talking about. The fact that there's no glossary doesn't help that problem either. My biggest gripe however is the lack of coverage on digital filmmaking. The book is outdated and lacks the information needed for people wishing to make movies with DV cameras. Despite those problems, I still HIGHLY reccomend this book to anyone wishing to make films.

I am currently taking beggining film & video classes and one of the requirements is this book. It is a book with tremendous insightful help but unfortunetly some information is getting outdated. Most of the stuff of video are rapidly changing and I think students would benefit more with a up to the date video highlights. The film part is fine and it truly does teach the basics of cinema production (the technical aspect)

This book serves as a wonderful technical manual on how you 'should' make a film; usually, that means the most expensive way that independent and underground filmmakers (the target audience) cannot afford. When editing a film on video, you don't 'have' to complete an online edit, spending about $40 per hour at pro editing facilities. You can easily do a quick offline and release it much cheaper with almost the same results.

The book would be a whole lot better if it shared methods and tricks on cutting production and post-production costs down, enabling young filmmakers (with little or no money) to actually finish their films. That is the bottom line, really. The technical side of filmmaking is learned very quickly on your own. Making people think that they have to go the expensive way is counter-productive.

Still, an extremely helpful read.

-N. Foster Tyler

This book has it all - from the optical inner workings of a lens to the foundations of digital video. Use it as a self-paced learning tool or a reference manual. It covers almost every topic in film imaginable.

The Filmmaker's Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the art & science of filmmaking. Though it is currently falling abit behind with it's coverage of digital technology, as this is moving so fast it's hard for any book to stay current.

It has a lot of excellent information though, and goes into detail many other books lack. It's useful as a reference guide, and not so dry that it doesn't make an interesting read. If you are studying film, or want to get into the industry this book is a must have.

I bought this book few months back in order to study the film making process. The book has details for practically everything and best for beginners as well as professionals. however since the version dates 5 years old so I'd suggest anybody interested in learning the aspects to consider this book as a base and then also subscribe to a magazine as you'll have a know how of latest stuff happening in the movie making technology. something like movie maker magazine. anyway the book still deserve 5 stars for its content.