Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Great book on exploring how films are shot June 16, 2008
Matthew Terry (Seattle, WA USA)
For those of you who read and/or follow these reviews - you know that I am in the process of making my own "no-budget" independent film. A book like this is like manna from heaven.
Jeremy Vineyard (with illustrations by Jose Cruz) does an amazing job of figuring out and printing up nearly every single camera shot you could think of. And, trust me, I've thought of a lot of them. Especially as I prep my film.
But wait, Matt, aren't you a screenwriter? Would this book be good for a screenwriter? Frankly, yes. Or should I say: YES!
One of the hardest things to teach a screenwriter is to look at their film visually. If you've even thought of thinking about possibly thinking of being a screenwriter - you should watch films and dissect those films. From camera angles, to actor's positioning, to scene structure to "how the heck did they do that?!" special effects. Sadly most first time screenwriters don't think visually when they writer - they don't comprehend how the shot should look - how the final film should look.
I know what you're thinking: "I've been told to not put in camera moves or certain camera angles - that's up to the director to decide." It may very well be up to the director to decide - but you STILL have to look at your film visually. You have to "shoot" the film in your head when you are writing it. Having an understanding of the various shots will help you do just that. This book is an excellent resource.
My only issues with the book, and they are minor, is that I would have liked the author to include whole scenes from movies to show how the scenes link together into a cohesive whole. Take, say, one of the boxing matches in "Raging Bull" and break it down. Low angle, high angle, close-up, focus pull, back to a two shot, etc. It's one thing to say that a certain shot (such as a whip pan) is used in the film "Stagecoach" but then what of the shots following it and preceding it?
The only other issue I would bring up (and this might very well be insane) is to put the time-code on certain shots (not EVERY shot but a select few). Something along the lines of: "There is an extreme close-up in the film "Silence of the Lambs" at 1:47:32 into the film." Or: "Note the whip-pan in "Stagecoach" at 1:18:49. Followed by tracking shot at 1:22:16." A little more detail like that, I think, would have raised the book to a whole new level of film geekdom (and I mean that in a good way).
Jeremy Vineyard, with wonderful illustrations by Jose Cruz, simplifies complicated shots and takes you beyond amateur filmmaking into the real of professional filmmaking. Before you shoot anything, heck, before you WRITE anything - read this book.
Good perspective on visual setups June 12, 2008
R. Otterman (Los Angeles, CA)
June 12, 2008
By R. Otterman (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This book feels more like film analysis than a field guide given its breakdown on a number of well-known pictures. It does, though, have merits as an instructional book for considering the frame and motion that define cinematography and the shot. In that way it's a help and was a help to me in planning shots for a film. If nothing else, this book gets a filmmaker thinking in terms of planning shots that go beyond closeup-medium-wide.
Illustrations give a sense that the author spent a good amount of time considering what to add and what to draw upon as better examples of good filmmaking, and creative shooting at that. The one criticsm of the book is that there is not a little more in the way of description, though that might be said to be a strength for visually-oriented material. Some of the reviews that called it rubbish, etc. seem to miss the point that this book is intended for filmmakers to get ideas by way of considering the who's who of shots, not a descriptive understanding of the metaphoric value of cinema. On a simple and basic level the book accomplishes what it sets out to do- generate possibilities by gathering the best of the best in shots and organizing them into a collection for the planning artist to consider.
For me, anyway, this worked and I've taken much from the book the last few years and I'm looking forward to the new edition that's coming out.
 Setting Up Your Shots February 17, 2008
G Rated school
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have been using this book in my Video class and it is passable, but should include useable films as examples rather than R-rated films I cannot use in the classroom. While most teens have seen most of these movies, I cannot show them as examples in a classroom setting, due to rating problems. If this is to remain a viable product in the future, the examples will have to be toned down.
 Setting Up Your Shots November 11, 2007
William S. Favata (Los Angeles)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
While Setting Up Your Shots covered all the common camera moves needed for DV filmmakers, the explanations on the moves were a little too brief for my liking. For a few dollars more, Film Directing, Cinematic Motion: A Workshop for Staging Scenes (paperback) by Steven D. Katz is a much better resource, one that the reader will use time-and-again. Best!
Gets to the point November 10, 2007
Scott Cummins (Clarkston, MI)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent layout of "1 page, 1 concept" and tells enough for you to get the point without 5 extra paragraphs of useless repetition. Leave this book on your desk and open to any page once a day and read it in 15 seconds...this will keep a wide array of shooting techniques in your head for the next time you are on set or planning a shoot.
Good stuff, easy to understand, and not an ounce of "fluffy-look at me i'm a filmmaker" pretentious crap.
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