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The Power of Film

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Getting the book and reading all of the blurbs on the cover written by film experts like Coppola and several successful Hollywood screenwriters, I was a bit concerned that perhaps I had purchased an insiders handbook, which might prove too esoteric for the casual reader. The 'power of the book' Prof. Suber has written, is his ability to take substantive information and make it enjoyable reading. The book is written in bite size stories, alphabetized by topic, each insightful and entertaining. I often sat down with the intent of a quick read of one or two articles and discovered I had read seven or eight. The topics are easy to digest, yet informative enough to go back and read several times.
Certainly as Bill Cosby used to say, "Be careful or you just might learn something". Film students and pros, no doubt already know about(and swear by)this book, this review is for the rest of us, those who just like films. The Power of Film would make a terrific gift for lovers of films of all ages and is certainly a must read for anyone with film career aspirations.

Howard Suber delivered a lecture to a large gathering in a theater in Kansas City this spring. What was striking about the experience was how Professor Suber turned this theater into a classroom and, by asking questions, made us active participants in a search for answers to the question: "What makes a film great?".

Suber's book, "The Power of Film", uses this same Socratic Method but the technique is necessarily different. Instead of asking questions, a writer can only pose riddles, and to this end Suber employees wit and irony to provoke careful and thoughtful reading of his concise dictionary like definitions.

The films Suber examines are American films. Without being jingoistic, he says that over the decades American films have been the most popular not only in the U.S. but all over the world. The American films he focuses on are those that have maintained their appeal ten years after they were released those, in other words, which have stood the test of time and remain perennial favorites.

The question he asks is: "What makes these films classics?"

Some of the answers are surprising. The notion, for example, that Hollywood films, to be popular, have to have a happy ending, Suber demonstrates is not true. Think of the Godfather films, Lawrence of Arabia, Chinatown. Even "It's a Wonderful Life" journeys through some very dark regions before emerging with a comic ending.

So why do people go to see these films? Suber suggests that going to the movies is akin to going to church, that what people need and want is to experience time honored rituals that put us in touch with our humanity.

As a practicing filmmaker, I have spent many hours over the years thinking about how to use the power of film to move an audience and I am always looking for help. Of the many available, I have culled a few "essential" books on film theory and aesthetics. Eisenstein's "Film Sense" and "Film Form" are two, Pudovkin's 'Film Technique and Film Acting", Mascelli's "Five C's of Cinematography" and a few others. Suber's "The Power of Film" has already taken its place with these.

Why? Because first of all, the book is packed with information and insight covering every subject about American film, literally from A to Z. Second, the insights are uncannily precise. A brief example: I don't like using flashbacks because I feel they are too easy but I find I must at times because they are sometimes necessary and I haven't been able to think of anything better. This is in Suber's definition of "Flasbacks":

"The reason flashbacks came back is that they are not merely
stylistic flourishes, like iris shots; they are necessary tools
that, so far, cannot be replaced by others."

The authority of this statement is reassuring, but notice the two words: "so far"; this tiny insertion leaves open the possibility and, indeed, ecourages the search for other ways.

How to transition to a flashback?

"The camera moves to a tight close up of a character's eyes, they
glaze over and we hear an echo chamber voice..."

I fear that every time I use this device that someone in the audience is going to yell out: "Visual cliche!". It never happens and I continue to use it because, as Professor Suber says: "no one has come up with anything substantially better.".

This is a sampling of some of what can be considered Suber's practical advise; but this book is very rich and has a broad range and covers everything from the technical to the philosophical.

The entry for "Tragedy" is three pages long but delivers a store of wisdom. One paragraph in this concise definition is about "impulsivity", and the final line reads:

"Impulsivity we see over and over again leads to tragedy."

The philosopher Martin Buber in his book "Good and Evil" devotes pages of discussion to the tendancy to impulsivity and how it is an aspect of evil. Suber's book is obviously a distillation of years of thinking and study not only about film but also about human nature.

The entries that make up this book are cross referenced. This cross referencing, like the use of wit and irony, is not only an practical aid, but also an encouragement to explore the connection of ideas.

Suber has carefully culled the essential ideas of what makes a film "great" and this selection reveals that the subject in Suber's mind has a unity, that it constitutes an aesthetic, an interlocking system of ideas. It is an indication of Howard Suber's wisdom as a teacher that he does not expound this system but only indicates it; and because this system must be discovered and recreated by every reader, it will always be new.

Length:: 2:37 Mins

Author and mentor to many of Hollywood's most successful writers, directors and producers, Howard Suber discusses some of the paradigm busting ideas found in his book.

THE POWER OF FILM is zen. Spare, but overflowing. This is one book on film that respects the reader. It does not tell you what to think or impose "expert" opinions. Rather, Howard Suber's THE POWER OF FILM gives you his observations then allows the reader to understand and experience for him/herself. Even better, it's fun.
Don't read this book on the subway, in a coffee shop, or when you're pretending to work at your desk. The giveaway will be your yelped aha's piercing the ambient din.
Suber has sculpted a monumental body of knowledge into an accessible, quickly referenced work that--if it were a film--would haunt you with those epic images and classic dialog that make memorable films part of us all.
Suber knows Film. That means the making, the money, the heartache, but most of all that Film with a capital F is an overarching phenomenon, not merely merchandise. It affects our lives. We live through it; we use it as a touchstone. It is this psychological aspect--the slippery intangibles of our interactions with film--that Suber wrestles with, and wins.
As a psychologist before I was a screenwriter, I was trained to study behavior as a complexity to be approached with respect, the scientific method, an armload of tests to be interpreted and, oh yes, billed for. Tests like the Rorschach are called "projective" for a reason: we supposedly hurl our subconscious fears, desires and emotions onto an ambiguous stimulus--an inkblot that can be a car crash, or mom. Suber applies this to how we fling ourselves onto film. He uses Kuleshov's famous experiment where the actor Mozukhin who stares blankly at the camera was perceived as having specific, strong emotions depending on what images he was intercut with, like a coffin or a bowl of soup or an older woman assumed, baselessly, to be mom. It swiftly makes Suber's case that the audience is an "an active collaborator" in interpreting what is on the screen.
Audiences come to film looking for themselves. Filmmakers and other artists make themselves crazy worrying that the audience is thinking about them. No, the audience is thinking about themselves: their relationships with their families, their lovers, their friends and enemies, all to the extent that the work touches them. So what Suber nudges us to discover is really the bottom line. What makes a film memorable and popular is based on "principles that deal not so much with style and technique as with the psychology of storytelling, which is ultimately the psychology of human beings."
THE POWER OF FILM speaks volumes. It references hunderds of films. It is a book you can dip into and come away awash in aha's. Evocative and provocative, it impels you to think about film in new ways. THE POWER OF FILM is lean, accessible, vivid--like those scenes you carry with you from your favorite films...memorable.
--Roberta Degnore
filmmaker/psychologist

Howard Suber is a legendary film educator at UCLA, and has taught dozens of courses on every aspect of filmmaking (except for animation). In The Power of Film, he commits his wisdom to paper, gathered over many decades of teaching.
The Power of Film is not a how-to book or theoretical treatise, however. Rather, it is a lexicon of movie storytelling concepts. The topics range from Accidents to Writing What You Know, and cover such things as the most important word in storytelling (it's `but'), the `real' American religion (individualism), the characteristics of the Hero (someone outside of society who sacrifices personal happiness and contentment for the greater good or goal) and whether happy endings are really mandatory. Suber also talks about genres (the essential characteristics of each), dramatic structure (some), and specific narrative tools such as the Macguffin. Throughout the book the emphasis is squarely on the mainstream American film, so you will be able to find many exceptions to the `rules' Suber mentions here, though `rules' isn't the right word. Rather, they are `insights' or concepts which work and have done so for ages, but which are just some of the possible narrative solutions to the problems cinematic storytelling poses.
This is a book to dip into, and which is intended to spark the imagination of the reader. Not all of the topics are equally enlightening, and I disagreed with the definition of the Crisis Point, but as an encyclopaedia of Hollywood storytelling it is currently without equal.

In The Power of Film, Howard Suber describes memorable writing as "putting things so clearly that ... people will be convinced they knew the truth of what the writer was writing before they even read it."

The same is true of memorable film teaching, if you're lucky enough to be taught by Howard Suber. For decades, that privilege was only granted to UCLA graduate students, but now we can all share his wit and wisdom, distilled into one handy A to Z guide. This is more than a book, it's a Rosetta stone to unlock the secrets of memorable film writing already etched deep within the confines of your movie-watching brain.

Whether a writer, director, producer, or executive, as you read the topics, you'll understand exactly what Howard Suber is talking about---and realize you've known many of the principles all along---but now you can actually access and use that knowledge to create and recognize stories with the greatest popular potential. And if you're simply a lover of film, The Power of Film gives you many more reasons to love the films we all love most---not to mention insight into why we love them and what that love tells us about who we are as individuals and a society.

Many film books are "how-to" guides that need to be referred to at a very specific stage in the writing process and walk you through a very anal formula for a very predictable, and usually disappointing, outcome. The Power of Film is not remotely about screenplay formulas---from the moment Howard Suber challenges the idea of "acts," you know you're off the reservation. But where you are is far more exciting. You're in the world of the "essential," the fundamental principles that all popular films share---and if you get this part of the story right, everything else falls into place.

Any time's a good time to crack the book open: when you're outlining and breaking a story, when you're starting a screenplay, when you find a character isn't working, or a scene isn't working, or when you've gotten beat-up with some feedback and need to remember exactly why you wanted to write stories in the first place. Howard Suber shows you the forest through the trees, and none of us can be shown that greenery often enough.

I intend to keep The Power of Film on my bedside table and flip through it every night before I go to bed. Not because it'll put me to sleep, but because somewhere in my dreams I already know the next great popular and memorable story---the one I was born to tell---and I know Howard Suber and this book can help me coax it into the light of day. It's truly memorable writing from one of this planet's most memorable film teachers.

A good film comes at you slowly, like a work of art, creeping into your soul through metaphors and meditation. That is how Suber's THE POWER OF FILM comes at you. Start anywhere and read a little or as much as you want, in small bites. Then stop and meditate on what you just read. Better yet, think of the film you're working on or just watched, and note in the wide margins what you now understand anew. A good scene in a good film should be watched time and again. Each page of this book is like a good scene. Underline it, mark it up -- and then, later, read it again, and add to your discovery of why film is so powerful.

Since I did not attend UCLA where Howard Suber teaches, my first experience with him were his lectures that accompany these films on pre-DVD Criterion laser disks: The Graduate, High Noon and Some Like It Hot. I learned more about film, filmmaking and life in general from these lectures (which run concurrently with the film) then I have from any book or film course. I anxiously waited for subsequent films and lectures but none were ever made. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across "The Power of Film" on Amazon in August. I pre-ordered it immediately and I was, to say the least, not disappointed. Suber distills (sometimes in 30 words or less) every obvious film term (such as flashbacks, montage, and dramatic structure) to the not quite so obvious (like corruption, deus ex machina, and narcissus) in a way that not only explains but also opens the window to a higher level of film appreciation--both structural and psychological. If you are a filmmaker, screenwriter, or serious film buff and you don't have this book in your library, buy it now. If you are just a casual movie-goer, you don't know what you're missing when you watch a film until you read "The Power of Film".

Howard Suber's new book is a pure joy to read. It's funny, insightful and filled with so much knowledge, that you not only understand film better... you also learn about people and real life from the films we love.

`The Power of Film' changes the way we look at film. The true strength of Howard Suber is that he discusses the overwhelmingly complex elements of storytelling, but communicates this knowledge in an easily understandable and cohesive manner. The fact that the topics in this book is alphabetically structured with an extensive cross-reference makes it a very powerful tool for laymen, scholars and filmmakers alike - everyone will understand Suber's unique points on film.

But the true function of this book lies with Howard Suber's elegant proof, that what we all take for granted about film often is a misconception! For example, Suber illustrates this by pointing out, that most memorable films do NOT have happy endings. Yeah right... right? But Suber IS right. Take `Casablanca', where Rick loses the love of his life and is forced on the run from the Nazis; Rick has probably experienced happier times in his life. Or `Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', where our heroes die in a blaze of glory. Well, who's glory???

I have studied and worked in Europe and America, and `The Power of Film' not only applies to a wide spectrum of very different films. It is also touches on the basic foundation of most forms of storytelling. So, dive into the vast sea of knowledge, everything from Accidents - Acting - Action TO Work and Love - Wounds - [and NOT!] Writing What You Know.

Howard Suber's book is the closest we will ever get to understand the secret power of film. So buy, read and reread it over and over again; the elementary understanding of film starts here.

In the interest of open disclosure:

I love Howard. I've been in four, no five of his classes. I like watching the way he thinks (digresses?) on his feet. I love the way he finds connections where other people never even begin to look. I think this book is a gift, and it's about as close to sitting in his class as you can get.

Which, as some have pointed out here, could be a problem. Especially if you're looking for a prescriptive, how-to write the great screenplay, direct the great film, get an agent to return your phone call kind of book. In fact, if your brain tends toward the tawdry, practical, get it done and sold right now, then you'll probably be disappointed in Howard's book.

This a collection of aphorisms, seemingly extemporaneous thoughts on film. At first read they seems simple. Too simple at times, especially if you haven't had the benefit of sitting in one of Howard's classes in which he teases you along as you discover the connections between apparent non-sequitors of jesus, mcihael corleone and the significance of uniforms in one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

So there's definitely some assembly required if you're going to get the most you can out of it. Two printed chapters side by side do not a montage make. You could try to put it all together, or you could just let it be a fun read filled with "I never thought of that before" moments.

Others who will likely be disappointed with this book: Academics. Especially deridda-spewing, post-pre-modernist deconstruction-bent, angels-dancing-on-the-heads-of-pins crowd.

If anything, this book is anti-academic. It's written in clear, declarative sentences (thank you Cecelia Fannon, editor and midwife to this book). It's organized alphabetically. No discourse is more than three pages long.

And worst of all, from an academic point of view, it's the product of an empirical observation of one type of film (and only one): american popular movies that have hung around in our consciousness for more than ten years. So you're not going to read about Meshes of the Afternoon or Window Water Baby Moving or even (gasp) a single French auteur.

In fact, there isn't a single obscure film in Suber's cannon. Suber looks at films that the north american box office, the academy awards, gross revenue (including domestic and foreign tv), afi and imdb top picks and simply tries to figure out what they have in common.

And what he finds is that these films the snob in us (all of us, let's face it) dismisses as the lowest common denominator, run on the same juice that powered Homer and the writers of Gilgamesh, the themes and rhythms of bill shakespeare, the heat from Puccini, the darkness in Conrad and yep, even the humor and absurd sacrifices in Beckett.

So, if you want to think about film and plays and novels and operas and religion and government and pretty much the whole construct of what it means to be a human in a society-- pick up this book. You won't regret it.