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Don't get me wrong here. I'm not taking the piss, but what can you learn from a book (the shot by shot one) that you can't learn from watching any film around? And isn't it better to learn it practically than reading it from a book? You know, come up with something original.
Anyway, got that off my chest.
joel
I saw the film Living Spirit shot in Wales with Harrison Ford's brother. The first few scenes are horribly amateurish, but once the action moves to the "island" it picks up a bit and is fairly entertaining.
The thing about The Guerilla Film-makers Handbook is that it's more a book for producers, not directors. It doesn't tell you how to DIRECT a film, it's more to do with getting finance, equipment etc. in place. They leave the artistic side up to you. So people who want to be directors but don't know how to direct won't find it all that helpful.
if you want to be a director, knowing how to produce is important too. I want to get my own project off the ground but don't have a partner so I need all the guidence I can get with regards to finance, hiring actors and equipment hire, etc. Directing comes down to understanding your script and knowing what you want.
In reply to Joel Cox,
I cant believe you put that down
Main thing i got from those books were communciating my ideas to other, through use of action lines and the correct terminology for shots, the books handy as it has the full break down of the human body into shots and break down of scenes. knowing the correct terminologyu is invaluable when communicating to other crew members especially camera man and DOP.
Reading and researching your craft is invaluable and is jsut as important as practical experience,
Film is to expensive to jsut go out there with a trial and error attitude
and you cant learn the whole film making process jsut from simple watching a film.
[This message has been edited by Chance1234 (edited August 10, 2000).]
Read "Rebel Without A Crew" to get inspired, feel like King of the World (sod off, Cameron!) and start making your movie.
Then read "The Guerilla Filmmakers' Handbook" for a hefty dose of reality from a UK perspective. Also, teh list of contatcs in the back is very useful.
In reply to Joel cox
How on earth can you say that reading books is a bad learning tool. Experience is important but why try to reinvent the wheel, when its already invented ? A lot of knowledge can be had by reading about other peoples mistake and their successes. Isnt reading a web page or even this forum about learning.
You have to learn to walk before you can run!
P.s. dont take this reply too personal. Its just more people should be encouraged to read.
I received this book today from Amazon. It's a good realistic read and knowing about the stuff involved after making a film is giving me a bad head.
Interesting discussion.
I personally have read the GFMHB and have just ordered the second edition. To be honest I found it very inspiring. I do, however, agree that, having read it, you do realise that it all comes down to what you take out of your twisted imagination and commit to paper. The interviews and case studies, I found, helped to disolve part of the mountain of questions about how to go about making the film to a professional standard once you have a full screen play.
I was also fascinated to see their first film but can't seem to find it anywhere.
I heard that it was a bit of a shambles but I guess that is fair enough when, as they said, only two of their crew had worked on a film before. Any ideas where I could get a copy from?
Like all these things, its easier to talk about it (or write a book) than do it.