Tag: books

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The 21 Best Books on Filmmaking.

There’s no question that the best way to learn about filmmaking is to shoot, edit and make a lot of useful mistakes. The second best way is to watch movies, especially with commentaries so we can learn about the challenges other people have and how they solved them. And the third approach is to read great books.

Today’s post is a simple list of the filmmaking books that have inspired me over the years, and that I recommend or gift most often. Here we go!

The Books

Perhaps the two books Ive gifted the most are The Filmmaker’s Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition by Gustavo Mercado, which is essentially about “Understanding the rules of cinematography and how to successfully break them. and Rebel without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez.

Christopher Kenworthy has  authored two books I consider outstanding: 100 Ways to Shoot Great Dialogue Scenes and Master Shots: 100 Advanced Camera Techniques to Get An Expensive Look on your Low Budget Movie. Both are truly inspiring.

The more I learn about editing, the more efficient I am as a director of photography. There are three books I’d highly recommend: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know by Gael Chandler, The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice by Ken Dancyger, and In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch.

If you are interested in directing, Michael Rabiger’s Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steve Katz, and Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television by Judith Weston.

For those interested in production, The Big Picture: Filmmaking Lessons from a Life on the Set by Tom Reilly, The Complete Film Production Handbook by Eve Light Honthaner, and Making Movies by Sidney Lumet.

There are lots of technical books that are too hard to digest. A few exceptions are The Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema by Alexis Van Hurkman Cutting Rhythms: Shaping the Film Edit by Karen Pearlman
and Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors by Blain Brown

To understand the power of color as a storytelling tool, there’s no better resource than If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die by Patti Bellantoni.

And last but not least, really fun books that deliver lots of educational content even though they are not “technical”: Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions by Guillermo del Toro, The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers by Mark T. Conard, Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut, and Something Like An Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa.

The complete list is available here. If you know of an amazing book that I’ve missed please recommend it to me.

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Marketing in 5 Steps.

Seth Godin

For the past six (or it’s been seven? eight?) weeks, I’ve investing my time reading a lot, writing a bit, but mostly thinking. I picked some marketing books that would inspire me to think more creatively, to look for new ideas, to imagine bigger dreams and set new goals. Then I’ve been trying to bring those ideas down to earth, connect the dots, and make something happen.

Today I’d like to recommend three excellent marketing classics, all by Al Ries: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, and Focus.

There’s another book that I enjoyed very much a few years ago, but this time has felt a bit “slow” or perhaps dated: The Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim.

But there’s a fifth book, SO good, SO timely, SO jam-packed with useful and actionable ideas that it deserved writing a blog post, the one you are reading. That awesome book is “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin.

Almost every day I’be been going out for very long walks. The first chapter alone is so good that I also bought the audiobook version, and this is the only book I’ve been listening to.

Let me share some Seth Godin’s gems:

“The marketing that has suffused our entire lives is not the marketing that you want to do. The shortcuts using money to buy attention to sell average stuff to average people are an artifact of another time not the one we live in now. “

“Good marketers don’t use consumers to solve their company’s problem. They use marketing to solve other people’s problems.”

“People like us do things like this” is how each of us understands culture.

“Begin by organizing a tightly knit group, by getting people in sync. Culture beats strategy so much that culture IS strategy. “

“Who’s it for and what’s it for are the two questions that guide all of our decisions.”

Priceless. Straight to the point. And very true. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:

The 5 marketing steps suggested by Seth Godin.

  1. Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling, and a contribution worth talking about.
  2. Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from, and care about.
  3. Tell a story that matches the built-in narrative and dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest viable market.
  4. Spread the word.
  5. Show up. Regularly, consistently and generously. Organize, lead and build confidence in the change you seek to make. Earn permission to follow up, and to earn enrollment, to teach.

Why is this book so impactful to me? Because Seth’s advice is precisely what I’m hoping to do with THIS website. I’d like to connect with other creative people who emphasize story over gear. To find interesting people who do amazing things and help them reach wider audiences. To build a small tribe where we can safely share our experiences, good and bad, cool techniques and time-saving tricks, so we can grow together and spend more time doing creative things and less fighting with cables and firmware updates.

It might take a long time, and I might not be able to achieve it, but I can promise I’ll give you my best. One more, for the road:

“We don’t need to rely on the shiniest, latest digital media shortcut. We have even more powerful, nuanced, and timeless tools at our disposal: we tell stories, stories that resonate and hold up over time, stories that are true because we made them true, with our actions, and our products, and our services.”

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The Inner Game of Tennis.

Tennis? What? Did I come to the right website?

Yes. Chill and hear me out.

About two months ago I shot an interview with a highly successful businessman. The interviewer asked this gentleman “is there a book that you’d recommend to anyone starting or running a business?”

And he answered “Absolutely! I’ve read, re-read, and gifted “The Inner Game of Tennis” many many times in the past 20 years.”

Twenty years? I thought. How come I’ve never heard of this book? And tennis? Nonsense.

Until this past weekend, that is, when I found the audiobook version, and could not do anything else, but listen carefully and take LOTS of notes. The book is truly fantastic.

Here’s the first minute of “The Inner Game of Tennis” audiobook’s introduction and the transcript.

“Every game is composed of two parts an outer game and an inner game. The outer game is played against an external opponent to overcome external obstacles and to reach an external goal. Mastering this game is the subject of many books offering instructions on how to swing a racquet club or bat and how to position arms legs or torso to achieve the best results. But for some reason most of us find these instructions easier to remember than to execute. It is the thesis of this book that neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to the relatively neglected skills of the inner game. This is the game that takes place in the mind of the player and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self condemnation. In short it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence and performance. We often wonder why we play so well one day and so poorly the next or why we clutch during competition or blow easy shots. And why does it take so long to break a bad habit and learn a new one. Victories in the inner game may provide no additions to the trophy case, but they bring valuable rewards which are more permanent, and which can contribute significantly to one’s success. Off the court as well as on.”

Why post a book review on a website for filmmakers? Because the whole book it’s about something I strongly believe; learning how to use the tools of our craft is important, but we should also learn how to control our mind, our inner game in order to craft better stories.

DISCLAIMER
This article is not paid or sponsored by anyone. It reflects my own independent opinion. I only recommend companies and products that I trust. Some links might be affiliates, which means I may get a few pennies if you decide to purchase something.
Thanks in advance for your support!

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