Film Directing, Cinematic Motion: A Workshop for Staging Scenes

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Summary: Very clear and useful...
Review: ...as well as "shot by shot" from same writer. Very nice explained, b&w illustrated and easy to understand. Perfect guidebook for beginners and also indy filmmakers.

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Summary: A Workshop in a Book!
Review: Cinematic Motion, by Steven Katz, published by Michael Wiese Productions, is another one of those absolutely must-have books for serious filmmakers. The subtitle, A Workshop for Staging Scenes, is just what this valuable resource and reference manual is...a workshop in a book! It's unique in that it is written from the film director's viewpoint. The focus of the book is on creative visual staging of each scene, and the storyboards and diagrams are clear, consistent and workable. Katz shows you how to choreograph scenes and create illusions, as needed, through blocking, camera movement, moving an actor or actors in a scene, and staging, in scenes with confined spaces up to large spaces, interiors and exteriors. The interviews with director John Sayles (The Secret of Roan Inish; Passion Fish; City of Hope) and production manager Ralph Singleton (Pet Sematary II; Clear and Present Danger; Last Man Standing) are very informative and helpful for the beginning filmmaker and the experienced filmmaker alike.

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Summary: A good book for the novice director
Review: Giving you the fundamentals of the art, this book shows you some of the tecniques involved when capturing a certain shot and helps you to understand the procedures involved. Its a great book for beginners.

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Summary: A practical how-to guide with plenty of examples
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning to compose better pictures of any kind. This unusual book takes a "through-the-lens" approach to presenting ideas about how to compose pictures. This is a refreshing break from abstract "art-babble" discussions that offer the reader little practical guidance about where to point the camera. In addition to video and film, still photographers will find this book especially interesting.

Rating:
Summary: A practical how-to guide with plenty of examples
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning to compose better pictures of any kind. This unusual book takes a "through-the-lens" approach to presenting ideas about how to compose pictures. This is a refreshing break from abstract "art-babble" discussions that offer the reader little practical guidance about where to point the camera. In addition to video and film, still photographers will find this book especially interesting.

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Summary: Including interactive online 3D storyboards
Review: Now in an updated second edition, Film Directing Cinematic Motion is an extensive how-to manual especially for aspiring and practicing directors to fine-tuning the art of creating a personal camera style, piecing together extended sequence shots, make the most of digital technology for visualization and script breakdown, and much more. Including interactive online 3D storyboards for hands-on practice, Film Directing Cinematic Motion is extremely down-to-earth in its presentation, offering direct Q & A with an expert, extremely detailed situational examples, frame-by-frame diagrams to illustrate complex points, and much more. Highly recommended for anyone involved in the field, whether amateur or professional.

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Summary: Clears Away the Cobwebs!
Review: This fine, detailed & user-friendly book opens up a director's view of the world of cinematic movement & how it relates to good story-telling through film. Staging scenes, blocking, camera movement, choreography of scene movent, reverse shots, camera angles, tracking, exterior & interior shooting, staging multiple characters in a scene...it's all here, with drawings that clearly illustrate the informative text.

Rating:
Summary: Clears Away the Cobwebs!
Review: This fine, detailed & user-friendly book opens up a director's view of the world of cinematic movement & how it relates to good story-telling through film. Staging scenes, blocking, camera movement, choreography of scene movent, reverse shots, camera angles, tracking, exterior & interior shooting, staging multiple characters in a scene...it's all here, with drawings that clearly illustrate the informative text.