Customer Reviews

The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the Web

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's easy and inexpensive to create your own video. A digital video camera and some basic software aren't much of a barrier to entry. What's difficult is using those tools to create something that an audience will actually want to watch. No, bribing your brother-in-law with beer to sit through the thing doesn't count.

The Lean Forward Moment does as good a job as a book can to to help the budding DIY video maker acquire the knowledge to go in the right direction. No doubt many videos will benefit from their makers having read this book. While a book can't substitute for experience it can make learning quicker and more focused.

I help with a youth film making program. I've been learning with the kids as I offer them computer skills training. I'm enjoying this book and getting an insight into how the two film people who run the program do what they're doing. They're both semi-retired pros from Hollywood.

I let both look the book over. It got two thumbs up for people who actually know how this all works.

The book start at the beginning, before shooting, with discussions about story telling and examples of why successful films turned out well. It then moves on to writing, production design, directing, cinematography and editing. Also covered are visual effects, music, sound, special cases, and producing. There are good tips throughout the book.

Like any film instructor, I'm always seeking an affordable text for my students. With the average text hovering around $80.00 (and then the additional charge for supplemental books), The Lean Forward Moment seemed like a steal. I say "seemed" because like many reviewers here, I'm a bit confused as to whom the target-audience is.

The simple, jargon-free language appeals to the lay-person (which is always welcome in texts geared toward the masses); however, the structure and more advanced concepts give the feel of an academic text. The Lean Forward Moment seems stuck in a perplexing gray-zone. While I feel Hollyn was attempting to please both audiences, he may have (accidentally) alienated both. Curious.

I know that it seems superficial, but one of the ways I evaluate the potential success of a film-text, is through its examples. I know (for a fact) that my students excitedly scan a text ... looking for stills from works they know/love. The Lean Forward moment uses many popular (and technically masterful) examples. The Matrix, Finding Nemo, 300, Lord of the Rings, The Godfather -- all good choices to get the cinema-neonate involved. On the flip side, Across the Universe, Brazil, Synecdoche, Contempt, Coons, Jack in the Box, Satacracy 88 -- these niche/obscure works are interesting to more advanced students (maybe). (And, now we're back to that gray-zone ...).

Here's my professional opinion, The Lean Forward Moment is fantastic for the intermediate student who knows the fundamentals, will be entertained by familiar examples, and is curious about lesser known works.

The Least You Need To Know: A solid work that garnered a three-and-a-half star review; despite its slightly screenwriter-centric title, this is a book for an all-around filmmaker.

Full Review: This book, by its very title, immediately ignited my imagination. Reading through, the author has done a great job of inviting a deeper reflection about generating stories for media publication from its infancy through publication, mainly as a full-blown movie.

I have to admit being a little disappointed with the book in that, upon further reading, this is not a work that revolves solely around creating stories, ie. it doesn't dwell on what I originally thought it would: screenwriting.

That said, there is a fine chapter on writing (among others) that gives some really good information. For example, the author covers something a lot of writers don't fully understand when creating stories for movies: the logline. In fact, this is such an important aspect of creating stories for publication that Hollyn, a film editor by trade, continues referring back to the film's logline every so often as a method of clarifying and interpreting any issues that normally appear as the story makes its way from creation to production.

A good logline provides that kind of a guidance to everyone involved in the movie-making process, from the screenwriter on to the director. It is a sort of "constitution" for a good story, he infers and I agree.
Many concepts are discussed so expertly that the reader understand the author's confidence. Little tips and tricks abound. Again in the writing chapter, Hollyn refers to something he calls the shape of the words on the (script) page. This serves the screenwriter in trying to create yet another interesting concept Hollyn refers to throughout the work and is, of course, the title of the book: Lean Forward Moments.

Using both the logline and the concept of the Lean Forward Moment, Hollyn covers a very wide array that sometimes, but not often, seems like the book is spreading itself too thinly. Chapter 1 discusses the way humans tell stories, then on to the all-important Loglines in chapter 2. Writing is next then comes several chapters on the technical aspects of filmmaking: Production Design, Directing, Cinematography, Edition, Opticals and Visual Effects, Music, Sound, and Producing: Putting It All Together.

It's a wonder this thing is not much heavier. Each of these topics is enough to cover a book several times its size.

Still, a nice little book for a budding filmmaker that touches on all of the aspects of storytelling for moviemaking. I like the production value of the book itself, which is something I have come to expect from New Riders. The book reads very easily, almost like a good novel. It does become a bit bogged down going through the editing and production-specific chapters, as expected.

Very informative Book.
Even we learned a lot from it.
Norman did a superb job not to
go into "nuts and bolts" of Editing.
TwK.

I have taught video arts at the college level for the past 15-years. Most textbooks on the subject either go into way too much technical detail on equipment and theory and gloss over aesthetics or vice-versa. The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the Web takes a very well thought out approach to the basics of visual storytelling. The Lean Forward Moment uses dozens of examples from popular films to illustrate concepts. This allows the reader to better relate to the lesson and even refer to the film easily if they wish.

The book is written in a very straight forward manner and is as jargon-free as this sort of work can be. The Hollyn covers writing as well as visual composition and flow, so the reader is able to follow the process from planning through post. I recommend this work for anyone interested in making videos, or just interested in film making in general.

If you are a budding videographer, trying to improve your skills and get people to enjoy your finished productions, then you'll want to read THE LEAN FORMWARD MOMENT.

With tips for beginning and intermediate learners, THE LEAN FORMWARD MOMENT is a helpful guide to producing quality video. The book will help get you on your way to turning out a quality production. Using examples from some of Hollywood's top films, author Norman Hollyn, instructs readers on how to develop that special something - that special zing - that gets viewers to really "lean forward" and want more.

Useful, comprehensive and informative, THE LEAN FORMWARD MOMENT is worthy of adding to your how-to bookshelf.

I am a homeschooling mother of two boys (aged 12 and 9) who are both interested in making decent short films. My sons have been playing around with their digital cameras and are disappointed in their ability to translate a story into something decent enough to post to (the popular free website for viewing videos). In addition to them taking a film making class at a film making center I wanted to supplement their learning at home. I wondered if this book might help me teach my children something about the story creation process as well as shooting and editing tips, so their point of view could be more clearly evident to the viewer. Also as a writer I was interested in what the author could teach me about "creating compelling stories", since the basis for a good film is the story itself. I realized the book may be `over my head' or `more information than I thought we needed' but gave it a shot. I love the book.

"Film editing is now something almost everyone can do at a simple level an enjoy it, but to take it to a higher level requires the same dedication and persistence that any art form does." -Walter Murch quoted on page 218.

I was immediately impressed with this book, it is captivating to read, and I'm not a film buff let alone a filmmaker. It was obvious to me that the author, NORMAN HOLLYN, is a subject matter expert. After suspecting that, I read his bio that explains he is an associate professor at the University of Southern California as well as in charge of the editing track of the Cinematic Arts School at USC in addition to having work experience in the film industry. Hollyn's passion is clearly evident in this book which makes the book exciting to read. Even though I'm a beginner or something that might even be a pre-cursor to that, I was able to learn and understand what he was teaching about the filmmaking process concepts. This book is all about PROCESS, something very useful to learn but that can be difficult to articulate. Hollyn pulls it off, his communication is crystal clear.

It seems to me that although this has been published as a trade paperback it is intended to be used as part of a study of filmmaking in a college course. Thus this book is also useful to the autodidact who reads the book alone at home. I estimate this is fine for adults and teenagers or deeply curious preteens. Lastly the book might be of interest to film buffs who want to know more about the process of filmmaking, like the `armchair gardeners' who read lots of books about gardening instruction and design but don't actually tend their own garden!

Certainly all who read this will be enlightened about the storytelling and filmmaking process and will not be able to simple view a film, for we are looking at it with new eyes, noticing angles, lighting, and picking out what Hollyn calls "the lean forward moments". It is evident all the work that goes into the final product, the film, is a lot more work than some film viewers (like me) realize.

I'd like to note the style of writing in my opinion is geared toward the right-brained learner or "visual spatial learner". This whole-to-parts writing is not common and is actually quite rare in a book intended to be used as a textbook. However creative and artistic people are often right brain dominant so it doesn't surprise me that the author would communicate this way; what I'm thrilled about is that the publisher agreed to publish a book in this style and that schools would actually use this book.

To explain, if you are unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, the whole-to-parts method is the author very briefly introduces a topic (so we have a little idea of where we're going). Then we quickly jump right into a case study about a film with both text descriptions and some visuals. Once we are submerged in it the author goes about picking out different elements to discuss to explain why the filmmakers chose to do that thing (lighting, shot angle, props, costume, actor's facial expressions, etc.). The discussion of each thing is revealed to the reader, then at the end is nicely summarized and tied together with the object of this lesson, what the learner was to take away from that section of the book.

The challenge though, is the very left-brained reader may hate this style of writing and learning as it may seem confusing to them as they prefer to have small bits of information metered out piece by piece then wrapped up in the end to reveal `the big picture'. Those who say this may wish the book was something more like the DUMMIES series, something more watered down. Sadly, those who prefer the left brained style of learning and reading may accuse the author of being `confusing' or the book as being `complicated' (which I don't agree with at all). The left-brained writing style is what 95% or more of the college textbooks and primary school textbooks use that fail to reach and teach a certain number of the students, and boring some nearly to tears in the process. It only makes sense that schools teaching creative arts topics use books that are written by and for people whose minds think and learn in the visual spatial learning style method.

THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT is the antithesis of a boring school textbook due to its approach as well as the subject matter expert author's passion which is evident on every page.

Regarding the book itself, it is paperback with heavy nice paper (that you can't see through which I especially appreciate). There is a fair amount of white space in the margins which helps the eye not tire out as well as giving space for margin note-making. It is about 350 pages so this is not a skimpy book. The book is illustrated in color with screen shots from films and some other effective visual aids. The illustrations all have a purpose and are not thrown in randomly just to break up the text.

So who should read this book besides students taking a filmmaking course at college? The answer is obvious: anyone interested in doing what the subtitle says, anyone who wants to "create compelling stories for film, TV, and the web". If you are curious about learning this information then this book is for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 = I Love It.

Hollyn presents his theory for "The Lean Forward Moment," the effective approach to storytelling, in a well-illustrated, easy-to-follow academic manner, which encompasses all aspects of the production process from individual scene elements to audio cues and color pallets.

I love the presentational flow of this book - the concepts are explained clearly enough to give any reader the confidence to go into a project without apprehension. The diversity of techniques are referenced through a wealth of familiar films to help focus on the effect which the results have on the media consumer.

"The Lean Forward Moment" is essential reading for not only students, but also aspiring independent storytellers. Anyone who needs to present ideas, whether through film, animation, pantomime, multimedia or any other medium - will greatly benefit from the gold mine of information contained in these pages.

A detailed explanation and guide that leads the film storyteller towards engaging the audience so deeply that they actually become so engrossed in the narrative that they "lean-forward" so as not to miss a moment. Well written,fascinating and informative,The Lean Forward Moment explains in step-by step examples and references to classic films just how to achieve this important story-telling tool.A wonderful book for the student of film and for those interested in the structure of film technique.

In The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the Web, author Norman Hollyn dissect scenes from some of Hollywood's most influential and important films to provide cinematic blueprints for any budding director. After reading this book, and realizing the technical work it take to bring a story to the screen, one cannot help but to gain more of an appreciation for the film industry. Hollyn does a great job explaining the complex breakdowns so that any movie fan can understand and enjoy regardless of his/her's knowledge base.