Book picks similar to
The Best Years of Our Lives by Sarah Kozloff
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David Lynch: The Man from Another Place
Dennis Lim - 2013
Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch’s work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch’s life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.David Lynch: The Man from Another Place, Dennis Lim’s remarkably smart and concise book, proposes several lenses through which to view Lynch and his work: through the age-old mysteries of the uncanny and the sublime, through the creative energies of surrealism and postmodernism, through ideas of America and theories of good and evil. Lynch himself often warns against overinterpretation. And accordingly, this is not a book that seeks to decode his art or annotate his life—to dispel the strangeness of the Lynchian—so much as one that offers complementary ways of seeing and understanding one of the most distinctive bodies of work in modern cinema. Its spirit is true to its subject, in remaining suggestive rather than definitive, in allowing what Lynch likes to call “room to dream,” and in honoring the allure of the unknown and the unknowable.
Elvis Presley: A Life in Music — The Complete Recording Sessions
Ernst Jorgensen - 1998
With exclusive access to the RCA vaults, producer Ernst Jorgensen brings to intimate life every moment that Elvis spent in the studio--from the spontaneous joy of his early sessions to the intensely creative periods of his later career. At once the definitive recording session guide and a compellingly readable narrative, this is the ultimate companion to the singer and his songs.
Pulp Fiction: The Complete Story of Quentin Tarantino's Masterpiece
Jason Bailey - 2013
The New York Times called it a "triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey," and thirty-one-year-old Quentin Tarantino, with just three feature films to his name, became a sensation: the next great American director. Nearly twenty years later, those who proclaimed Pulp Fiction an instant classic have been proven irrefutably right. In Pulp Fiction: The Complete Story of Quentin Tarantino's Masterpiece, film expert Jason Bailey explores why Pulp Fiction is such a brilliant and influential film. He discusses how the movie was revolutionary in its use of dialogue ("You can get a steak here, daddy-o," "Correct-amundo"), time structure, and cinematography--and how it completely transformed the industry and artistry of independent cinema. He examines Tarantino's influences, illuminates the film's pop culture references, and describes its phenomenal legacy. Unforgettable characters like Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), Vincent Vega (John Travolta), Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) are scrutinized from all-new angles, and memorable scenes--Christopher Walken's gold watch monologue, Vince's explanation of French cuisine--are analyzed and celebrated. Much like the contents of Marcellus Wallace's briefcase, Pulp Fiction is mysterious and spectacular. Illustrated throughout with original art inspired by the film, with sidebars and special features on everything from casting close calls to deleted scenes, this is the most comprehensive, in-depth book on Pulp Fiction ever published.
George Cukor: A Double Life
Patrick McGilligan - 1991
Relates the life of the secretly gay Hollywood director who guided to stardom such legendary actresses as Garbo, Bergman, Garland, and Hepburn.
The Film Buff's Bucket List
Chris Stuckmann - 2016
It’s clear that cinema is as healthy as ever. Oscar-worthy directors, indie geniuses and foreign artists are creating stunning, boundary-pushing work. Since the turn of the century, movie lovers have been enjoying a second golden age. But which films are the best of the best? What are the top movies since 2000 to see before you die? Chris Stuckmann, one of YouTube’s most popular film reviewers (70+ million views) gives us his best of the best! In his book debut, Stuckmann delivers his list of the very best 50 Movies since 2000 – with that style and punch that YouTube viewers have come to love. These are the films you must see before you die.
How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, Multimedia
James Monaco - 1977
Now, James Monaco offers a revised and rewritten third edition incorporating every major aspect of this dynamic medium right up to the present.Looking at film from many vantage points, How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, Multimedia explores the medium as both art and craft, sensibility and science, tradition and technology. After examining film's close relation to such other narrative media as the novel, painting, photography, television, and even music, Monaco discusses those elements necessary to understand how films convey meaning and, more importantly, how we can best discern all that a film is attempting to communicate.In a key departure from the book's previous editions, the new and still-evolving digital context of film is now emphasized throughout How to Read a Film. A new chapter on multimedia brings media criticism into the twenty-first century with a thorough discussion of topics like virtual reality, cyberspace, and the proximity of both to film. Monaco has likewise doubled the size and scope of his Film and Media: A Chronology appendix. The book also features a new introduction, an expanded bibliography, and hundreds of illustrative black-and-white film stills and diagrams. It is a must for all film students, media buffs, and movie fans.
The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook
Chris Jones - 1998
Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe provide a step-by-step guide to all aspects of production, from copyright law to casting agents, directions to stuns, cash sources to distribution. Case studies and a Producer's Toolkit with information on legal documentation, including blank forms and a complete budget breakdown make this an invaluable tool for any independent filmmaker.
The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s '2001: A Space Odyssey'
Piers Bizony - 2014
Fifty years after the film's conception, TASCHEN looks back at the process of making the most important science-fiction film of all time. Though 2001 has arguably spawned more critical texts and scholarly analyses than any other film, this publication marks the first time that a truly exhaustive book has been devoted to it. TASCHEN readers enjoyed a sampling of previously unseen 2001 material in The Stanley Kubrick Archives; this four-volume set revisits the subject, exploring in great depth every aspect of the film and its making: the groundbreaking technical effects, the extraordinary set designs, and the fascinating collaboration between Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. Made in exclusive collaboration with the Kubrick estate and Warner Brothers, this copiously illustrated work features hundreds of unique 2001-related documents, concept artworks, and superb behind-the-scenes photographs from the Kubrick Archives most of which have never been published before as well as exclusive material from co-screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke s archives. The Making of Stanley Kubrick s '2001: A Space Odyssey' is a landmark book for film fans and a celebration of technical special-effects innovation before the digital age, conceived by the very designers of TASCHEN's instant collectible Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made. The Making of Stanley Kubrick's '2001. A Space Odyssey' Four volumes contained in a monolith-shaped case, designed by M/M Paris: Volume 1: Film stills Volume 2: Behind the scenes (including new interviews with lead actors, senior production designers, and key special-effects experts) Volume 3: Facsimile of original screenplay Volume 4: Facsimile of original 1965 production notes Limited to a total of 1,000 copies: Art Edition No 1-500 (Art Edition A and B) and Collector's Edition No. 501-1,500"
Anatomy of Film
Bernard F. Dick - 1978
Designed to be used in either English or Communication departments, Anatomy of Film helps students new to film develop a critical awareness of cinema without overwhelming them.
Teach Yourself Film Studies
Warren Buckland - 1998
It gives a chronological overview of film, analyzing genres such as westerns and sci-fi; explores different artistic approaches, techniques, and effects; and profiles a wide variety of directors, from Alfred Hitchcock to Steven Spielberg.. . The book uncovers the secrets of film reviewing and the conventions reviewers adopt when they evaluate films. This new edition includes an expanded section concerning film studies on the Internet. Whatever readers' interest in film, Teach Yourself Film Studies will provide them with the skills to turn them into well-informed film critics..
The Silent Clowns
Walter Kerr - 1975
It covers such characters as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy.
All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger
Lloyd Kaufman - 1998
Lloyd Kaufman's spirited, outrageous, no-holds-barred look at low-budget, guerilla filmmaking is truly an inspiration to
Cinematography
Kris Malkiewicz - 1989
Now completely revised and updated, it clearly and concisely covers what today's filmmaker needs to know about camera structure and operation, lenses, film stocks, filters, lighting and light measuring, and accessory equipment. In addition it provides up-to-date information on sound recording, editing, video transfer, studio and location shooting, production logistics, and modern techniques of picture manipulation with optical printers -- a subject rarely treated in such detail in existing film books. Building on the groundwork he lays, Kris Malkiewicz explores more advanced techniques of overall picture quality control -- how the filmmaker can translate the envisaged image to the screen through coordinating all aspects of cinematography. As Malkiewicz explains, whatever concept is desired, the filmmaker must be in full control of the technology in order to ensure success. Illustrated with more than 350 photographs and drawings, this new second edition of "Cinematography" will continue to prove invaluable to filmmakers, film students, and film teachers.
Cinema 1: The Movement-Image
Gilles Deleuze - 1983
For Deleuze, philosophy cannot be a reflection of something else; philosophical concepts are, rather, the images of thought, to be understood on their own terms. Here he puts this view of philosophy to work in understanding the concepts—or images—of film.Cinema, to Deleuze, is not a language that requires probing and interpretation, a search for hidden meanings; it can be understood directly, as a composition of images and signs, pre-verbal in nature. Thus he offers a powerful alternative to the psychoanalytic and semiological approaches that have dominated film studies.Drawing upon Henri Bergson’s thesis on perception and C. S. Peirce’s classification of images and signs, Deleuze is able to put forth a new theory and taxonomy of the image, which he then applies to concrete examples from the work of a diverse group of filmmakers—Griffith, Eisenstein, Pasolini, Rohmer, Bresson, Dreyer, Stroheim, Buñuel, and many others. Because he finds movement to be the primary characteristic of cinema in the first half of the twentieth century, he devotes this first volume to that aspect of film. In the years since World War II, time has come to dominate film; that shift, and the signs and images associated with it, are addressed in Cinema 2: The Time-Image.
A Short Guide to Writing about Film
Timothy Corrigan - 1989
Both an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces students to film terms and the major film theories, enabling them to write more critically. With numerous student and professional examples along the way, this engaging and practical guide progresses from taking notes and writing first drafts to creating polished essays and comprehensive research projects. Moving from movie reviews to theoretical and critical essays, the text demonstrates how an analysis of a film becomes more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process.