The Documentary Film Makers Handbook: A Guerilla Guide

The Documentary Film Makers Handbook: A Guerilla Guide
Average customer rating:

A Must-Have!

Good Information, But Filled with Typos

So much more than another "how to" book

Great book - interviews are very helpful!
The Documentary Film Makers Handbook: A Guerilla Guide
Genevieve Jolliffe , and Andrew Zinnes
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos, Fourth Edition

Documentary Storytelling, Second Edition: Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films

Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries of Real Events

Directing the Documentary, Fourth Edition

The Art of the Documentary: Ten Conversations with Leading Directors, Cinematographers, Editors, and Producers (VOICES)

ASIN: 0826416659

Book Description

Documentary films have enjoyed a huge resurgence over the last few years, and there's a new generation of filmmakers wanting to get involved. In addition, the digital revolution has made documentaries even more accessible to the general filmmaker. Documentary films can now be shot professionally using cheaper equipment, and smaller cameras enable the documentarian to be less intrusive and therefore more intimate in the subjects' lives. With an increasing number of documentaries making it to the big screen (and enjoying ongoing sales on DVD), the time is right for an information-packed handbook that will guide new filmmakers towards potential artistic and commercial success.

The Documentary Film Makers Handbook features incisive and helpful interviews with dozens of industry professionals, on subjects as diverse as interview techniques, the NBC News Archive, music rights, setting up your own company, the Film Arts Foundation, pitching your proposal, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Channel, the British Film Council, camera hire, filmmaking ethics, working with kids, editing your documentary, and DVD distribution.

The book also includes in-depth case studies of some of the most successful and acclaimed documentary films of recent years, including March of the Penguins, Born Into Brothels, Control Room, Dogtown and Z Boys, My Date With Drew, and many more! The Documentary Film Makers Handbook will be an essential resource for anyone who wants to know more about breaking into this exciting field.

Customer Reviews:

A Must-Have!.......2007-04-01

This book is packed with tons of useful information. We consider ourselves somewhat expererienced documentary film-makers, but it's given us a lot of valuable information we didn't alreadly know, and didn't know who to ask.

Good Information, But Filled with Typos.......2006-12-24

This book is full of great information, but there are many places in the text where there appears to be missing text. e.g. pages 51, 57, 59 where there are little boxes that appear in the middle of sentences & break up the text, sometimes with returns that leave one word on a line. Curious.

So much more than another "how to" book.......2006-11-21

Though this book has plenty of useful resources from writing to funding to filming to distributing your film, what really sets it apart from the rest are the short interviews throughout the book with people from all sections of the industry--not just directors! They generally start off with a simple question--What do you do?--and then quickly gets down to brass tacks and inside dope. It's fascinating stuff...engaging reading isn't exactly what one expects from a "handbook" but they've done it right.

Great book - interviews are very helpful!.......2006-11-17

If you are truly interested in becoming a documentary filmmaker then this is the book for you, whether you are just starting or already well on your way. I found the interviews in the book to be the most helpful and informative. Thanks for putting together such a functional and important guide!

Moviemakers' Master Class: Private Lessons from the World's Foremost Directors

Average customer rating:

Master Class, unmasterly with repetition
Master class for sure!!!
Very telling
Highest possible recommendation
Best conversations with Directors

Moviemakers' Master Class: Private Lessons from the World's Foremost Directors
Laurent Tirard
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Film Director's Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
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My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film

ASIN: 057121102X

Book Description

From Scorsese and Lynch to Wenders and Godard, interviews with twenty of the world's greatest directors on how they make films--and why

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.

Among the other filmmakers included are Woody Allen, Tim Burton, Joel and Ethan Coen, and John Woo.

Customer Reviews:

Master Class, unmasterly with repetition .......2007-10-01

This book is great and has a wealth of insightful conversation with some amazing directors but my one complaint is that the bulk of the book is framed too similarly. While the directors all have their unique take and insights, Tirard essentially asks them all the same questions which leads to repetition over the bulk of the book. In no way am I saying not to purchase this book but I'm simply criticizing it's redundancy.

Master class for sure!!!.......2006-10-18

This is exactly what a moviemakers master class should be. It asks technical and artistic questions to some of the greatest directors of all time.

If you want to hear why Tim Burton likes wide lenses, which contemporary directors Scorsese admires and why, Jean Pierre Jeunet's theory of camera movement, David Lynch's "secret dolly move", John Woo's method of shooting and cutting scenes to music, The Coen brothers writing process, Lars Von Trier's take on the rules of Dogme 95, Jean-Luc Goddard's theory of filmmaking out of desire vs. need, then this book is your ticket.

This is a goldmine of knowledge. There are no fluff interviews here; only the best filmmakers in the world relating solid technical advice and tried and true shooting strategies developed from years of experience.

Very telling.......2006-02-24

Great stuff. Gives a lot of info on each director. For example; Sidney Pollack was an acting coach before he became a director.
This book is filled with insight, knowledge and terrific stories all from the top directors of our time.

Highest possible recommendation.......2005-10-23

What with formal education and all, I don't really have much time for outside reading. It's rare that something is so addictive that it will make me completely ignore my studies, against my better judgement.

This book is fantastic. Not only is it first-hand advice from actual filmmakers, rather than second-hand interpretations from critics or theoreticians (which are both helpful, the latter moreso, and I do read such things), but they are short enough to be digested at any pace whatsoever, and diverse enough to give you multiple perspectives. You get to find out if you're a Scorsese or a Wenders. You also find out that Von Trier is actually a pretty nice guy. Who knew? (Just kidding, I'm a fan).

Anyway, there's really no excuse to read this. It's very inspiring, and it's simple and fun. I read 150 pages or so in one sitting without becoming restless. Go for it.

Best conversations with Directors.......2005-08-30

This is the must read book for any aspiring movie director. It encapsulates the ideas and personal perceptions on presentation of screen story. It's not a book to know nitty gitty technical details, this is a collection of interviews with many directors and their style of making movie, when they talk about it. Same questions have been asked to all directors (Very good questions, no sterio typical questions you see in movie promos).

Get your copy today and enjoy it.

Average customer rating:

Federico Fellini

Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0847818780
Release Date: 1995-07-15

Book Description

This is the first detailed appraisal of Federico Fellini's universe. Collected here, in addition to a biography and filmography, is a wealth of previously unpublished material allowing a detailed and often personal view of the master of cinema.

Published for the first time in these pages are the texts for four films Fellini never made, complete with sketches and notes; and the director's correspondence with other filmmakers, artists, and famous writers. Fellini's descriptions of his dreams, accompanied by splendid drawings, allow a glimpse of the subconscious world that contributed so much to the creation of his films. His comic strips of unmade films provide an intriguing account of his activity in the last years of his life. The filmography is illustrated with posters, sketches, and stills from all of Fellini's masterpieces - including his best-loved La Strada, 8 1/2, The Clowns, La Dolce Vita, Roma, Amarcord, and La Voce Della Luna.

Average customer rating:

Enjoy several hundred pages of swimming around in Werner Herzog's supple mind...
splendid
The Enigma of Werner Herzog
Good look into Herzog's noggin
HEART WARMING AND TOTALLY ESSENTIAL

Herzog on Herzog
Werner Herzog
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Werner Herzog Collection
Werner Herzog (Arte Edition)
Lynch on Lynch, Revised Edition
Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski: A Film Legacy
The Wild Blue Yonder

ASIN: 0571207081

Book Description

An invaluable set of career-length interviews with the German genius hailed by François Truffaut as “the most important film director alive”

Most of what we’ve heard about Werner Herzog is untrue. The sheer number of false rumors and downright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog’s body of work is one of the most important in postwar European cinema.

His international breakthrough came in 1973 with Aguirre, The Wrath of God, in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalized, and two years later he hypnotized his entire cast to make Heart of Glass. He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film La Soufrière, paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of Nosferatu, and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for Fitzcarraldo. More recently, Herzog has made extraordinary “documentary” films such as Little Dieter Needs to Fly. His place in cinema history is assured, and Paul Cronin’s volume of dialogues provides a forum for Herzog’s fascinating views on the things, ideas, and people that have preoccupied him for so many years.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoy several hundred pages of swimming around in Werner Herzog's supple mind..........2006-12-20

Author Paul Cronin was only too hasty to warn us well in advance that we were going to find Herzog's occasional mental departures and extemporizing to be a slight annoyance (I'm paraphrasing, so please don't be upset, Mr. Cronin). But I hardly agreed. I found WH's jumps and false starts, etc., to be some of the most gratifying and precious content of this book. It was like having a fireside chat with Herzog--a private one-on-one session over several cups of coffee or whiskey--learning about what makes one of the better-known idea-men on the planet tick. What fires his Teutonic cauldron. I can only be too thankful that Werner was happy to finally engage in a project as noble as this one, as you'll read in the opening pages of this work that it almost *didn't* happen.

Myths.

I'm beginning to learn that most of what we consider to be true in this life is comprised mostly of myths and heapful conjecture, and that people prefer to accept third-hand information from others in respect of a particular person, instead of merely talking to them themselves. Take the storied rivalry between famed brat-actor Klaus Kinski and Mr. Herzog. So much has been written and said about these two. So much excavating around in the rubbish pit has been done in respect of these two famous/infamous personalities, that's it's truly hard to know just *what* to believe anymore. Inside these pages, Herzog sets the record straight.

That's one of the reasons why I grooved along with this book so much.

Then there were the didactic filmmaking elements. The nitty-gritties. The real deal. There were the aspects of the process of making a film, and those oh-so-distillable quotables...you know, the ones filmmakers like to post all around their production offices in big bold black and red lettering that masquerade as Western-versions of Communist-era sloganeering, yes? Herzog had many of them, and like most things with an ideological bent I was truly inspired (and will continue to remain so). Don't you just love ideology? You begin to understand the wild-eyed genius of the man, the strength of his convictions, and what someone will do--a director in this particular instance--to fulfill his noble dream. He'll literally "eat his boots." Herzog in fact did so as a promise to one of his documentary-making colleagues, I kid you not! Herzog really lived up to his word, and ate his shoes after boiling them until nice and tender. He even cut it up into little pieces, and washed it down with a good beer. (Maybe it was a Pilsner?).

Is this a common trait nowadays?

I'm not too sure how to answer that, friends, for any answer I may give would surely smack of cliche and triteness.

But the economics of the matter...and with the insane standards of living in certain Western cities, I'm not surprised that the formerly lofty bastions of principle-land are even for sale. I mean, we can't all be monks and hermits, and sustain ourselves merely on rations of peanut butter sandwiches, or beans, or mac 'n cheese, or soon-to-be-fulfilled promises. Humans need more, or at least they think they do. Herzog is a shining example that what I've just written is a bunch of bunk. And thank goodness for that.

Blow through the read, and you'll suddenly find yourself being uplifted by this man and his ostensible message. You'll quickly realize that this isn't a puff piece, and I believe that if Herzog had to revert to his salad-day lifestyle, where he'd pull such insane stints as walking clear along the easternmost frontier of the former West Germany to prove his point about German national unity during the Cold War, you somehow start to fall for the man. There's an earnestness to his lines that doesn't reek of that similar puff action you get from those who've achieved much less and with much more lucrative resouces.

This is now the fifth "Directors on Themselves" book I've read, and I'm so grateful for having stumbled across this series one fine day on a walkabout in a bookshop. Not a day goes by now without me reverting back to a thought or two about something I'd read in these books. I suppose that's the best we can hope for when it comes to books, anyways...to remember just one fine thing about them. To be inspired by something your eyes might have come across and to bring it out and use it to your advantage when you least expected it to be there. Though thanks to the complex inner-workings of your mind, that's just how certain things work. They clobber you when you need them. Perhaps one day we will truly appreciate the mind muscle, and how it fires off.

Herzog emphasizes in his work the triple notions of iron commitment, ironclad word, and rock-solid honour.

He stands by all of these, and has witnessed more than his fair share of calamity on his various film sets in standing behind them. Being "iron" in all three of the above-mentioned disciplines doesn't always result in a rosy outlook and a happy ending. Sometimes keeping your word means the spilling of blood for the various members of both cast and crew, and there were more than a few injuries and the occasional casulalty or two on a Herzog set, I'm not kidding here either. I'm not going to deny that perhaps this also has something to do with Herzog's Bavarian heritage. Indeed, it's in the blood and something must be mentioned about the robustness of the gene code. I mention this statement without any preconceived ideas, and dear readers, please take it for what it is. It's a fact. Germans are disciplinarians.

But Herzog is clear on one thing: if you aren't willing to go to war to make your films, you're not willing to be a filmmaker. Making films is all about blood, guts, and gore. Heaps of sweat and lots of heartache, and perhaps in the process you manage to keep control of some of the work you've assembled, and manage to maintain the rights to it as well. Herzog's been clever about his choices since starting out on this journey, however. He's established himself such that he never relinquished control to the baddies, and never said "namaste" to the more corporatized film elements. For that I'm grateful. He serves as a stellar and shining example, and I recommend this book as required--or at least on the supplemental list--of reading material for a given film school. Think about it...think about the masses of super-enthused filmmakers who would emerge as a result. Think about the quality of the films they'd shoot as well...

Talking points all.

Doubtless, folks, this is a five-star read. You're going to learn a lot from it, as I did and do.

Hand on the heart,
ADM from Prague

splendid.......2006-08-24

herzog manages to spend his entire life getting into adventures. and the stories he relates make you wonder how much is exaggeration, or even made up. either way, it is a fascinating read. this book will appeal to those not necessarily attracted to his films in particular, and for those who are keen on his work i would say this was essential. as a prolific filmmaker and adventure-getter-into, his life is inspiring in that it makes me want to get off my arse and do something challenging and life affirming. or maybe i'll just lie in bed and read the book one more time!

The Enigma of Werner Herzog.......2006-06-23

One of the unfortunate things for fans of Werner Herzog's cinema is the rather feeble and pathetic array of literature there is out there. Timothy Corrigan's essential Herzog book "The Films of Werner Herzog: Beyond Mirage and History" has been out of print for some years and besides, only covers Herzog's career up to 1985. If you don't have access to academic journals and university libraries the alternative is to pay through the nose. A definitive study of the great man's films is required. Cronin's book kind of fills that gap as it does at least deal with most of Herzog's important works. The interest of this book comes from the fact that it a book of interviews and Herzog's views are both illuminating and interesting. I could almost here his hypnotic German accent as I read it. However, a lot of old ground is trodden over and if any reader is looking for new and exciting tales of the raving Klaus Kinski, they will be disappointed. Many of the anecdotes and comments Herzog comes out with are repeated in My Best Fiend (1999) and on a number of commentary tracks for his DVD's. Far more interesting are his comments on less known films such as "Ballad of the Little Soldier" (1984), "Echoes From a Sombre Empire" (1990) and "The Dark Glow of the Mountains" (1984). So many myths have sprung up around Herzog and his work, that perhaps now, mostly due to documentation and the media they feel somewhat stilted and stale. Herzog is at his best when expounding his own theories on the effects of cinema, and in his rants against academia. But its clear the man has a philosophy and goal which he is trying to achieve through the medium of cinema, not simply a director making money and then moving on to the next thing. Cronin's questions are in the main insightful, but at times he comes across in the same way as Herzog himself did in one of his best films "The Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner" (1974) as an excitable and breathless fan. Overall, an interesting and thought provoking read and probably one of the best in this ongoing range by Faber and Faber, the other I recommend is the David Lynch one. But this book does sit rather strangely with Herzog and it wasn't something I ever expected him to do.

Good look into Herzog's noggin.......2005-09-14

A bit like pulling teeth, this book starts with Herzog writing he is a somewhat unwilling participant in the process. A few parts her I have read recounted other places, but there is more than enough on the making of individual fiilms. A good, concise book.

HEART WARMING AND TOTALLY ESSENTIAL.......2005-09-11

This amazing book is a must read for anyone who enjoy's The great man's films, as well as anyone who...you know what, I'm moved to say that this book is essential reading for all humans. Herzog inspires on each page, whether it be by his own personal experience or by the bombastic words that he barks onto the page.
I actually read this book for the first time (I've been through it 5 or 6 times now) right after my father abandoned my family to live with his new wife in cancun. I guess I was going through a rough time, maybe I needed a more stable father figure or something. Well, my therapist, the great Dr. Tucker, advised that I try Herzog to fill that void, and the mans films completely changed my life. This book is a treasure trove of information and inspiration for fans of Herzog himself or the film medium in general. True story: I work with autistic children on the middle school level, and this one boy Justin started looking through this book when I set it down from reading it on a break. He found the book so engaging that I let him take it home to finish (loaning things out to these kids is always a bad idea, but I figured I'd give it a shot)...long story short, little Justin came back to class the next day, and overnight his speech improved so dramatically that my aide called it a miracle. Anyway, if you're thinking about buying this book you will not be sorry of you do, because if you don't read this as soon as possible you are going to be really sorry. I hope this helped, and HAPPY READING!!!!

Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2 (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Average customer rating:

Great Video Resource Guide
Who cares! Books are borring
This Book is great.
Movie Maker 2 Book Exceeds Expectations

Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2 (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Jan Ozer
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2: Do Amazing Things (Bpg-Other)
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MyDVD 5 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)

ASIN: 0321199545

Book Description

Just because you have the built-in software to transform your homemade videos into compelling, creative content doesn't necessarily mean you have the know-how to do so. For that you need this no-nonsense task-based guide. In these pages video guru Jan Ozer uses simple, step-by-step instructions peppered with plenty of visual aids and loads of time-saving tips to show you how to use Microsoft's Movie Maker 2 video-editing software (which is included with Windows XP) to edit your videos and share them with family and friends. Providing a visual approach to a visual product, Jan shows you how to start making movie magic instantly and effortlessly with the transitions, title options, and 2-D special effects included in Movie Maker 2. You'll learn how to create wipes, dissolves, freeze frames, and more in the process of producing a finished product that you'll be proud to email to friends, post on your Web site, or copy to CD or DVD.

Customer Reviews:

Great Video Resource Guide.......2007-09-02

Jan Ozer's book was a great find for me. I needed to quickly edit digital interviews using Movie Maker 2 and this book gave me everything I needed (and more)! I jumped right in reading the chapters I needed--I'll save the "other stuff" for another day.

This is an excellent resource tool for my book shelf. I really like how the author took his own personal project and walked me through it from beginning to end, offering process and tips along the way.

I edited a professional looking video for the web--not bad for a first project!

Who cares! Books are borring.......2006-07-06

Download and research for movie maker effects, I found some decent transitions and title effects for movie maker :)

This Book is great. .......2005-09-17

Well did Jan Ozer. I really liked the Practical tips on shooting and editing in the beginning of the book. Great teaching from start to finish without jumping around. Nice and easy to understand visuals. I've studied graphic design and would recommend any Visual Quickstart Guide. (I tried Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2 Do Amazing Things! and Didn't like it. Not enough visuals, jumped around, and to much reading)

Movie Maker 2 Book Exceeds Expectations.......2004-09-17

Ozer's Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2 book delivers the Visual Quickstart that it promises! The book includes easy to follow instructions for everything that one can do with Movie Maker 2. Ozer's "voice" is friendly and instructive. The text in the book is accompanied by helpful screenshots on virtually every page.
I used this book with educators/trainers in a master's level course to teach them how to create digital video on the PC. My students and I agreed that the book was easy to understand, interesting to read, and thorough enough to answer our most technical questions.
I highly recommended this book for anyone using Movie Maker 2!!

Average customer rating:

Outstanding guide to producing
There is an Indie Neverland After All
Best behind the scenes indie film book I've ever read
Producers aren't directors
Blunt as Hell, Thank God

Shooting to Kill
Christine Vachon , and David Edelstein
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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On Directing Film

ASIN: 0380798549

Book Description

Complete with behind-the-scenes diary entries from the set of Vachon's best-known fillms, Shooting to Kill offers all the satisfaction of an intimate memoir from the frontlines of independent filmmakins, from one of its most successful agent provocateurs -- and survivors. Hailed by the New York Times as the "godmother to the politically committed film" and by Interview as a true "auteur producer," Christine Vachon has made her name with such bold, controversial, and commercially successful films as "Poison," "Swoon," Kids," "Safe," "I Shot Andy Warhol," and "Velvet Goldmine."Over the last decade, she has become a driving force behind the most daring and strikingly original independent filmmakers-from Todd Haynes to Tom Kalin and Mary Harron-and helped put them on the map.

So what do producers do? "What don't they do?" she responds. In this savagely witty and straight-shooting guide, Vachon reveals trheguts of the filmmaking process--rom developing a script, nurturing a director's vision, getting financed, and drafting talent to holding hands, stoking egos, stretching every resource to the limit and pushing that limit. Along the way, she offers shrewd practical insights and troubleshooting tips on handling everything from hysterical actors and disgruntled teamsters to obtuse marketing executives.

Complete with behind-the-scenes diary entries from the sets of Vachon's best-known films, Shooting To Kill offers all the satisfactions of an intimate memoir from the frontlines of independent filmmaking, from one of its most successful agent provocateurs-and survivors.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding guide to producing.......2007-09-13

Christine Vachon has written an extremely accessible, entertaining book about what it means to be an independent film producer. She covers every step of the movie-making process, from finding a script to casting to hiring a crew, editing, etc. She covers the material with an engaging style and a sense of humor, and the facts are punctuated with examples and anecdotes from the movies she's produced. She's candid and unapologetic, and apparently some reviewers here have a problem with that. News flash - if you intend to make a career in the film industry, you better get used to people who yell, tight schedules, high expectations, plus low budgets if indies are your thing. If you spent any time on a film set, you would know that it is the producer's JOB to be tough, to get things in on time, and to run a tight ship. At the end of the day, it's the producer's butt that is on the line. It's just plain silly to give the book a low rating because Christine had the guts to be honest about the way things work on a film set and you wouldn't want to work with her. It's clear that some reviewers here need to get a thicker skin or find a different calling.

Christine's films have been critical success stories despite their low budgets and tight time frames - she knows what she is doing and has taken the time to write a wonderful introduction to the world of filmmaking for beginners and those of us with some experience. I highly recommend this book.

There is an Indie Neverland After All.......2005-09-20

Not only is this a thorough and informative piece of work, which would make it worth twice the price all by itself, it's also an inspiration and should be read by anyone, writer, actor, producer, director, anyone.... who's ever been told you have to compromise your vision in this business to get your movie made. There are several great stories in this book but the image that keeps resonating in my head is Christine Vachon, the High Priestess of Indie Film and Soverign Protector of Infant Directors, saying to the producer's rep: "We'll talk about it" and saying to everyone else after hanging up the phone, "We're not cutting anything, we're not cutting anything." Not only did I not know there were people out there doing such things, I had begun to wonder if it was even possible. This book can make you believe again. I didn't read it. I devoured it.

Best behind the scenes indie film book I've ever read.......2002-10-14

Having just directed a low-budget feature in Hollywood, I wish I had read this book beforehand (and I certainly wish my producer had read it). Vachon breaks down the process, making it understandable to even the most novice film fan. The writing is gutsy, the tales from the trenches always interesting. One of the must-reads if you're at all interested in making movies.

Producers aren't directors.......2002-09-24

Somewhere between the world of independant movies and studio pictures reside a group of people who've bounced between both worlds and have taken up residence in the void. The author is one of those people. This book isn't very informative for the ultra low budget producer but a good read nonetheless. Although at times it wanders aimlessly while the reader tries to figure out which of the half-dozen guys named "Todd" she's talking about now. I'd recommend this book to people with budgets in the neighborhood of 100,000 to 5 million. I wouldn't call it a very good resource for locating financing.

Blunt as Hell, Thank God.......2002-06-20

If you want to know more about what it's like to produce, rather than HOW to produce...this is the book. Vachon takes you through her life, and I've learned more about producing just from reading about one of her days. She's honest, doesn't preach much, doesn't give very many golden rules (since we all make our own), and tells you how it really is. If your tired of reading books on forms and paperwork, negotiating and contacts, and are just plain interested in what it's like to be IN IT, buy the book. It's so worth it.

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford

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The movies were different
John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!
Biography that's a page turner!`
Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Comprehensive almost to a fault...

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Scott Eyman
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801865603

Amazon.com

Borrowing his title from dialogue in John Ford's classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend"), Scott Eyman heeds this advice in his splendid study of Ford, finding a convincing balance between the gruff image Ford cultivated and the sensitive artist that Ford truly was. The result is a to-date definitive biography, occasionally prone to indelicate critical assessment while benefiting greatly from Eyman's full access to the Ford family archives. Arguably the greatest American filmmaker of the 20th century, Ford protected himself with a façade of belligerence yet engendered more loyalty among his crew and stock players (notably John Wayne and Ward Bond) than any other director. Eyman illuminates the Ford legend while focusing on fact--on a complex genius who would berate even the most vulnerable actor and then "apologize without apologizing," a binge drinker who never let alcohol interfere with his closely-guarded artistry, and a stalwart Navy captain whose service in World War II became his primary source of pride.

Print the Legend essentially confirms Ford's brief affair with Katharine Hepburn, but Eyman emphasizes Ford's deep, abiding affection for his wife, Mary, who valiantly tolerated his absolute devotion to filmmaking. While hundreds of interviews yield a comprehensive account of Ford's working methods (which the director was loathe to discuss), Eyman expertly navigates around Ford's own penchant for autobiographical embellishment. What emerges is likely to remain the most thorough portrait of a cinematic master who recognized his own greatness without parading it, and whose human flaws were ultimately forgivable by those--and they were many--who loved him. Readers should look elsewhere for more astute studies of Ford's films, but Eyman has captured Ford the man with lasting authority. -- Jeff Shannon

Book Description

Brilliant, stubborn, witty, rebellious, irascible, and contradictory, John Ford remains an enduring symbol of Hollywood's Golden Age and one of its most respected directors. Through a career that spanned decades and 140 films -- among them such American masterpieces as The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -- John Ford left a cinematic legacy that few filmmakers will ever equal. Yet Ford himself was famously reticent about his personal life, often fabricating details and events. In this definitive look at the life and career of one of America's greatest directors, Scott Eyman offers a remarkable portrait of the man behind the legend that reveals how a saloon keeper's son from Maine helped to shape Hollywood's idea of America.

Customer Reviews:

The movies were different.......2006-05-14

Many books were written about Jonh Ford.
All of them tell the story and the profile of the man.
But John Ford was more than that.
His life is the beginning, but the book doesn?t take it as a experience or example for his films.
The exploration is a long trip in this book.
The readers are going to find the artist who control
everything around and his mind to think faster than others.
He made no more than one take, sometimes to have completely control about the film, not suffering the torture of the film process and the editing.
It?s a strange story about the man who won four Academy Awards?
for Best Directing but he never won an Oscar for one of his western films.
The book explores how he created the images and how he felt involved in those stories so different from cowboys, horses and
shots: 'The grapes of Wrath', 'How green was my valley', 'The informer' and 'The quiet man'.
His camera was different in all these ones.
But finally you can see the horizon, the actor,
the music and the ending.
It is a film directed by John Ford.
Thanks to him, the movies were different in style.
He had the conception of an artist.

John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!.......2005-05-16

Scott Eyman has written an outstanding book on John Ford! Ford
was the second generation son of an Irish bartender from Portland Maine who followed his brother Frank to Hollywood.
In over 130 films from such silent classics as Iron Horse to
his four Oscars for best director: The Informer; How Green Was My
Valley; the Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man Ford chronicles
the life of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.
Ford made Westerns better than anyone as witness his classic
cavalry trilogy: Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Rio Grande and the peerless The Searchers.
John Ford was a bristling porcupine guy who could dish out insults, reduce strong actors to tears and cover his sensitive,
melancholic, brooding intellectual Irish soul with a veneer of
toughness and macho maleness.
Ford was a complex man isolated and in conflict with famly who made great films for over 50 years in the Hollywood jungle.
He was an admiral who loved the military serving with distinction in World War II.
You may not like Ford after reading this fine book but you will be in awe of one of Hollywood's giants.
Eyman gives a sketch of each of Ford's top films and charts the choppy waters of his long marriage to wife Mary and the difficult relationship he had with his daugher and son.
John Ford will always ride tall in the saddle of Film History
as we travel with him to Monument Valley, meet such Ford stars
as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and the other excellent actors in the Ford acting troupe.
Anyone claiming to be knowledgable about film who does not know about John Ford (1894-1973 should read this fine biograhy.
Readers may also wish to peruse Joseph McBride's lengthy biograpy of Ford "In Search of John Ford." Both books are well
done.

Biography that's a page turner!`.......2004-11-16

Having read a fair number of biographies in my time, in subjects from Science to American and military history, this book is as fine a work as I've seen. It is quite probably the best work of its kind on John Ford and pulls few punches when presenting the dark side of this complex man's character.

Genius often goes hand-in-hand with madness, and the odd juxtapositions of cruelty and sensitivity, visciousness and generosity within in the same man leaves it difficult for the reader to like him, much less understand the deep love so many of his peers and actors had for him.

The vast limits of his brilliance as a film maker are far clearer to me now and the more so since reading other works on the man's work and times ("Tis Herself" by Maureen O'Hara and "John Ford, the Man and his Films" by Tag Gallagher, to name two).

I am a recent "student" of film after years in other pursuits, and I have always considered Ford's pictures to be the best of the best, among which are "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Quiet Man" and "The Searchers".

It is apparently popular for current budding directors to attempt to attempt to emulate the work of the current crops of popular directors (generally those of the preceding five years or so) without paying sufficient attention to the classics; perhaps even trying to ride their stylistic coattails to success.

I believe that in order to be successful in any discipline, it is imperative to study closely the great works of past generations, just as most successful musicians should have a background in classical music.

I can recommend this work unreservedly both to the casual film fan (it's a damned good read!) and to the serious film student.

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford.......2003-06-27

I've read other books on this great Hollywood director, and while I can't comment on their relative accuracy, I can say that Eyman's book is the most readable I've found. He writes with a wonderfully fluid style, finds exactly the right balance between enough detail and too much, and mixes in some penetrating observations about the films and their style. He really captures that curious paradox of how artistic genius and personality disturbance can coexist within the same mind.

Comprehensive almost to a fault..........2002-08-22

Unless you are old like me and remember many John Ford movies from their original 50's release dates, or you have a semi-professional interest in film directing, this book offers more than one needs to know about a complex, often unlikeable, sometimes generous, routinely selfish genius. It isn't just a bio of John Ford, respected director with a 40-year career...it also functions as a partial history of movie-making itself, since Ford began before 1920, when films were silent, and ended up in the mid-60's, when wide screens, technicolor, blatant sex and violence and changes in how movies were financed stranded him in a very different professional atmosphere. To a person with a more casual interest in Ford and his films, like me, the book had many surprises. Ford was cruel on the set to many actors whom he befriended away from the cameras, John Wayne and Hank Fonda included. Ford was a binge drinker, and kept his sprees separate from his duties until the mid-1950's, rather late in his progressive alcoholism. Ford was capable of great kindness, generosity and loyalty, but also held grudges for decades. He was not only personally brave in World War II while filming the real battle of Midway, he was tuned in enough to have joined the Navy and prepared for documenting the war on film a full year before Pearl Harbor. He also showed courage in standing up to the Communist witch-hunts in the early 50's. He was sometimes a liberal Democrat, sometimes a conservative Republican. His final decade was full of illness and idleness and loneliness and undoubtedly some bitterness. If you are a lover of "American" movies, John Ford's story will be essential for you. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll ever need to read it a second time, or keep the book in my personal collection.

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In Need of a Third Revision
The one to get
Great, insightful book on a living legend
A must have for any Lynch fan
The sum of one's FEARS

Lynch on Lynch, Revised Edition

Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
David Lynch's Inland Empire (Limited Edition Two-Disc Set)
David Lynch: The Air Is on Fire
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The Short Films of David Lynch

ASIN: 0571220185
Release Date: 2005-03-24

Amazon.com

You know David Lynch as the director of terminally weird movies such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Wild at Heart, as well as the bizarre and highly influential television series Twin Peaks. But did you know that it was Mel Brooks who gave him his first big break? That the idea for Blue Velvet grew out of a fantasy Lynch had about sneaking into a private room and learning the secret to a murder mystery? That Twin Peaks came about because co-creator Mark Frost was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe?

In Lynch on Lynch, a 250-page interview book, editor Chris Rodley does a superb job of getting Lynch to talk at length about the high and low points of his life and career. Their conversation covers his early work as a painter through the making of his major films of the 1980s, the fiasco of Dune ("It is what it is."), and the recent and very obscure Lost Highway ("I just *loved* this title.").

Lynch is particularly interesting when he talks about the creative process: "I don't want to give the impression that I sit around thinking up horrible things. I get all kinds of different ideas and feelings. If I'm lucky, they start organizing themselves into a story--then maybe some ideas come along that are too eerie, too violent, or too funny, and they don't fit that story. So you write them down and save them for two or three projects down the road. There's nowhere you can't go in a film--if you think of it, you can go there." Lynch on Lynch is a treat for Lynch fans of all shapes, sizes, and fetishes.

Book Description

David Lynch erupted onto the cinema landscape in 1977 with Eraserhead, establishing himself as one of the most original and imaginative directors at work in contemporary cinema. Over the course of his career, he has remained true to a vision of the innocent lost in darkness and confusion, balancing hallucination and surrealism with a sense of Americana that is as pure and simple as his compelling storylines. In this volume, Lynch speaks openly about his films as well as about his lifelong commitment to painting, his work in photography, his television projects, and his musical collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti.

Customer Reviews:

In Need of a Third Revision.......2007-08-14

This book is a thorough and inspiring look into David Lynch's head. The original (which ended at Lost Highway) was a good read, but I think they were a little too fast to put out the second version. The newest revision ends right at Mulholland Drive. This is great for the reason that you get to read about him doing an unexpected Disney movie and also his battle with ABC over Mulholland Drive. You even get to read a little about his practice of Transcendental Meditation, which is kept graciously short as the man could usually (and has) filled books on the subject. However, I feel they jumped the gun here. Just after Mulholland Drive, DavidLynch.com and DV recording changed the man's entire approach. Any aspiring film maker and/or Lynch fan would completely benefit from his insight on such endeavors. For someone who went to the American Film Institute to completely do away with film is phenomenal and demands discussion. The internet has really put a spin on his work as well, considering his newfound freedom. This book, while masterfully executed by Chris Rodley, needs at least one more revision on the aforementioned topics. Before that happens, we're not given the entire glimpse into the man's complete range and utter ability to adapt to the times. By all means, read this book, you just might want to wait for the third revision.

The one to get.......2006-07-19

In this revised edition of "Lynch on Lynch", two new sections have been added: one on the Straight Story and one on Mulholland Drive. As with the rest of the book the updated sections consist of Chris Rodley interviewing David Lynch. While some of the dialogue does become a bit repetitive, the questions really are well posed. In his answers Lynch gives a glimpse of his creative process and more; for example, he discusses the links between Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, talks about both his frustration with the TV medium and his attraction to it, as well as divulging more about his partnership with composer, Angelo Badalamenti (one of the most productive relationships between director and composer since Fellini and Nino Rota). Black and white photographs from sets are also included throughout.

Considering the book in its entirety, it is a very comprehensive work, covering everything from the aforementioned material to Lynch's childhood, his early work in painting and the first experimental films he directed. This book is still THE one to get for fans of David Lynch. Reading it one comes away with the sense of having actually met and talked with the man himself -- none of the other books on Lynch really capture this feeling.

Those who already own the old version of the book may want to think twice about purchasing the revised edition. The sections added are not all that lengthy and much of the material has already been discussed elsewhere.

Great, insightful book on a living legend.......2006-05-10

This is a great book written by Chris Rodley that is basically a series of interviews with living legend David Lynch. If you're not into Lynch or his movies at all, I doubt you'll find anything insightful in here but if you appreciate the man at all, this is definitely a must read. It covers a lot of ground on his upbringing, film and art projects. What makes this book such a good read is that Rodley asks great questions to which Lynch answers in a very entertaining fashion. Reading this is probably the closest thing to actually speaking to him and he has an incredible, warm personality. While he doesn't give up his secrets too readily, he does share personal opinions on art in general (film, painting, photography, etc.) and what makes art powerful. He offers invaluable insight on the filmmaking process and some details on what it took to get his films made. He talks about his successes and debacles with equal parts candidness as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates Lynch and anyone who digs offbeat filmmakers.

(NOTE: Make sure that if you pick this up, you get the edition that has been revised and updated to include "Mulholland Drive")

A must have for any Lynch fan.......2005-08-05

This book is a 300 pages interview with David, so you hear what he wants to say and you do not hear the stuff he likes to keep for himself. I think it is great to have Lynch's vision "unfiltered" that is why this book is a must have for anyone interested to know more about the artist/filmaker and his works.

The sum of one's FEARS.......2002-08-28

A fascinating read. In these extensive interviews, David Lynch tells of his journey from painting student to filmaker. He refuses to interpret his films, as he believes this strips them of their power. He reveals a lot of personal stuff like his fascination with piles of dirt and his obsession with building sheds out of found wood. Through his revelations you become acquainted with the motifs that drive him on. I especially enjoyed his explanations of his urban fears and how they transform themselves from city to city.

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Amazing book on the music of Hitchcock's films
Listening to the Master
Fascinating book on the film composer's role and Hitchcock's role in the scores for his films

Hitchcock's Music
Jack Sullivan
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense: A Pop-up Book

ASIN: 0300110502

Book Description

For half a century Alfred Hitchcock created films full of gripping and memorable music. Over his long career he presided over more musical styles than any director in history and ultimately changed how we think about film music. This book is the first to fully explore the essential role music played in the movies of Alfred Hitchcock.
Based on extensive interviews with composers, writers, and actors, and research in rare archives, Jack Sullivan discusses how Hitchcock used music to influence the atmosphere, characterization, and even storylines of his films. Sullivan examines the director’s important relationships with various composers, especially Bernard Herrmann, and tells the stories behind the musical decisions. Covering the whole of the director’s career, from the early British works up to Family Plot, this engaging look at the work of Alfred Hitchcock offers new insight into his achievement and genius and changes the way we watch—and listen—to his movies.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing book on the music of Hitchcock's films.......2007-05-08

Author Jack Sullivan is a modern-day prophet. His writings about horror, music, & films are all top-notch. This book on Hitchcock is just amazing! After reading Sullivan's chapter on each film, I'm watching (or re-watching) those films that I can find, and seeing them with new insight. This is one of the best books on film & music that I have ever read. Highly recommended.

Listening to the Master.......2007-01-10

Probably the most memorable musical sound in cinema is the slashing strings of the shower scene in _Psycho_, a supreme example of how music can heighten image. It isn't too surprising that the example should come from a Hitchcock film; over the past two decades, critics and academics have paid increasing attention to how Hitchcock used music because he was so good at doing so. In _Hitchcock's Music_ (Yale University Press), Jack Sullivan, a professor of English and of American studies, has given a guide to the music (or frequently, silence) in all of Hitchcock's sound films, with stories about Hitchcock's work with composers and how soundtracks became formed as particular pictures progressed. Sullivan knows the films better than almost all of his readers will, and while much of Hitchcock's music is memorable, Sullivan writes of it in such detail that even Hitchcock fans will find themselves wishing that they had instant recall of each particular phrase or tune. I myself went back to listen to the early talkie _The 39 Steps_ after reading Sullivan's chapter about it, because although I have seen the movie many times, I could not remember the music or how important it was to the plot of the film. This then is a wonderful reference book, and it will drive Hitchcock fans back into their DVDs to attend to the master with new ears.

Sullivan begins, of course, with Hitchcock's first picture after his silent days, _Blackmail_. Hitchcock used the music in this initial film the same way he would use it throughout his career, like using a harp for a demonic sequence (when harps are usually angelic) and using cheerful music as an irony to what is being shown on the screen. Using a musical tune as an important part of the plot is one of Hitchcock's many tricks. In _The Lady Vanishes_, the tune itself is Hitchcock's "MacGuffin", the otherwise unimportant device upon which the whole plot turns, because the tune is an encryption of a state secret. In _Shadow of a Doubt_, "The Merry Widow" waltz is intricately important to the plot, leading to the identification of Uncle Charlie as a murderer. Hitchcock was brilliant at using "source music", the kind of music that might be heard by the characters in a scene as a theater orchestra or a radio plays nearby. In _Rear Window_, there is traditional movie music from an invisible source only at the very end of the movie; all the rest of the music has been from radios and phonographs owned by the people being viewed through the windows.

There are fine stories here about the famous Hitchcock / Bernard Herrmann collaboration and its eventual break-up, as well as about David O. Selznick's meddlesome but often valuable recommendations on music and other aspects of _Rebecca_, Hitchcock's first Hollywood effort and his first use of a lush Hollywood score. Among the wonderful anecdotes are those about _Psycho_ itself, and how Herrmann's stubborn insistence on getting his music into the film kept the movie as a feature rather than a television show. Hitchcock had not wanted any music in the shower scene, for instance, but Herrmann asked him to view the scene without music, followed by a version with music. Hitchcock quickly settled on the version with music, whereupon Herrmann made the mock-petulant remark, "But you requested that we not add any music," getting the reply, "Improper suggestion, my boy, improper suggestion." Best of all, _Hitchcock's Music_ concentrates attention on a vital aspect of Hitchcock's success, one that is not always appreciated. Sullivan certainly appreciates the innovative and complicated ways Hitchcock worked musically, and any fan of the movies will fine new reasons here to admire them.

Fascinating book on the film composer's role and Hitchcock's role in the scores for his films.......2007-01-01

If you're a Hitchcock fan, you already know how well Hitchcock used music in his films. Hitchcock was the ultimately leader/collaborator--he knew what he wanted for his films and had a strong instinct which collaborators would do the best job of bringing their talent to his films. His work with Herrmann is celebrated but he worked well with other film composers as well. When Hitchcock's instincts betrayed him (as the author of this book points out) it's usually because his commercial instincts took the lead over his artistic ones; "Torn Curtain" a flawed Hitchcock film with a number of marvelous set pieces would have been much improved with the original music that Bernard Herrmann composed. Hitchcock fired Herrmann when he didn't deliver a commercial score with a hit song or melody that could pull in a lucrative profit. Sullivan also accurately points out that while Hitchcock was great at collaboration he ultimately was THE boss and would get rid of things he felt didn't fit in with his decisions (right or wrong) for a film.

Hitchcock at his best (as Sullivan accurately points out) knew the impact of music to enhance a film not distract from it. Once Hitchcock had control of his films, he pushed the various composers he worked with (from Steiner, Rozsa to Herrmann)to follow their muse just making sure that it fit in with his ultimate vision for the film. He may have been a micromanager but he gave the composers that worked on his films tremendous freedom on some projects. For example Herrmann envisioned the "score" for "The Birds" to primarily be the sounds (electronically created) of the creatures themselves. Herrmann's instincts were in perfect synch with Hitchcock's and the result was a great film "score" that perfectly complimented the film.

After Herrmann and Hitchcock parted ways there really wasn't a composer that produced work that truly enhanced Hitchcock's films (although the single collaboration with composer John Williams came close I personally feel that Jerry Goldsmith would probably have been a better choice for "Family Plot")which is too bad--when the quality of his films fell and as audience taste changed, Hitchcock was increasingly vunerable. A solid score by a composer that understood his films well would have done a lot to improve some of Hitchcock's lesser, later films.

The book may be a bit too academic for casual film fans so just be aware of that. I'd suggest taking a look at the book to see if it will appeal to you prior to buying it.

Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors

Average customer rating:

Insightful, and Informative.
Critical access to the creative process
Would be better w/o Bogdonavich's endless blather
Access to Genius Otherwise Unavailable
Forget other movie reference books. Buy this!

Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors
Peter Bogdanovich
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345404572
Release Date: 1998-02-03

Amazon.com

The title comes from an exchange between filmmakers Howard Hawks and Peter Bogdanovich. Asked which directors he preferred, Hawks replied, "I liked almost anybody that made you realize who in the devil was making the picture." Hawks is talking about distinctive directorial personality, about movies that bear the stamp of a filmmaker's character. This book collects 16 interviews Bogdanovich conducted with some of the best directors working in the golden age of Hollywood. All of them, from the famous--Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Chuck Jones, and Hawks himself--to the lesser known but equally wonderful Leo McCarey, George Cukor, Josef von Sternberg, and Edgar G. Ulmer--had a remarkable and inimitable style. In their interviews, they provide insight into their craft and a view of Hollywood's golden age that is informative, anecdotal, and often hysterically funny.

Book Description

In this fascinating chronicle of Hollywood and the grand art of making movies, Peter Bogdanovich--director, screenwriter, actor, and critic--interviews sixteen legendary directors of the first hundred years of film:

Robert Aldrich George Cukor Allan Dwan Howard Hawks Alfred Hitchcock Chuck Jones Fritz Lang Joseph H. Lewis Sidney Lumet Leo McCartey Otto Preminger Don Siegel Josef von Sternberg Frank Tashlin Edgar G. Ulmer Raoul Walsh

Customer Reviews:

Insightful, and Informative........2006-12-10

This book gathers together 16 interviews the author conducted with some of the greatest directors the Golden Age of Hollywood ever produced.

All of them had their own style of film making, and are well worth searching out on video, and DVD.

In their interviews, they provide insight into their craft and a glimpse of Hollywood's golden age that will add considerablly to your understanding, and appreciation of the Golden Age.

If you have Netflix, or other similar service, then I heartily recommend that after reading this book you add films by these folks to your watch list, and enjoy.

Critical access to the creative process.......2003-03-25

Regardless of one's feelings about the egomania of author Bogdanovich (and it certainly bleeds through every page), he provides the creative world a great service by sharing his many years of interviews with some of the masters of American Film.

Contained within these pages is a critical access to the creative process. Each director interviewed (obviously some more than others) provides invaluable insight into the nuts and bolts of film directing. Bogdanovich has compiled with this book, an indispensable historical document that does much to inspire, educate and guide any aspiring film director.

I particularly valued Alan Dwan's insights into the importance of communicating character relationships into the narrative. I have incorperated much of the late director's invaluable advice into my attempts at stage direction.

All in all a must have for anybody interested in directing or gaining insight into the creative process.

Would be better w/o Bogdonavich's endless blather.......2003-03-01

I have to give this book only 4 stars due to the overbearing writing voice of Peter Bog. The guy tries so hard to make sure the reader knows that he's had a close personal relationship with the great directors that it's painful to read. He also tries to put himself in this group as a director, for example, when he remarks on a play that a few of the directors in this books have staged, noting that he, too, has staged this play.
Really, it's not what he's saying, it's how he's saying it.

Anyway, if you can tune out Bogdonovich, the rest of the book is okay.

Access to Genius Otherwise Unavailable.......2002-04-30

The title was suggested by Howard Hawks who once observed, "...I liked almost anybody that made you realize who in the devil was making the picture...Because the director's the storyteller and should have his own method of telling it." Hawks is one of the 16 "legendary film directors" represented in this volume. It is important to keep in mind that these are conversations rather than interviews such as those conducted by Robert J. Emery in The Directors: Take One and its sequel, The Directors Take Two, as well as interviews conducted by Richard Schickel in The Men Who Made the Movies. It is also worth noting that Bogdanovich is himself a distinguished director of films such as The Last Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, They All Laughed (a personal favorite of mine), and Texasville. As a result of his own background, Bogdanovich's questions and comments reflect somewhat different interests and perspectives than do those of Emery and Schickel.

I rate all of these books Five Stars but probably enjoyed reading Bogdanovich's book the most because the conversations ramble along somewhat messily, as most of my own conversations tend to do, and also because Bogdanovich is more actively involved in the interaction than Emery and Schickel are. As a reader, I feel as if I were really an eavesdropper as 16 directors casually share their opinions, information about specific films and actors, gossip, "war stories," and overall evaluations of their careers' various successes and failures. At no time does Bogdanovich seem intrusive or manipulative. Moreover, perhaps to an extent he did not realize when writing this book, he also reveals a great deal about himself...much of it endearing and some of it admirable. His passion for film making and his appreciation of the great directors are almost palpable. Readers' interests about various directors and their respective films obviously vary. I include myself among those who are die-hard film buffs and so I enjoyed reading every chapter and every word in each chapter. Indeed, each conversation was for this amateur "gourmet" a feast to be consumed with delight and, yes, gratitude.

Forget other movie reference books. Buy this!.......2001-07-14

I wonder if we (the movie fans) appreciate that we have two of the greatest film historians ever still with us today? Peter Bogdanovich and Martin Scorsese not only make movies, they also have gone to great lengths to give us insight into those who came before them in filmmaking - Scorsese with his personal journey through American films and Bogdanovich with his insightful interviews of Welles, Ford and the long list of pioneers he included in this massive volume. Here we are given more than 800 pages of interviews, some of which are fully developed and others which are but snipets of interesting careers. We should be thankful he included the snipets with the others, because in many cases these are the only true looks we have into these men who led today's young filmmakers to find their way. From Allan Dwan to Chuck Jones, Bogdanovich explores with his interviews what was behind the eyes of the men who did many things in filmmaking for the first time and with distinction. He includes some who were there when filmmaking was in its infancy, and some who started in television and moved to movies. The length and some of the lesser-known names among the subjects at first gave me pause in tackling this book, but I surprisingly found each of the interviews interesting and now count this among the best (among many) reference books I own about movies. I've gone back to it several times when viewing some of the films these men have made, and that, for me, makes this a valuable posession.

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