FilmCraft: Cinematography

by Tim Grierson, Mike Goodridge

The first in the FilmCraft Series , this beautiful book covers the complex craft of cinematography through discussions with notable cinematographers, like Vittorio Storaro and Christopher Doyle. With stills, photos from the sets, and in-depth exploration of both iconic and contemporary projects, from Psycho and the French New Wave classic The Week End to Chicago and Zhang Yimou's saga Hero . Get access to lauded professionals, who provide you with the perspective to think like the pros and create compelling visual stories. Apply the perspective you'll gain to your own work with practical tips, or just sit back and coast along this thoughtful, behind-the-scenes road.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Media Tie In

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2011

About the author

Senior U.S. critic for Screen International and chief film critic for Paste, as well as contributing editor at Backstage and writer at The New Republic, Rolling Stone and The Wrap.

Reviews

[Horror DNA · Rating 5 out of 5]

FilmCraft is a new series from Focal Press that deconstructs the art of cinema by studying it from the inside. Each volume in the collection focuses on a different aspect of film production by gathering interviews with master craftsmen, who are able to relay a lifetime of experience in a series of intimate and informal conversations. The first two installments, Editing (Justin Chang) and Cinematography (Mike Goodridge and Tim Grierson), set a high bar for future volumes and are easily recommended sources of information and understanding.

You can read ZigZag's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Victor Volchenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction in cinematography if you haven't read anything about it before (as in my case). Reading interviews with greats in that work is really interesting.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read! My sense with these coffee table style books is that the publishers and even authors don't really expect you to read every word but to kinda bounce around and read random passages.

Having said that this book slows down a little in bits but overall is worth a cover to cover read. They got interviews with enough major players to feel like we're given a real sense of contemporary cinematography. Really fascinating to see people with (ostensibly) the same job have completely different theories and values (ex. the relationship between DP and actors).

My only real criticism is the example photography or stills don't always acuratly represent the look of a scene/ movie/ concept and, at least in my edition, we're printed quite dark.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Goodridge's Filmcraft series is always great. Accomplished and Interesting artists talk about all aspects of their work and their collaborations with lots of film stills to study and examine.