World Famous Comics: Cinematography: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers
Cinematography: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers
By: Blain Brown Publisher: Focal Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Focal Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 303 Publication Date: 2002-10
Product Description: Lavishly produced and illustrated, Cinematography covers the entire range of the profession. The book is not just a comprehensive guide to current professional practice; it goes beyond to explain the theory behind the practice, so you understand how the rules came about and when it's appropriate to break them. In addition, directors will benefit from the book's focus on the body of knowledge they should share with their Director of Photography.
Cinematography presents the basics and beyond, employing clear explanations of standard practice together with substantial illustrations and diagrams to reveal the real world of film production. Recognizing that professionals know when to break the rules and when to abide by them, this book discusses many examples of fresh ideas and experiments in cinematography. Covering the most up-to-date information on the film/digital interface, new formats, the latest cranes and camera support and other equipment, it also illustrates the older tried and true methods.
*The definitive guide to cinematography
*Up-to-date coverage of technical topics, including High Definition and digital imaging
*Full color throughout brings issues of color and light to life
Almost completely useless There are so many shortcomings with this book--where to begin? The text throughout is in serious need of an editor. The author jumps from one thought to another then returns to the first later in the chapter. The information in the book is presented as authoritative and yet some of it is downright wrong. Many of the images are pixelated, small, or ambiguous. There are several instances of page / image / figure references that are incorrectly linked. Occasionally, new terms appear in the book which are never explained--the reader is just supposed to "know" them. Overall it feels like someone who is about 80% competent as a cinematographer decided to write this book, but they had no idea how to organize their thoughts in a cohesive manner.
True, there are good bits of info in the book. But these nuggets are scattered randomly here an there and their appearance amid pages of incorrect or incomplete information casts a shadow of doubt over the entire work.
If you know nothing about cinematography, you'll probably learn a thing or two from this book. Otherwise it is almost a complete waste of time. So much of it is vague, misleading or false. Do NOT buy this book expecting a definitive, well-written authority on cinematography. Not worth the money. An embarrassment to whoever pieced the book together.
Comprehensive text book! Blain Brown's book is very comprehensive towards the technical and theoretical aspects of the bare bones of cinematography. I found the chapters to cover film and HD quite well and the five C's of cinematography are well illustrated too. I know for a fact that many cinematography professors in film schools from all around the country do require this reading in their curriculum. So, If you're a beginning student in filmmaking or cinematography you will find more than what you need here, but yet still stay in track and not get lost. Moreover, if you've been shooting for a while and know most of what goes inside the camera department, you're still going to benefit a lot from this reading, it really puts you in perspective. I personally and professionally recommended this book highly.. So, two thumbs way up!!
Sections are poorly written and full of errors The book has a lot of useful information in it. Unfortunately, it could have used a copy editor and someone to verify all of the information in it. There are A LOT of typographical errors. I spent a great deal of my time verifying what was written in the book in other texts after I discovered several errors. Depth of field/depth of focus, come on, please proofread. The book also makes explanations more convoluted and unclear than necessary. Again, I referred to Malkiewicz (the edition with David Mullen-a very good example of someone who writes clearly and intelligently about cinematography), The Filmmakers Handbook and notes from my introductory cinematography class to untangle what Brown was tangling.
The book is not up to Focal's high standards. Please hire an editor for the next edition and actually incorporate the corrections to the text that readers submit. Conceptually, the book is disorganized. Please consider an outline for the next edition.
Best Cinematography Book Ever! This book answered all the questions I had on the subject that no other resource could. Great book for any aspiring filmmaker novice or semi-pro.
Better Resources Out There Than This First, I agree with the other review I saw posted on this book: it isn't a great reference book for aspiring cinematographers. I also recommend the cinematography books and Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz, along with Bare Bones and the ASC Cinematographer Manual. Another great resource is Painting With Light.
In explaining the science of film, techniques and measurements can be much more simplified than how stated in the book. Another thing that bothered me, though not an English major or a writer or anything like that, was the grammar and punctuation. I find myself correcting so many mistakes with my pen, at least one per page, as I go through the book. I don't know how so many of these mistakes were unseen by the editor. I know it has nothing to do with the content of the book, but it can be distracting enough to draw your focus away from what you're reading.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
