The Five C’s of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques (Paperback)
by Joseph V. Mascelli
ISBN: 187950541X

Price: USD 18.82
93 used & new available from USD 11.68

Summary

A veteran cinematographer tells you practically everything you need to know about cinematography.

The Good

The text is very clear, with lots of photos to demonstrate almost every technique. Very in-depth.

The book covers not only theatrical filmmaking, but also applies the techniques to off-the-cuff documentary shooting.

Great overhead diagrams show how camera placement works.

The Bad

Not much to complain about. This is easily the most polite filmmaking book I’ve ever read.

The book was written in the 1960s, so some of the technology referenced is a bit outdated. (I got a kick out of the discussion of TVs being too small for good theatrical work and speculation about color television in the future.)

Black and white photos make the sections about color somewhat difficult to comprehend.

Overall

I want to have The Five C’s of Cinematography always close at hand to reference whenever I’m in doubt about how something should be done.

The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Paperback)
by Stu Maschwitz
ISBN: 0321413644

Price: USD 31.49
86 used & new available from USD 16.05

Summary

A guide to doing things with your indie film that all other books tell you not to do. You will learn the basics of color correction, the basics of safely using guns, the basics of story, more than the basics of production value, and much more.

The Good

The DV Rebel’s Guide is very easy to read. There’s a lot here and you will likely put the book down with a plan to try almost everything in it.

Editing is introduced well, as is cinematography. I learned some new things about editing, something I tend to read books on and go, “I knew that already.”

This is the only book I’ve read that goes into production value in any depth. The entire first chapter (and the rest of the book) is devoted to this subject. Get that and story down, and you have the “killer action movie” specified on the cover.

The Bad

Occasional mild language. The section about faking a shooting is rather gory, as is the brief bit on blood. Tons of action movies I’d never seen (I likely will never see most of them) are referenced to explain effects.

I walked away from the section on squibs with plans to up the amount of objects destroyed in my next film. Guess that should be in The Good, since that sort of thing is the book’s mission.

Parts I Couldn’t Review

The book is supposed to include a DVD with bonus chapters, After Effects files, Excel spreadsheet calculators, and other stuff. I got the book from the library and they didn’t have the DVD.

Overall

As stated above, the book fulfilled its mission. I’ve been thinking about production value a lot more lately, and I’m excited about the possibilities of effects I had previously ruled out.