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LJR's Filmmaking Resources
The following are books on filmmaking that I have read, own, or heard from others as being good resources to learn from and reference to. There are a few personal favorites in here as well. Click on the cover or title to purchase these or read more information about them. Quick Reference: #|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
Cover	Title	Information
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	303 Digital Filmmaking Solutions : Solve Any Video Shoot or Edit Problem in Ten Minutes or Less, for Ten Dollar or Less (Digital Video/Audio)	With the advent of digital video cameras, anyone can shoot and produce a video for very little money -- in fact, hundreds of thousands of people are doing so. When video photographers look for guidance, they don't want to read a big book cover to cover -- they want help on their particular problem immediately. This compendium of solutions is designed to allow anyone to dig into each problem category and quickly find the necessary guidance. Each solution is 2-5 pages in length, most with at least one photo or diagram illustrating the situation. With the help of this book, even a complete neophyte can take advantage of Chuck Gloman's 22 years in the video trenches and use hard-earned trade secrets to make their videos look professional.
	43 Ways to Finance Your Feature Film: A Comprehensive Analysis of Film Finance	Under the four broad categories of industry, lender, investor, and foreign financing, Cones a securities and entertainment attorney, suggests and explains 43 specific routes to that pot of gold that must precede the cinematic rainbow. He summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of each without advocating any one over others. His focus is on feature films but his information is also relevant to short films, documentaries, videos, multimedia projects, and theatrical endeavors.
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	All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger: The Shocking True Story of Troma Studios	Imagine Roger Corman and John Waters crossed with Howard Stern--and you'll have an idea of the demented genius behind Troma studios, one of the oldest (and most successful) independent film studios in the world. Lloyd Kaufman's spirited, outrageous, no-holds-barred look at low-budget, guerilla filmmaking is truly an inspiration to young filmmakers, a delight for movie buffs, and an absolute must for Toxic Avenger fans everywhere. This is the true story of the moviemaking maverick who co-founded an independent studio twenty-five years ago in a humble broom closet...who used raw hamburger, Karo syrup blood, and Bromo-Seltzer vomit to create films of questionable artistic and moral value...who is responsible for a string of cult movie hits...who was the first to reject Madonna for a part...who defied the Hollywood system and slapped the face of the industry...and who built a B-movie empire filled with Chopper Chicks, Surf Nazis, Kabuki Cops, Nymphoid Barbarians, and a lone hero known as The Toxic Avenger.
	Alternative Scriptwriting: Successfully Breaking the Rules	Going beyond the conventional three act structure and exploring more inventive approaches, Alternative Scriptwriting challenges readers to take creative risks with genre, tone, character, and structure. It explores mainstream, personal, and experimental narrative forms, surveying both American and international films. In a field where novelty often equals commercial success, scriptwriters frequently strive to create screenplays that are innovative and exceptional.
	The Animation Book : A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking--From Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3-D Animation	The first edition of The Animation Book, published in 1979, became the authoritative guide to making animated movies. Now, as we enter the twenty-first century, the explosion in computer technology has created a corresponding boom in animation. Using desktop hardware and software, animators can easily produce high-quality, high-artistry animation and mix the aesthetics of traditional cel animation with dazzling 3-D effects. Kit Laybourne's digital revision to The Animation Book brings you to the cutting edge of animation technology. Richly illustrated with frame-grabs, production stills, and diagrams, this volume shares Kit's infectious enthusiasm for the limitless possibilities of today's hybrid techniques, and it provides beginning animators with all the information they need to jump in and start their own animation projects. More advanced animators will find The Animation Book to be an invaluable resource with detailed descriptions of filmmaking gear, computer hardware and software, art supplies, plus Internet and other resources.
	Art Of Dramatic Writing : Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives	For many years, Lajos Egri's highly opinionated but very enjoyable The Art of Dramatic Writing has been a well-guarded secret of playwrights, scriptwriters, and writers for television. Unlike many other books on playwrighting (several of which Egri criticizes during the course of this one), the author's systematic breakdown of the essentials for creating successful realistic plays and screenplays effectively demystifies the process of creative writing. Egri, who formulated his thoughts about "a well-made play" during its heyday (the 1940s and '50s), places a premium on an exhaustive analysis of characters and discussion of their psychological motivations. The writer is exhorted to find a premise to explore and to discover which characters will most effectively demonstrate this thesis, then is shown how most effectively to place them into conflict with each other. Conflict itself is also discussed, particularly how to create scenarios in which the crisis develops at a pace that feels unforced and natural. While Egri's view of the well-made play has little space for either the spare musings of Beckett and Pinter or the conscious excesses of non-narrative and other experimental writing, it nonetheless remains an essential text for writers drawn to realistic drama, and to any writer interested in the fundamental motivations of human behavior.
	The Art of Screenwriting	This book carefully explains the mechanics of plot, conflict, structure, form, character, dialogue, film editing, and treatment. It covers the commercial side of screenwriting with sections on marketing, agents, contracts, copyright, and collaboration. The elements of technique and story are emphasized as well as script mechanics, resulting in one of the most intelligent and useful how-to books on writing for the screen yet published.
	Audio Postproduction for Digital Video	Make your soundtracks as good as your pictures with this compendium of professional audio techniques that can be adapted to desktop post. Specializing in sound after the shoot, this book features many practical examples, cookbook recipes, and tutorials. Audio theory, when necessary, is presented in plain English with plenty of visual analogies. FAQs, full explanations, and from-the-trenches tips address the complete range of processes from wiring and hardware to testing the final mix. The one-hour audio CD features platform-independent diagnostics, demonstrations, and tutorial tracks. Novices will learn how to improve their soundtrack-even after the actors have gone home. Experienced producers will learn how to solve technical and creative problems quickly.
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	Basics of Video Lighting	A practical introduction to lighting in a video production, describing the processes and people involved. It discusses simple electrical concepts to illustrate the relationship between lights and camera, then moves on to studio and location lighting techniques and guidance on equipment selection.
	The Beginning Filmaker's Guide to a Successful First Film	Making a first film project can be intimidating task. This book combines classroom theory with practical, hands-on advice to guide students and beginning filmmakers in choosing the right type of project; writing a script that can be produced with the resources and time allotted; and casting the correct actors. Includes a list of more than 35 film festivals nationwide.
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	Cassavetes on Cassavetes	A close look at The godfather of American independent cinema -- in his own words. Since his death in 1989, John Cassavetes has become increasingly renowned as a cinematic hero -- a renegade loner who fought the Hollywood system, steering his own creative course in a career spanning thirty years. Having already established himself as an actor, he struck out as a filmmaker in 1959 with Shadows, and proceeded to build a formidable body of work, including such classics as Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Gloria. Cassavetes on Cassavetes is the autobiography he never lived to write. A triumph of research, eleven years in the making, the book recounts an extraordinary saga: three decades of film history, chronicling the rise of the American independent movement as it was lived by one of its pioneers. Gathering his own interviews with Cassavetes (conducted during the last ten years of the director's life) alongside discussions with artists who worked with him (including Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, and Jon Voight), Ray Carney presents the great filmmaker in his own words -- frank, uncompromising, humane, and passionate about life and art.
	Clearance and Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know	Save yourself thousands of dollars in legal fees by reading this book, which explains how filmmakers can protect themselves and their work from disaster. A Godsend for an independent filmmaker on a tight budget, Clearance & Copyright deciphers complex copyright laws into clear English. Organized in chronological order, this book begins with acquiring material, takes you through your material's development right into copyright infringement issues. While the author doesn't recommend using this book to entirely replace an attorney, it is filled with timesaving forms and enough general knowledge to get you started. Michael Donaldson, a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer, uses real-life examples to illustrate legal issues such as oral and implied contracts and includes samples of contracts such as work-for-hire agreements.
	Color Correction for Digital Video: Using Desktop Tools to Perfect Your Image	Use color to improve your storytelling, deliver critical emotional cues, and add impact to your videos. Beginning with a clear, concise description of color and perception theory, this book shows you how to analyze color correction problems and solve them-whatever NLE or plugin you use. Experienced editors and colorists in their own right, the authors also include the wisdom of top colorists, directors of photography, and color scientists to deliver this insightful and authoritative presentation of the theory and practice of color correction. Optimize the quality of your video with a working understanding of the essential color correction concepts and power-user tips. Learn how to use waveform monitors and vectorscopes as creative tools to analyze your images. Then get your hands dirty with step-by-step explanations of how to employ the entire desktop toolkit including hue offset wheels, color curves, histograms, and luma ranges. Tutorials provide an array of correction techniques and give you experience working through the diagnosis and correction of color problems with your own tools. Primary and secondary spot correction and day for night are only a few of the techniques you will practice while discovering how to improve the color, tonal range, and look of your footage so that even non-uniform, poor-quality video can be seamlessly incorporated into a beautiful, effective, finished piece.
	The Complete Film Production Handbook	The Complete Film Production Handbook is a comprehensive step-by-step guide covering the essentials of the business, from checklists and sample pre-production and post production schedules to contracts and company policies relating to insurance, talent management, and even customs and immigration details. The book contains all of the many necessary forms including SAG, DGA, and WGA forms, together with standard production forms, deal memos, and release forms which are found both in the book and on companion CD. This book provides producers and production managers with both a quick reference and refresher and an easy means of training their production staff on the day to day procedures needed to keep their production running smoothly. It provides film students with an in-depth look at what must be considered and accomplished before a single camera can roll and a more comprehensive understanding of the logistics that are required to complete and deliver a finished picture. First time independent filmmakers will find this the most comprehensive and helpful resource guide available.
	Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Volume 1: The Essentials	Master all the core concepts needed to use After Effects 5.5 on a daily basis, including transformations, keyframing animation, editing layers, masking, track mattes, stencils, nesting, precomposing, transfer modes, effects, adjustment layers, and rendering, plus the major new features Parenting, 3D Layers, Cameras, and Lights. In addition to the new topics, owners of the first edition of CMG will benefit from the updated coverage of such key features as transfer modes, masking, and collapsing transformations. Beginners and students will enjoy the new first chapter, which takes them on a tour through After Effects in the form of creating a mythical television show opening title sequence. The CD includes free plug-ins and keyframe assistants from Boris FX, Walker Effects, Digital Film Tools, The Foundry, Digital Anarchy, and DigiEffects plus inspirational footage from Artbeats, Digital Vision, and EyeWire to experiment with.
	Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Volume 2: Advanced Techniques	Trish and Chris Meyer share a decade of real-world production experience in the critically acclaimed Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects. Learn how the program integrates with other tools in the production flow from award-winning artists who make their living using After Effects. This full-color guide is packed with visual examples, and the enclosed CD-ROM is loaded with projects that encourage you to practice their techniques. In this thoroughly revised second edition, Creating Motion Graphics has been divided into two volumes. Volume 2: Advanced Techniques focuses on core concepts such as alpha channels, type and paint effects, manipulating time and audio, plus Production Bundle features such as color keying and motion tracking. The timeless subjects of video and film are demystified, and the new Expression language is covered in depth. This volume also explores the integration between After Effects and other programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D applications, nonlinear editing systems, and Web tools.
	Creating Unforgettable Characters	In this book, Linda Seger shows how to create strong, multidimensional characters in fiction, covering everything from research to character block. Interviews with today's top writers complete this essential volume.
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	Digital Filmmaking 101: An Essential Guide to Producing Low Budget Movies	Digital Filmmaking 101 reveals an inside look at the secrets of making professional-quality digital moviemaking on ultra-low budgets. How low? How about $10,000 or less? Newton and Gaspard give real-world advice on scripting, financing, casting, production, distribution, trouble-shooting and more using their own "in the trenches" experience. Tired of watching the digital revolution from the sidelines? Grab this book, fire up your camcorder, and make a movie. Dale Newton and John Gaspard, who hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, have produced three ultra-low-budget, feature-length movies and have lived to tell the tale. Their latest movie is the all-digital feature, 'Grown Men'. KEY FEATURES: The perfect companion book for any one who has a digital video camera and a great idea Everything you need to know to get started Written by experienced budget-filmmakers
	The Digital Filmmaking Handbook	Explains how to shoot a movie on digital video and edit it on a computer. Storyboarding, lighting, sound, and software options are discussed. The second edition adds a tutorial that walks through the editing of an entire scene, and moves the chapter on financing to the DVD. The DVD contains demonstration versions of Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Photoshop for Macintosh and Windows.
	Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television	This is essential reading for anyone interested in directing or acting. Judith Weston's brilliance is to recognize that directors, actors, writers, and technicians are involved in a process that is at essence a collaboration. In order for them to have the best shot at creating something true and meaningful, they must share a language and a method of exchange that fosters creative cooperation. Weston rightly sees the director as the central figure in inspiring the energy of a production's harmony. She advises the prospective director on every aspect of a stage or film production, showing how the director can draw the best performances possible from actors.
	Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics	A practical and comprehensive manual that dissolves the barriers between the aesthetic and the technical. Common sense theory of film derived from everyday perceptual experience. Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, Second Edition is a comprehensive manual that teaches the essentials of filmmaking from the perspective of the director. Ideal for film production and directing classes, as well as for professionals with sights on the director's chair, Directing covers all stages of production, from idea development to final cut. Thoroughly covering the basics, Directing guides the reader to professional standards of control and goes to the heart of what makes a great director. All the 'how-to' information is unified by a theory that naturally links personal experience and vision to the director's decision making and stresses that understanding one's own emotional and perceptual processes is the key to individuality on the screen and to success with audiences.
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	Editing Digital Video : The Complete Creative and Technical Guide	Editing Digital Video" is a great book for the beginning/intermediate editor. One of the big attractions of this book is the fact that it doesn't concentrate on any one editing system but instead teaches the general principals of editing. This is a great reference book, even if you have been editing for years
	The Elements of Style	Composition teachers throughout the English-speaking world have been pushing this book on their students since it was first published in 1957. Co-author White later revised it, and it remains the most compact and lucid handbook we have for matters of basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style.
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	Fade In: The Screenwriting Process	Fade In is a concise, step-by-step method for developing a 'story concept' into a finished screenplay. This book provides aspiring screenwriters with an insight into the writing form and writing process. While it is intended as a solid foundation, it is to be used only as a guideline: a writer's main goal is to tell a story that will engage the reader.
	Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices: How to Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Promote a Feature-Lenth Movie for Less Than $15,000	In this revised and updated edition of Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices, Rick Schmidt shows aspiring filmmakers step-by-step how to create a feature film for the price of a used car. Featuring extensive new material on using digital video technology and making the most of Internet resources, Schmidt's practical, no-nonsense handbook reveals the insider secrets to: Selecting and writing a story that can be produced on a tight budget Rallying a filmmaking team through creative contracts Shooting and editing with an original style Marketing the finished film and dealing with agents Making a collaborative feature
	Film Budgeting: Or, How Much It Will Cost to Shoot Your Movie?	The most complete, reliable and comprehensive trade book about budgeting motion pictures.
	Film Directing, Cinematic Motion: A Workshop for Staging Scenes	This is practical guide addresses problems encountered when staging and blocking scenes. Includes discussions of scheduling, staging without dialogue, choreography, sequence shots, and more.
	Film Directing Shot by Shot : Visualizing from Concept to Screen	A complete catalogue of motion picture techniques for filmmakers. It concentrates on the 'storytelling' school of filmmaking, utilizing the work of the great stylists who established the versatile vocabulary of technique that has dominated the movies since 1915. This graphic approach includes comparisons of style by interpreting a 'model script', created for the book, in storyboard form.
	The Film Director's Team	The production manager and the assistant director are the all-important, publicly unheralded members of the film director's team who oversee and regulate the ever-shifting, day-to-day production activities. Their work is absolutely essential to the smooth operation and successful completion of any film. The Film Director's Team is the first in-depth and thorough study of these jobs. It is a must-read guide for all who contemplate working as production managers or assistant directors, as well as for students of film directing and film production. It's wealth of information includes dedtailed, practical discussions of cost reporting, script breakdown, production boards, scheduling, production reports, and much more.
	Film Scheduling: Or, How Long Will It Take to Shoot Your Movie?	How to create a production board, shot-by-shot, day-by-day to turn a shooting schedule into a workable production schedule.
	Film-Video Terms and Concepts (Focal Handbooks)	Filmmakers and videographers must know and understand hundreds of terms to survive in the competitive world of motion picture and television production. This invaluable reference clearly defines and illustrates more than 1,000 of the most commonly used terms and phrases.
	The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age	For the first time since its publication in 1984, The Filmmaker's Handbook--the classic volume highlighting the techniques and technologies needed for the creation and production of movies--has been completely revised and updated. Written by filmmakers for filmmakers, this essential text now includes the latest information on digital age filmmaking, where the shifting boundaries between film, video, and computer systems have introduced a wide range of methods and equipment every filmmaker must master to be competitive. This comprehensive reference guide addresses the techniques necessary to make feature, documentary, industrial, and experimental films while detailing the possibilities and limitations of various formats. New chapters spotlight video camera and video editing, essential information for modern film students and makers who focus on video production exclusively. The Filmmaker's Handbook is the perfect primer to guide novices and professionals alike into the twenty-first century of motion picture production.
	Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents	The third edition of Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents contains completely revised and updated financial and industry data. With its easy-to-follow format and its step-by-step approach, this book teaches readers how to create a business plan that can be presented to a potential investor. Whether you want to create a plan for one film or multiple films, this unique guide bridges the gap between the filmmaker and the business. Each chapter concentrates on a specific section of the business plan, such as the executive summary, industry, market, distribution financial planning, etc. A sample business plan provides readers with a reference as they write their own plans. This book provides information needed for approaching potential investors, including: defining goals and objectives, describing proposed films, researching markets and distribution systems, developing complete financial projections, and applying the plan to the management of one's company. The third edition also includes a new chapter on the growing use of the Internet as an outlet for film.
	Filmmaking for Dummies	Guide to filmmaking written in plain English. Shows how to develop a project, pitch it, obtain financing, hire a cast and crew, shoot and edit the film, and distribute it.
	The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques	The Five C's is one of the most widely respected books on filmmaking ever published. With the aid of hundreds of photographs and diagrams, it clearly and concisely presents the essential concepts and techniques of motion picture camerawork and the allied areas of filmmaking that they interact with and impact. Branching out from five central subject areas, the five C's--Camera Angles, Conitinuity, Cutting, Close-Ups, Composition--Mascelli offers filmmakers a detailed and practical course in visual thinking.
	The Five Essential Steps in Digital Video	Five Essential Steps in Digital Video is packed full of information for the novice to the seasoned producer. It covers the basics of DV technology and choosing the right equipment to planning your budget, digitizing your own music, and acquiring resources online. Selling a project has also been transformed by the Internet and the author explains which means of distribution would be the best for the reader's project.
	From Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film	Based on his acclaimed "2-Day Film School"(tm), Dov S-S Simens serves up a flawless and detailed blueprint for creating successful independent films. With his signature in-your-face, no-holds-barred advice, the Godfather of Independent Film teaches readers everything they need to know to create full-length feature films. From screenwriting ("There are two types of scripts: It's great or it sucks!") to distribution ("Who are the whores of Hollywood?"), Simens provides encyclopedic, precise, and creative instruction for making a vision a reality. By the end of the book, readers will know exactly what to do to make their films.
	Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner	The 1992 release of the "Director's Cut" only confirmed what the international film cognoscenti have know all along: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick's brilliant and troubling SF novel Do Androids Dream ofElectric Sheep, still rules as the most visually dense, thematically challenging, and influential SF film ever made. Future Noir is the story of that triumph. The making of Blade Runner was a seven-year odyssey that would test the stamina and the imagination of writers, producers, special effects wizards, and the most innovative art directors and set designers in the industry. A fascinating look at the ever-shifting interface between commerce and the art that is modern Hollywood, Future Noir is the intense, intimate, anything-but-glamerous inside account of how the work of SF's most uncompromising author was transformed into a critical sensation, a commercial success, and a cult classic.
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	Hollywood 101 : The Film Industry	Looking for a career in the film business? Look no further. Making it in Hollywood is possible. But only if you have a workable strategy. When author Frederick Levy launched his own fledgling career, he didnt' know a soul in the business. But that didn't stop him and it doesn't have to stop you. Hollywood 101 is a complete game plan for getting your foot in the door of the film industry. With fascinating inside stories and advice from key players, it takes you step-by-step up the ladder of success. Whether you aspire to be a producer, director, writer, talent agent, and any other behind-the-camera professional, this is the one book you need to turn your "reel" dreams into reality!
	How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime	Independent filmmaker Corman ( The Beast ; The Little Shop of Horrors ) wrongly argues here that his is not "one of the more significant careers in film history." Having helped launch directors Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich and Martin Scorsese, and actors Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Sylvester Stallone, he is certainly one of the motive forces in American movies today. In this revealing autobiography, written with the coauthor of Papa John , Corman tells amazing tales of shooting full-length films in mere days with budgets under $100,000, and states his conviction that cinema is a fusion of art and money--which explains, he believes, why Americans do it so well. This account of Corman's life and career includes reminiscences by those who have worked with him: performers, directors, assistant producers, writers. The book is a significant contribution to the history of American movies.
	How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make	Finally, what may be the last screenwriting book a writer will ever need to buy! Written by a Hollywood screenwriter, How NOT to Write A Screenplay carefully identifies and examines the common mistakes screenwriters invariably make when writing a screenplay.
	How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 (And Not Go to Jail)	Right now, you're wondering, "Gee, what kind of information is in this cute yet stylish guide?" Sure, there are a bunch of other books that will take you through the filmmaking process, and if your name is Beaver Cleaver, you might be interested in them. But you should know that filmmaking is a war, and this book will lead you through it like no other. These pages contain information learned from years spent in the filmmaking trenches. Anyone with a credit card can rent a camera and buy film stock -- but who can: Rent a camera for two weeks and pay for only two days? Set the exposure on the camera without a light meter? Feed a crew of twenty with yesterday's chicken soup? Not many. You want more? Then turn the book over and crack her open. Still here? Fine -- we'll do it the hard way: This book will tell you how to shoot a sex scene, tell you what a stinger is. And if you need help writing your script, we'll give you some scenes to copy right into your screen-play -- and yes, we even provide the characters. In short, everything you need to know about filmmaking in the real world is in this book. Everything. We'll even help you select the proper baseball cap so you can look like a big-time director. Now start reading. Let's make film history.
	How to Write a Movie in 21 Days	No book can find your ideas for you, but this one provides a great service in helping you discover and develop a story, and to come up with the completed script. King helps you learn to think cinematically, in the language of the movies, and to keep asking the essential questions as they work: What's the story? Who is the story about? Do you care about the characters? Does anyone? King also tries to help you survive not just the structural pitfalls that can derail a script, but also the mental or emotional whirlpools that can prevent any artist from finishing a project.
	How to Write a Selling Screenplay	Christopher Keane has spent 20 years in the business, learning the truths--and the tricks--of writing a selling screenplay. In How to Write a Selling Screenplay, he takes writers through the entire process, from developing a story to finding the best agent. Using an annotated version of an often-optioned screenplay of his own, and citing examples from movies ranging from Casablanca and Lethal Weapon to Sling Blade and The English Patient, he discusses how to create three-dimensional characters, find a compelling story, build an airtight plot structure, fine-tune dialogue, and much more. Keane's tips on the difference between writing for film and television, as well as his advice on dealing with Hollywood movers and shakers, make this an essential companion for people writing their first--or their fortieth--screenplay.
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	Independent Feature Film Production : A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution	This new edition of the filmmaker's bible has been completely updated to reflect changes in every aspect of the moviemaking process.
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	Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434: The Industry's Top Teacher Reveals the Secrets of the Successful Screenplay	For decades, Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434 class at UCLA has been the premier screenwriting course, launching a generation of the industry's most frequently produced writers. Here, he shares the secrets of his course on the screenwriting process by actually writing an original script, step by step, that appears in the book.
	Lighting for Digital Video & Television	Get a great picture out of any camera Advanced film-style lighting Problem-solving tips Lighting equipment and creative techniques from A to Z! This complete course in digital video and television lighting begins with how the human eye and the camera process light and color, progresses through the basics of equipment and setups, and culminates with practical lessons on how to solve common problems. You get clear illustrations and real-world examples that demonstrate proper equipment use, safety issues, and staging techniques - peppered with anecdotes and lighting secrets that reveal how Hollywood pros get great pictures out of any camera. Enhance the visual quality of your work with a solid understanding of the fundamentals including how DV exposures differ from analog video or film. Work more efficiently with a comprehensive guide to the nuts and volts of the trade -everything from electrical connectors to the oddball pieces of "gaffer gear." Be resourceful with creative use of lighting controls such as flags, cookies, and scrims. Develop diagnostic and problem-solving skills with a special section that tackles typical problems in a way that helps you learn how to create your own workable field solutions.
	Location Scouting and Management Handbook : Television, Film and Still Photography	Discover what makes an excellent location, how to manage the location and how to handle any problems that might come up. This book provides an in-depth, practical look at location scouting and management. Written with many years of scouting experience in mind, the author has imparted much professional 'savvy' that beginning or experienced scouts or location managers will find invaluable to finding and keeping their next scouting assignment. Handles both the jobs of the location scout and the location manager. Step-by-step approach gives a realistic view of the process of location scouting and management
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	Make Your Own Damn Movie!: Secrets of a Renegade Director	The experience of low-budget filmmaking is so bad it's good. This is the central bit of wisdom writer/producer/director Kaufman (his credits include The Toxic Avenger; Class of Nuke 'Em High; Tromeo and Juliet) gives in this riotous book. Equal parts how-to, memoir and shrewd marketing stunt, it tells young filmmakers to lower their expectations. Taking a reverse-inspirational tack, Kaufman admits indie films probably won't make you rich, famous, happy or very many friends. For emphasis, he begins with an image of him shoveling rat poop from the basement of Troma Studios and closes with a suicide dream sequence. It is to the tremendous credit of Kaufman's profane, self-deprecating, caustic but charismatic sense of humor that the book's opening, closing and everything else in between manages to make the low-budget filmmaking process seem like the most glorious and noble of life pursuits. Seven different contributors regularly interrupt Kaufman with commentary on aspects of the filmmaking process in general and Kaufman in particular. (He's both inspirational and profoundly cheap.) At one point, an argument that's been brewing between coauthor Haaga and Kaufman about whether film or digital video is better dissolves into a five-page, farcical cursing contest. Like the work he pursues, Kaufman's book is at times so bad it's good.
	Making a Good Script Great	This expanded guide offers genuinely useful insights into the complete screenwriting process from first draft through shooting draft. Everyone, from writer to producer, can benefit from the writing and rewriting suggestions offered by the premier Hollywood script consultant's prescription for adding life, color, and style to your writing.
	Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos : A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries of Real Events	Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos is the perfect text for students of filmmaking who would like to make a documentary. Barry Hampe, who has made more than 150 documentary films and videos, traces the two main approaches to documentary--recording behavior and re-creating past events—and shows students how to do both effectively. Covering all the steps, from conceptualization to completion, the book includes chapters on visual evidence; documentary ethics; why reality is not enough; budgeting; and casting, crew, and equipment selection.
	Making Movies	From one of America's most acclaimed directors comes a book that is both a professional memoir and a definitive guide to the art, craft, and business of the motion picture. Drawing on 40 years of experience on movies ranging from Long Day's Journey Into Night to The Verdict, Lumet explains the painstaking labor that results in two hours of screen magic.
	Making Movies on Your Own: Practical Talk from Independent Filmmakers	In this work, J.R. Bookwalter, Ronnie Cramer, Mike Gingold, Eric Stanze, Steve Ballot, and 19 others tell what it is really like to make an independent feature. Covering such topics as the script, equipment, actors, publicity, distribution, all facets of production, and budgeting, these indie filmmakers give a virtual how-to for those interested in joining them or just learning more about how those interesting titles end up on video store shelves.
	Matters of Light & Depth	Called "essentially practical & practically essential," Ross Lowell's critically acclaimed Matters of Light & Depth is now being published by Lowel-Light. Filled with illustrations, photographs, and decades of real world experience, the book has become a valuable resource for all those interested in expanding their knowledge of lighting.
	Moviemakers' Master Class: Private Lessons from the World's Foremost Directors	Each great filmmaker has a secret method to his moviemaking--but each of them is different. In Moviemaker Master Class, Laurent Tirard talks to twenty of today's most important filmmakers to get to the core of each director's approach to film, exploring the filmmaker's vision as well as his technique, while allowing each man to speak in his own voice. Martin Scorsese likes setting up each shot very precisely ahead of time--so that he has the opportunity to change it all if he sees the need. Lars Von Trier, on the other hand, refuses to think about a shot until the actual moment of filming. And Bernardo Bertolucci tries to dream his shots the night before; if that doesn't work, he roams the set alone with a viewfinder, imagining the scene before the actors and crew join him. In these interviews--which originally appeared in the French film magazine Studio and are being published here in English for the first time--enhanced by exceptional photographs of the directors at work, Laurent Tirard has succeeded in finding out what makes each filmmaker--and his films--so extraordinary, shedding light on both the process and the people behind great moviemaking.
	My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First Film	In these vivid and revealing interviews, a diverse collection of filmmakers talk in extraordinary detail and with amazing candor about making their first films. Each chapter focuses on a director's celebrated debut and tells the inside story of the film's creation. Along the way, every aspect of the movie industry is explored-from writing the script and raising the money to casting the actors and assembling the crew, from shooting and editing to selling the movie and screening it. These interviews are not only memoirs of particular movies; each one is also an emotional journey in which the director relives the pain and elation, the comedy and tragedy, of making a first feature film.
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	Nonlinear Editing: Storytelling, Aesthetics, & Craft	Chock full of provocative ideas, insights, resources, tools, and exercises, this book will serve as your virtual mentor inspiring you to making better decisions in the edit bay and in your career. Hone your instincts. Know where to cut - and when not to cut. Boost your confidence in your aesthetic decisions so you can effectively collaborate in the brotherhood of filmmaking. Pursue your craft and perpetuate your career by learning how to work with clients, manage the chaos, and get still more business. Editor, director, producer, or screenwriter - whatever your venue - take stock of the theories, precedents, processes, and politics that have shaped your voice and discover how the keystrokes of an NLE can articulate it. Gather your tools, plan your process, and listen to your collaborators, the camera, light, and actors. Learn how you can employ myth in storytelling, overcome story problems, and present your narrative with elegant transitions, color and composition, compositing, and sound.
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	On Directing Film	According to David Mamet, a film director must, above all things, think visually. Most of this instructive and funny book is written in dialogue form and based on film classes Mamet taught at Columbia University. He encourages his students to tell their stories not with words, but through the juxtaposition of uninflected images. The best films, Mamet argues, are composed of simple shots. The great filmmaker understands that the burden of cinematic storytelling lies less in the individual shot than in the collective meaning that shots convey when they are edited together. Mamet borrows many of his ideas about directing, writing, and acting from Russian masters such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, Sergei M. Eisenstein, and Vsevelod Pudovkin, but he presents his material in so delightful and lively a fashion that he revitalizes it for the contemporary reader.
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	Practical DV Filmmaking: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners (Book & CD-ROM)	A guide for the complete beginner, Practical DV Filmmaking provides a practical guide to the process of making a film with low-cost digital equipment: from development through to production, post-production and distribution. Whilst the technical tools you need are fully explained, the book concentrates on filmmaking principles throughout, illustrating how these tools can be used to achieve stylistic approaches for innovative filmmaking.
	The Producer's Business Handbook (Book & CD-ROM)	The Producer's Business Handbook delivers filmmakers a comprehensive examination of the business of entertainment and provides the information and tools required to engage all related aspects of global production and exploitation. Together with its companion CD-ROM, this handbook presents both instruction and worksheet support to independent producers at all levels of experience. The handbook also provides a global orientation to the relationships that the most successful producers have with the various participants in the motion picture industry. This includes how producers direct their relationships with domestic and foreign studios, agencies, attorneys, talent, completion guarantors, banks, and private investors. It provides a thorough orientation to operating production development and single purpose producing companies, from solicitation of literary properties through direct rights sales, and the management of global distribution relationships. Also presented is an in-depth discussion of the team roles needed to operate these companies, as well as how to attach and direct them. Worksheets and instructions are included for the business processes of development and production financing operations that are used by many of the industry's consistently profitable companies. The companion CD-ROM features extremely valuable spreadsheets available nowhere else, including the bank financing worksheet and the producer's share analysis and internal greenlight summary, the development and production activity projection spreadsheet, the development and production cash flow projection worksheet, and other breakthrough forms. This interactive CD-ROM also provides examples and exercises using the various worksheets provided.
	Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video	Considered by many to be the definitive book on the subject, Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video, Second Edition clearly illustrates all of the steps involved in preproduction, production, postproduction, and distribution. Its unique two-fold approach looks at filmmaking from the perspectives of both producer and director, and explains how their separate energies must combine to create a successful short film or video-all the way from script to final product. This guide offers extensive examples from two award-winning short narrative films (Lunch Date and Truman) and one short documentary (Mirror Mirror), and includes insightful quotes from the filmmakers themselves describing the problems they encountered and how they solved them. This edition expands on the director's role in pre-visualizing a project, aided by the addition of more than 50 new photos and illustrations. Issues such as storyboarding, lighting, and composition are addressed in detail. Other additions and enhancements include a discussion of the evolving role of digital technology on all aspects of production from script to screen.
	Producing, Financing, and Distributing Film/a Comprehensive Legal and Business Guide	There are so many film programs in the country but hardly any that provide the insight into the finance and legalities of the industry. This book is a problem solver. Baumgarten's, Farber's and Fleischer's approach towards the business aspects of filmmaking is an insightful one and it provides vital information, especially for those who are just about to get their feet wet. Highly recommended to all film students and especially to those who are concentrating in producing and directing.
	Producing Great Sound for Digital Video	Make your video project sound as good as it looks with this complete audio training course. You get hundreds of professional, real-world techniques that you can employ from pre-production through the final mix. This is a solution-oriented guide with FAQs, how-tos, tips, and time savers. The audio CD features platform-independent diagnostics, demonstrations, and tutorial tracks that you can use to hone your skills. You get a primer on how sound and digital audio work as well as technical setups, guidelines, and real solutions for: · budgeting, scheduling, and pre-production planning · microphones and room acoustics · recording dialog, voice-overs, ADR, and effects · postproduction hardware · levels and digitizing · working with music and sound effects · producing the final mix.
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	Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player	In Rebel Without a Crew, screenwriter and director Robert Rodriguez discloses all the unique strategies and original techniques he used to make his remarkable debut film, El Mariachi, on a shoestring budget. This is both one man's remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through.
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	The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script	The Screenwriter's Bible is six books in one. Book 1 -- A screenwriting primer that provides a concise presentation of screenwriting basics. Book 2 -- A workbook that walks the writer through the writing process, from nascent ideas through revisions. Book 3 -- A formatting guide that presents correct formats for both screenplays and TV scripts. Book 4 -- A spec writing guide that demonstrates today's spec style through sample scenes and analysis. Book 5 -- A sales and marketing guide that presents proven strategies to help you create a laser-sharp marketing plan. Book 6 -- A resource guide that provides addresses and contacts for industry organizations, schools, publications, support groups, services, contests, etc. Among its wealth of practical information are sample query letters, useful worksheets and checklists, hundreds of examples, sample scenes, and straightforward explanations of screenwriting fundamentals. The "Bible" was a featured selection of The Writer's Digest Book Club.
	Screenwriting for Dummies	Includes all the essentials for writing a screenplay, from crafting dialogue to marketing a script Packed with easy-to-understand guidelines and writing projects, Screenwriting For Dummies makes film writing accessible to novices and helps more experienced writers improve their scripts. This engaging guide walks readers through the essential elements of every good screenplay, from character development, to creating a story, to writing compelling dialogue, to adopting a screenplay from a different source. It also includes all the specific formatting details that go into writing a visual screenplay from scripting character introductions, to writing the camera into the script, to creating a cinematic collage. In addition, Screenwriting For Dummies covers the important task of selling a screenplay, including tips for getting a spec script into the proper marketing format, protecting intellectual property rights, and securing an agent.
	The Secrets Of Action Screenwriting	240 pages packed with techniques and tips for screenwriters, focusing on the action, thriller and suspense genres. No theories! Only actual techniques! The ultimate HOW TO screenwriting book! Creating the ultimate villain, harvesting the audience's secrets desires or hidden fears to create a hit film, how to write a plot twist, the four kinds of suspense, using reversals to keep your descriptions exciting, four ways to explode cliches, the two types of heroes, ten ways to create exciting action scenes, using secrets and lies, weapons for weirdos, instant character identifiers, your script's DNA, 16 steps to better description, pacing secrets, rugpulls, visual characterization, "Popeye" points, and more! "Secrets Of Action Screenwriting" was written by a working professional screenwriter with seventeen produced films. He knows what works!
	Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should Know	Setting Up Your Shots is a complete visual encyclopedia of creative camera set ups and moves every filmmaker and cinema fan will want to own. Over 100 storyboards with simple descriptions have been especially designed for this book. They show filmmakers, home video buffs and cinema fans how to achieve an incredible number of effects, images and compositions.
	Shoot Out: Surviving Game and (Mis)Fortune in Hollywood	Hollywood calls it the "shoot out"... the point during the making of a movie when star-fits and power struggles turn into standoffs, walk-outs, and clashing egos. How a film ever gets made is a wonder. Leave it to two industry icons to unreel the true story...
	Special Effects: The History and Technique	Spanning the rich history of movie magic, from George Mlis's A Trip to the Moon to George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace, and the Wachowski Brothers' The Matrix, this completely up-to-date guide to visual trickery is unparalleled in scope, presenting a clearly written, lushly illustrated chronicle of special effects development over ten decades of filmmaking. Starting with the earliest use of smoke and mirrors in silent films, the book goes behind the scenes to reveal the methods used in creating the cinematic world of make-believe, ranging from optical composing animation, sound effects, model-making, special-effects makeup, and matte painting to the most astounding electronic innovations seen in blockbuster movies now hitting movie screens. Packed with information obtained from hundreds of interviews with both the legendary and current leading names in the field of special effects production, the book includes illustrations showing, by the use of unique segments of photographs, many never before available in print, how many of the effects are achieved. This dazzling volume, as entertaining as the films it covers, is a must for lovers of movie fantasy, students of film and popular culture, and amateur filmmakers.
	Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting	Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni.Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.
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	The Total Film-Maker	The Total Film-Maker. Jerry's book on film-making, taken from 480 hours of audio tape, recorded as Jerry taught film-making at the University of Southern California, 1971.
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	The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide	The recent boom in independent filmmaking has been both a boon and an added challenge for aspiring directors. While the chic status of festivals like Sundance makes it easier for a few hot new directors to find major distributors, other worthy films risk being lost amid a sudden flood of contenders. Chris Gore, editor of Film Threat magazine, has written the Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide to help the aspiring auteur rise above the tide. The book is chock-full of practical down-and-dirty advice. Every aspect of submitting to and attending film festivals is covered, from an exhaustive listing of festivals and their entry deadlines (the Turku, Finland, Lesbian and Gay Film Festival deadline is in July, so get cracking) to what to wear to the industry party you'll be crashing (big pants with big pockets, the better to stash giveaways and whip out business cards). You can even find a listing for the best bar in the Ukraine (Eric's in Kyiv) and a sidebar of handy tips that will keep you on your projectionist's good side.
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	What They Don't Teach You At Film School: 161 Strategies to Making Your Own Movie ....	Two filmmakers who've beaten the system give the real dope on what it takes to get your movie made. Do you have to go to film school to get your movies made? No, say two young entrepreneurs who survived the grind. Here they offer 140 strategies for making movies no matter what. Amateurs as well as seasoned veterans can pick up this entertaining and incredibly useful guide in any place--at any point of crisis--and find tactics that work. Whether it's raising money or cutting your budget; dealing with angry landlords or angry cops; or jump-starting the production or stalling it while you finish the script, these strategies are delivered with funny, illustrative anecdotes from the authors' experiences and from veteran filmmakers eager to share their stories. Irreverent, invaluable, and a lot cheaper than a year's tuition, this friendly guide is the smartest investment any future filmmaker could make.
	Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters	For filmmakers wanting to break into Hollywood with a short film rather than a long screenplay.
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