The Little Blue Book for Filmmakers
by Carl Gottlieb and Toni Attell
Review:
The Little Blue Book for Filmmakers offers an insight into all the aspects necessary for a career as a director, writer, actor, or producer. What I found most useful about this book was that it covered everything from the director's rule of 'Don't let 'em see you sweat', to dealing with actors bad habits such as imitating their own or someone else's best performance.
The chapter I found most useful for this unit was Writers and Writing, as it included many tips such as that the script is likely to change between the moment the writer finishes their first draft and the moment when the final take of shooting is wrapped so a writer must be flexible and allow these changes to happen. Also, writing takes a long time as it is not just about typing up a screenplay when the idea comes, but also about finding ideas and inspiration and doing a lot of re-writing to create several different drafts of the script with each one (hopefully) making the final product better. This book also encourages writers to write using their own experiences to create more original ideas and write alone to allow them to better concentrate on the task. The difference between 'regular' and 'sporadic' writers is also mentioned allowing me to discover I am more of a regular writer as I like to write for a certain amount of time each day while completing a screenplay, instead of having to work to a deadline like a sporadic writer.
I will be able to use much of the guidance outlined in this book when shooting practically on location because of how it details that many crew members wear comfortable shoes due to the physical exertion of production, and also that directors often wear baseball caps as they protect from all kinds of weather such as sunshine and rain.
Making It Big in Shorts
by Kim Adelman
Review:
Making It Big in Shorts gives guidance on all the stages of making a short film, from coming up with an idea that represents you as a filmmaker to qualifying for a nomination for an Academy Award. In this book, I found that my favourite chapter was Fifty Filmmaking Tips mainly because it managed to cover many things quickly and simply making the tips easier to remember. I think the best advice this chapter gave was to always think about the whole film, but plan things individually so they do not get too overwhelming as I have found this very helpful whilst I have been planning my own shoot.
For this unit, some of the best parts of this book were about making sure to write for the resources that can be obtained as it is much easier to write a word on a page such as 'lion', than to actually find a lion to film. Also, when editing scripts everything that is not essential should be written out to make the screenplay tighter and stronger so the idea is the best it can possibly be.
When I do my own shoot, I think that advice from this book will help regarding areas such as paperwork and budget as well as directing actors because these are things I had never read about and didn't know anything about before reading this book.
From Word to Image
by Marcie Begleiter
Review:
I used this book whilst in pre-production to help produce overhead diagrams, storyboards and a shot list as I did not know how to create these before. What I found most helpful about this book was that it taught me how to think visually so that whilst writing my shot list I began to see how my film would look in my head, meaning I knew exactly what I wanted to film when I got on location, saving time so I was able to film more for my trailer.
It helped me to structure my pre-production so I had a clear process to follow of:
1) script notations,
2) shot list,
3) storyboards, and
4) overhead diagrams.
When writing my shot list I used the section on correct terminology which helped me to accurately describe exactly how I wanted the camera to be framed as it detailed scale, angle, camera movement, and character blocking in detail with pictures and diagrams as well as an explanation.
Because I am not good at drawing people, I found that the section on figure notation made this easier as it showed how to break everything down into smaller components and begin with simple circles. Therefore, I found that my drawings became more expressive and I could figure out which shots would work and would not work as I knew exactly where my actors were going to be in front of the camera.
Also, when creating my overhead diagrams this book helped me to only include the essentials such as the positions of the actors and equipment, rather than mapping out the whole location every time.
On Screenwriting
by Freddie Gaffney
Review:
On Screenwriting covers all aspects of story, character, dialogue, and structure. What I found most useful about the chapter on story, was that it detailed all of the different story types, therefore helping me to determine that my own screenplay idea is a mixture between the Circe story type (a chase), as Ida is constantly trying to get Diana to sell her drawings, and Orpheus (loss after which knowledge is uncovered), as Diana and her Father have a strained relationship, which made Diana how she is in the present time of the story. There was also a list of the most common themes, the one which is covered in my screenplay being the morality of individuals, as each character is presented with a challenge, meaning they must make a choice. The chapter on characters also helped me to think about which character traits are internal (such as temperament/intelligence/goals), and which are external (age/social class/view of how others see them). Dialogue was broken down into two categories, those which serve a character function, and those which serve a story function, meaning that any other lines should be cut if they do not serve either of these functions. There was also focus on showing things, rather than telling them, and therefore avoiding on-the-nose dialogue. On structure, the three-act structure (set-up, climx, resolution) was explained, which is how I decided to structure my own screenplay, but also an alternative six stage structure was detailed. This chapter also gave advice on how proverbs are useful for generating ideas, as well as defining loglines, synopsis, and treatments. Common types of short film were also listed as being:
-Character in crisis
-Ordeal
-Circular narrative
-Jack in the box (progressing situation with a surprise ending)
-Journey
-Twist in the tail (audience led to believe one thing, but another is revealed in final moments instead).
Overall, I found that this book helped me not only when writing for this project, but will also be able to help me generate and expand on other ideas in the future.
Developing Story Ideas
by Michael Rabiger
Review:
The main focus of this book was looking back at your own life to find what the themes and situations you write about may be inspired by. Therefore, assignments were included, many of them being various questionnaires about conflicts you have had, characters in culture who you are inspired by or wish you had written, as well as more personal questions about life lessons and beliefs. Answering these questions helped me to identify that the theme of power has been evident in much of my work, such as in my screenplay idea 'Con-nect', where the technology used by the characters as well as Diana's father are more powerful than my main characters, but they are able to overcome these elements by working together. The game CLOSAT which stands for Characters, Locations, Objects, Situations, Acts, and Themes was also covered. By playing this game in a journal whilst observing things outside, interesting story ideas can be generated, but also I found it was possible to use situations or locations I had previously been through or to in my life to help with idea generation. What this book most helped with was thinking more about my own life and influences whist writing, which allow me to be more aware of how I write and why, which I had not thought about before reading this book. It also made me think about starting a journal or scrapbook to record CLOSAT ideas, life experiences, and influences from media such as characters in films, which I could combine to create my own story ideas.
Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect
by Claudia Hunter Johnson
Review:
The main idea that came up throughout this text was 'Only Connect', meaning that the connection the audience feel to the work is the most important for the work to have an effect and therefore be worth writing in the first place. This is difficult however, as everybody, including the artist, wants to see their life reflected back to them on screen, but the book comes up with a solution that as we are all human, we all have the same basic needs and desires so the screenplay paradox is created: 'The best way to connect to an audience is by expressing our own experience of being human'. Therefore, similar to Developing Story Ideas, this book also has exercises to help determine influences and experiences that unconsciously shape what a writer writes. However, it is emphasised that this artistic identity or unique style should not be something that should be rushed into existence, but instead be built upon gradually. There was also a paragraph on perfectionism, which concentrated on not thinking to much when writing a screenplay, but instead letting the characters lead the way, which helped me to detach myself more from my own writing. I enjoyed the fact that this book was different from many others as it focused more on small changes that change character's lives, rather than only big conflicts. One of the exercises was to write a short scene in present prose, where there is a mood change in the character:
This helped me to see that discoveries and decisions can change character's lives no matter how small, as long as they are significant to the narrative, just like big conflicts can.
What I found most useful was seeing how scripts change between when they written to when they are shot for a film as this was interesting to compare. For example, in a scene from the film Kramer v.s. Kramer, a whole scene of dialogue was performed in the reverse order in the film as it was more realistic if the character talked at length about her needs before the reveal she makes, so that the other character was believably listening, rather than focusing on the reveal. Short films on the companion website were also useful for this purpose, as it could be seen how entire scripts can change from final draft to shooting script once a film is made. Overall, I found that this was the most useful book I read on screenwriting during this unit.
(Companion website:http://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9780415735476/)
Video Production: Disciplines and Techniques
by James C. Foust, Edward J. Fink, and Lynne S. Gross
Review:
Video Production: Disciplines and Techniques covers all aspects of production from cast and crew to how equipment works and can be used. What I found most useful about this book were the segments that covered different job descriptions, as well as the chapters on directing and producing as it made me more aware of the roles of the job types that were covered such as floor manager, lighting director, and even prompter operator. The technical chapters were also interesting as they explained not only what the equipment could be used for, but also how it worked, sometimes even crossing over into physics. This helped me to think more about audio and lighting options and arrangements that could be used in both fiction and non-fiction shows. It also explained safety precautions for lighting such as always making sure the power is off before working on the lights, and if on a ladder making sure no one is on the studio floor below, but ensuring two people act as spotters to hold the ladder. Although some of the chapters of this text mainly covered how to set up a live or non-fiction studio production, I found it was still helpful as I could apply this knowledge to a fiction production, because of how it allowed me to be able to gain a wider understanding of the disciplines and techniques needed when working on a video production.
Writing for Visual Media
by Anthony Friedmann
Review:
I found that this book focused more on how to write for advertisements, or public service announcements, but the section on fiction still helped as I began to see the similarities and differences between working in entertainment and working in advertising. The seven steps to solving a communication problem in advertising were similar to that in entertainment, as in both processes the writer needs to be aware of their target audience before writing the screenplay as this greatly varies the outcome of the finished product. Explaining the stages of a script's development helped me to understand what the difference between treatments (a prose narrative of the main storyline that is usually 25 pages or more) and concepts (statement of the premise, usually a few paragraphs or page at most) is, as although these were mentioned in some of the other books, I was confused about what length they were each supposed to be as this is what is the biggest difference between them. What I found most useful in this book was the section on adapting a book or short story into a screenplay, as in prose more can be described about the setting and characters through the point of view of a detached (omniscient) narrator, which can not be done in film. This instead must be achieved through the dialogue and action of the characters as was shown in the example given of It's A Wonderful Life compared to the short story it was based on, The Greatest Gift. Although not directly linked to my own work, it was also interesting to see how scripts for computer games are formatted, as it helped me to become more aware about the other opportunities new media can create for writers.
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