Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers
by Blain Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Blain BrownEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-10-23
ISBN: 0240805003
Number of pages: 303
Publisher: Focal Press
Book Reviews of Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers
Book Review: A comprehensive, professional view of cinematography
Summary: 5 Stars
I was working on a camera crew with a recent AFI grad and she told me this book is "the bible" at AFI, then a fellow I know at USC grad school had it as a required book in his cinematography class so I checked it out.
I see why these schools use it. It's comprehensive, thorough and most important, it takes a really professional view of how cinematography is done. I must have a dozen books on cinematography. Some of them are sort of student/amateur and some of them are just reminiscences of old studio DPs. Interesting reading, but doesn't tell me what I need to know to shoot a scene.
This book covers technical issues like exposure, optics, color, special EFX, etc but it also covers aesthetics. The chapter on "Lighting As Storytelling" is the best article on the aesthetics of image making and visual storytelling I've ever read anywhere (and I have a degree in cinematography). I have found this chapter on the web. You can download it at several websites that feature this book.
For best results, you need to buy this book in conjunction with the author's book on lighting, which really goes into standard techniques and equipment in much greater depth, as you would expect -- he can cover it better in a whole book than he can in a single chapter (which is how some cinematography books try to do it.) Although this book does have a couple of chapters on lighting that serve as a pretty good introduction.
Worth the price alone is the chapter on Set Operations, which goes into great detail on the job assignments on a set, how things are done and procedures like proper slating technique, etc. The chapter Visual Language is like a mini-course on composition, visual techniques and creating powerful images.
Throughout the book, the illustrations are from great films and the excellent printing makes it a beautiful book also, something that seems to always get mentioned in the magazine reviews I've read.
Since buying it (and reading it three times) I've run into lots of people (both students and working pros) who swear that this is THE book on cinematography. I agree totally. It covers camera stuff, but also set practices and also all the things the director needs to know about cinematography: coverage, screen direction, continuity, etc.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in cinematography, including not only camera people but also directors.
More Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers reviews:
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