Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the American Independent Film


Marshall Fine - 2006
    Among filmmakers and film buffs, Cassavetes is revered, almost as a god. A major star of live television and a serious actor, he stumbled into making his first film, Shadows, and created a template for working outside the Hollywood system that would produce some of the most piercing and human films of the last thirty years including A Woman Under the Influence and Husbands. He became the prototypical outsider fighting the system for much of his career. Film critic Marshall Fine had unprecendented access to Cassavetes' wife, Gena Rowlands, and other members of their inner circle, as well as industry insiders who worked with Cassavetes -- some speaking publicly for the first time. Together, they tell his daring, tumultuous, and compelling story.

Tim Burton: Interviews


Kristian Fraga - 2005
    When it became a surprise blockbuster, studios began to trust him with larger budgets and the whims of his expansive imagination. Mixing gothic horror, black comedy, and oddball whimsy, Burton's movies veer from childlike enchantment to morbid melancholy, often with the same frame.His beautifully designed and highly stylized films-including Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, and Ed Wood-are idiosyncratic, personal visions that have found commercial success. In Tim Burton: Interviews, the director discusses how animation and art design affect his work, how old horror films have deeply influenced his psyche, why so many of his protagonists are outcasts, and how he's managed to make personal films within the Hollywood system. He gives tribute to writers he's worked with, his favorite actors-including Johnny Depp and Vincent Price-and talks enthusiastically about pulp horror fiction and the works of Edgar Allan Poe.These interviews show his progression from an inarticulate young director to a contemplative and dry-witted artist over the course of twenty years. In later interviews, he opens up about being in therapy and how his childhood fantasies still affect his art. Tim Burton: Interviews reveals a man who has managed to thrive inside Hollywood while maintaining the distinctive quirks of an independent filmmaker.Kristian Fraga, New York City, wrote and directed the award-winning PBS documentary The Inside Reel: Digital Filmmaking. He is a founding partner of Sirk Productions, LLC, a Manhattan-based film and television production company.

The Real Stars: Profiles and Interviews of Hollywood’s Unsung Featured Players (The Leonard Maltin Collection)


Leonard Maltin - 1979
    This collection of profiles and interviews turns the spotlight on those unsung heroes, whose faces were often better known than their names. Maltin’s engaging conversations with such notables as Billy Gilbert, Gale Sondergaard, Hans Conried and Una Merkel evoke a bygone era as we see what life was like for these versatile players. Looking for anecdotes about W.C. Fields or Clark Gable? This book is for you. You’ll also learn about Bess Flowers, “the queen of the dress extras” and Rex Ingram, the black actor whose imposing presence eclipsed the stereotyping of the period. This well-illustrated e-book edition features a brand-new introduction by Leonard Maltin.

Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era


Turner Classic Movies - 2006
    Produced by Turner Classic Movies, this stylish and definitive guide as the inside scoop and off-the-record reveals of fifty unforgettable actors and is also the focus of an on-air film festival on the channel. The lives and accomplishments of each actor are celebrated in an insightful career overview, accompanied by an annotated list of essential films, filmographies, behind the scenes facts, Academy Award wins and nominations. Full of surprising trivia, film stills, posters, and stunning photos, Leading Men pays tribute to the most charismatic, enduring, and elegant actors of the silver screen: an essential resource for movie buffs and pop-culture enthusiasts alike.

What was I Thinking


Paul Henry - 2011
    It will keep you entertained for hours. It's the very unusual story of Paul Henry - from his eventful childhood to his adventurous career in journalism to his recent outrageous comments on television which divided the country.A natural-born story teller, Paul spins many great yarns in this book. It's fascinating insight into his complex character. He's surprising -- he doesn't adhere to any prescribed set of beliefs. He's bold -- he set himself up as an international news correspondent working out of his Masterton lounge. And he's versatile -- turning his hand to running a cafe, running for Parliament and running from terrorists.

Old Never Stop! The Wilfrid Brambell Story: An unofficial telling of Wilfrid Brambell's life story


Phillip Glass - 2016
    Many people have told his story incorrectly, and many rumors have surfaced about his life. After years of research we can present this telling of his life story, setting the record straight and giving you a warm, funny and even tragic insight in to the man behind Albert Steptoe.

Steven Spielberg: Interviews


Lester D. Friedman - 2000
    Phrases like "phone home" and the music score from Jaws are now part of our cultural script, appearing in commercials, comedy routines, and common conversation.Yet few scholars have devoted time to studying Spielberg's vast output of popular films despite the director's financial and aesthetic achievements. Spanning twenty-five years of Spielberg's career, Steven Spielberg: Interviews explores the issues, the themes, and the financial considerations surrounding his work. The blockbuster creator of E.T., Jaws, and Schindler's List talks about dreams and the almighty dollar."I'm not really interested in making money," he says. "That's always come as the result of success, but it's not been my goal, and I've had a tough time proving that to people."Ranging from Spielberg's twenties to his mid-fifties, the interviews chart his evolution from a brash young filmmaker trying to make his way in Hollywood, to his spectacular blockbuster triumphs, to his maturation as a director seeking to inspire the imagination with meaningful subjects.The Steven Spielberg who emerges in these talks is a complex mix of businessman and artist, of arrogance and insecurity, of shallowness and substance. Often interviewers will uncover the director's human side, noting how changes in Spielberg's personal life -- marriage, divorce, fatherhood, remarriage -- affect his movies. But always the interviewers find keys to the story-telling and filmmaking talent that have made Spielberg's characters and themes shape our times and inhabit our dreams."Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about," he says. "Whether you watch eight hours of Shoah or whether it's Ghostbusters, when the lights go down in the theater and the movie fades in, it's magic."

Martin Scorsese: A Journey


Mary Pat Kelly - 1991
    - Includes a section on the making of the much-anticipated Gangs of New York starring Leonardo DiCaprio- With an updated chronology, filmography, and index

Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits


Mark A. Vieira - 1993
    The book traces his immense impact on the portrayal of the leading stars year by year, from his arrival in California in 1925 until his departure in 1943. During that time he photographed all of the greatest personalities, at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers, and Columbia as well as independently. The prints come from the Chapman Collection, one of the most extensive archives of original Hurrell photographs in the world, and they include a number of rarities and surprises. Although some photos by Hurrell are familiar and frequently reproduced, most of the images in this book will come as a revelation, since they have not been published in over half a century. The genesis of the pictures is examined in a remarkable text by Mark A. Vieira, himself a highly regarded portrait photographer, who came to know Hurrell well during the photographer's later years. Vieira explains in detail Hurrell's technical feats of lighting and retouching. And drawing on firsthand accounts, he vividly re-creates the lively interplay between the photographer and his subjects at the shooting sessions in which these portraits were taken.

Photographer's Guide to the Sony DSC-RX100


Alexander S. White - 2012
    With its larger-than-normal image sensor, superior image quality, and impressive array of features for creative photography, this camera has attracted a large and dedicated following in the photography community. However, the camera does not come with a printed manual, or even a PDF manual that can readily be printed for reference. So, until now, it has been difficult for users of the camera to find answers to their questions about the use of the camera’s many controls, menus, and features.With the release of this new book, White Knight Press has provided users of the RX100 with a comprehensive guide to all operations, features, menus, and controls of this amazing camera. Using a patient, tutorial-like approach, the book provides guidance to beginning and intermediate photographers not only about how to accomplish things with the RX100, but when and why to use the camera’s many features. The book does not assume any specialized knowledge by the reader as it explains topics such as autofocus, manual focus, depth of field, aperture priority, shutter priority, exposure compensation, white balance, and ISO sensitivity. The book also provides full details of the camera’s numerous menu options for playback, setup, and customizing the operation of the various buttons and other controls.The book’s more than 300 photographs, most of them in full color when viewed on a color device, illustrate the RX100’s controls, shooting screens, and menus. The photographs also provide examples of the various types of photographs that can be taken using the many creative settings of the camera, including the Photo Creativity settings, which let the photographer alter the color processing of images; the Scene shooting mode, with settings that are optimized for various subjects, including landscapes, portraits, and action shots; the Creative Style and Picture Effect menu options, which offer dramatic options for altering the appearance of images; and the camera’s strong array of features for continuous shooting and shooting in dim lighting.In addition, the book goes beyond the bounds of everyday photography, and provides introductions to more advanced topics such as infrared photography, street photography, astrophotography, and macro photography.The book also includes a full discussion of the video recording abilities of the RX100, which can shoot high-definition (HD) video with stereo sound, and which offers manual control of exposure and focus during movie recording.In three appendices, the book provides information about accessories available for the RX100, including cases, external flash units, and filter adapters, and includes a list of web sites and other resources for further information. Also, the book includes a detailed appendix with helpful “quick tips” that give particular insights into how to take advantage of the camera’s features in the most efficient ways possible.

Cult Movies 3: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird, and the Wonderful


Danny Peary - 1988
    An invaluable reference source.

The Krays


Philip Ridley - 1997
    Ronnie and Reggie Kray are school ground bullies brought up by a domineering mother and two devoted aunts. National Service and spells in prison expose the brutality that helps establish the twin brothers as the kings of 1960s gangland London.Philip Ridley's original, uncut screenplay, almost as notorious as its subject matter is a stylised meditation on maternal love, childhood, violence and homoeroticism and takes its place as one of the masterpieces of contemporary cinema.

Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone


Christopher Frayling - 2005
    With an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood and a script based on a samurai epic, Leone wound up creating "A Fistful of Dollars", the first in a trilogy of films (with "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly") that was violent, cynical, and visually stunning. Along with his later masterpiece, "Once Upon a Time in the West", these films came to define the Spaghetti Western

Nikon D5100


Rob Sylvan - 2011
    This new model replaces the popular D5000 and creates a nice bridge between the more beginner-level D3100 and the high-end D7000.This book has one goal: to teach D5100 owners how to make great shots using their new Nikon camera. Users learn how to use the D5100 to create the type of photos that inspired them to buy the camera in the first place. Everything in the book is in service of creating a great image.Starting with the top ten things users need to know about the camera, photographer Rob Sylvan carefully guides readers through the operating features. Owners get practical advice from a pro on which settings to use when, great shooting tips, and even end-of-chapter assignments.

Backwoods Genius


Julia Scully - 2012
    After his death, the contents of his studio, including thousands of glass negatives, were sold off for five dollars. For years the fragile negatives sat forgotten and deteriorating in cardboard boxes in an open carport. How did it happen, then, that the most implausible of events took place? That Disfarmer’s haunting portraits were retrieved from oblivion, that today they sell for upwards of $12,000 each at posh New York art galleries; his photographs proclaimed works of art by prestigious critics and journals and exhibited around the world? The story of Disfarmer’s rise to fame is a colorful, improbable, and ultimately fascinating one that involves an unlikely assortment of individuals. Would any of this have happened if a young New York photographer hadn't been so in love with a pretty model that he was willing to give up his career for her; if a preacher’s son from Arkansas hadn't spent 30 years in the Army Corps of Engineers mapping the U.S. from an airplane; if a magazine editor hadn't felt a strange and powerful connection to the work? The cast of characters includes these, plus a restless and wealthy young Chicago aristocrat and even a grandson of FDR. It’s a compelling story which reveals how these diverse people were part of a chain of events whose far-reaching consequences none of them could have foreseen, least of all the strange and reclusive genius of Heber Springs. Until now, the whole story has not been told.