ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 10 months ago - John David Clay

Caroline,

There is the Cinematography for director's book by Jackie Frost, or the shooting movies by Jack Anderson, or the 2nd edition of cinematography for image makers by Blain Brown, or even the 5 C's of Cinematography bit older book but good anyway.

Hope thats a help and happy reading!

Best

John

11 years, 10 months ago - Gerard Gray

Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration by Jacqueline B. Frost.. great read, pitched at the right level.

11 years, 10 months ago - Darren Bender

The wonderful Peter Ettegui put together a great book on cinematography that covers all the basics and has wonderful examples.

db

11 years, 10 months ago - Gerard Gray

… and just seeing Scott's comments earlier in this post, that's actually the best message.

11 years, 9 months ago - Caroline Demopoulos

Thanks everyone for their suggestions - very helpful!

11 years, 10 months ago - afia nkrumah

Hi Caroline,

two books I found really helpful are 'FILM DIRECTING SHOT BY SHOT' by Steven d.Katz and 'PAINTING WITH LIGHT' by John Alton. (it's quite old but you might be able to get a second hand copy from Amazon or ebay.

11 years, 10 months ago - Matt Hulse

Yes, all good suggestions above. I would add David Mamet's 'On Directing Film' because I think it's important to get into the mind of the director a bit, and Mamet is very clear on how he wants to work with camera and actors - he's always looking ahead to editing. Some people loathe this book, but I find it invigorating (as a shooter / director type). Have fun! Matt

11 years, 10 months ago - Karel Bata

I grew up reading American Cinematographer Magazine. You can read many articles from back issues here: http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/archive.php

Another good resource is trolling the threads at http://cinematography.com

And it won't cost you a penny!

11 years, 10 months ago - Scott Sandford

Hi Caroline,

Those are all great suggestions. The most important thing I think you can do is to actually build a relationship with a good cinematographer who can understand what you are trying to achieve and help suggest ways in which to craft your story that support your vision (and hopefully enhance it :-).

As a cinematographer, I'm not usually looking for a director that knows about cinematography, but a director who knows how to tell me what they want to achieve to tell the story with the images so that I can go about trying to provide them with solutions as to how that can be achieved.

For example, I usually find that if a director says: "I want to do a steadicam shot from the car to the house following the lead character" they will get that from me. However, if they say: "The lead character has just found out her husband is dead and I want to follow her from the car into the house as she processes the emotions of all of that" they will get the steadicam shot as part of a list of a few alternative shots/approaches that I suggest that might also include hand-held shots that might better reflect the state of mind of the character and support the story with visuals.

So my strongest suggestion is to enhance your ability to guide/direct the heads of department in what you want them to do to enable you to tell the story in the way you want to tell it - and then guide them as they come up with solutions for you in how to achieve it.

Then, find someone that gives you that collaborative relationship that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts...if they don't, find someone that does by trying someone else. Probably true with the other heads of department as well.

All of the books above are great, but the right relationship (with the requisite amount of trust :-) is what will make it work.

Hope that helps

Scott

11 years, 10 months ago - Stuart Elliott

Hi Caroline,

Robert Bresson's Note on Cinematography is a fascinating insight into his cinematic theory's. You can get it here http://ubuntuone.com/00TxFZuNWas06x7vt5PQrL

And The Visual Story by Bruce Block is a good breakdown of the technicalities involved.

I also like the Master Shots series by Christopher Kenworthy.

Cheers

Stuart