Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing a Feature Film for Under $30,000 [Paperback]

John Gaspard (Author), Gaspard Newton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

The ultimate low budget how-to film book on the market.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a book about how to produce a high quality feature film on a budget of less than $30,000. The authors start out by saying "Buying this book was your first mistake" and go on to explain the first two tenets of their philosophy: 1) Never pay full price for anything, and 2) Never ever buy what you can borrow or get for free. Their points are well taken, and I don't mean to be disagreeable, but I think this book is still worth buying. Filled with good humor and healthy skepticism about commonly held beliefs and instructions for potential filmmakers, this is a book any would-be movie maker would do well to read. While debunking many myths and misconceptions about making films, it is not a dry manual, but rather, a realistic how-to book written by two guys who know what they are talking about from personal experience, including their admitted mistakes. I never gave filmmaking a thought previously, but now? Maybe. Could happen.

About the Author

Gaspard was in filmmaking for 20 years, as a writer, director and producer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094118823X
• ISBN-13: 978-0941188234
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've had the pleasure of producing or directing seven low-budget features, including one of the first features ever produced on Super 8mm sound. (That was a LONG time ago.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, December 27, 1999

By 

Scot (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing a Feature Film for Under $30,000 (Paperback)

I've read this book and have found it quite useful - I'm using it as the starting point for my own forays in this area - and the best thing I can say about it is the spirit it engenders. There are probley a million ways to make a film but you'll never make one unless you believe you can - and this book by showing you very effecive means goes along way into making you believe you can. It's quite comprehensive and goes into good detail though I wouldn't say it was the last word on film-making but then nor does it - and that's not the point because it gives you enough to not just get started with but to make an actual film with - and whatever more you want or need you're natural learning and further exploration will take you to. I reccomend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome book!, December 25, 2001

By 

"dave70" (austin, tx United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing a Feature Film for Under $30,000 (Paperback)

I own about 20 books on filmaking, and this book is very good, probably the best out of the 20. The writers of the book have made a couple of film features (not digital), and they detail everything that they did in the process. Robert Rodriguez's book "rebel without a crew" is a very, very inspirational book. But this book explains every step in the process from starting out writing, to making a camera dolly for $80, to using the canadian exchange rates to your advantage. I got the book used here on amazon for $15. Buy the book, then write a review here, and then go out and make your film!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Showing its age, May 18, 2005

By 

S. D. Cameron "Southern_land" (New zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing a Feature Film for Under $30,000 (Paperback)

While this is still a good book and certainly has reafirmed my desire to see what I have created on screen the Impractical guide is showing its age a little.

My main problem with the text is the way they dismissed video out of hand, and thus little of what they have written pertains to digital film creation. The modern indy film maker will be well versed in the film vs digital dilemma, when this was written that didn't even seen to be an issue.

However it also details with finding actors, crew and resources and all the other fundimentals of pulling together whatever you can find to make your picture.