Cinematography

by Kris Malkiewicz, M. David Mullen

The Essential Guide to the Cameraman's Craft
Since its initial publication in 1973, Cinematography has become the guidebook for filmmakers. Based on their combined fifty years in the film and television industry, authors Kris Malkiewicz and M. David Mullen lay clear and concise groundwork for basic film techniques, focusing squarely on the cameraman's craft. Readers will then learn step-by-step how to master more advanced techniques in postproduction, digital editing, and overall film production.
This completely revised third edition, with more than 200 new illustrations, will provide a detailed look

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Reference

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Tyler]

This book does a really good job of covering the basics of cinematography. It is focused on the application of the craft, meaning there is little in the way of film theory or subjective opinion-- which makes it direct and to-the-point, with almost zero filler.

This should be a must-read for beginners, but I think many intermediate cinematographers will still pick up quite a bit of information.

This manual explains the equipment, procedures and reasons behind the basics of lighting, sound, camera operation (film, not digital) and post production (both film and digital).

While this book is largely written with the use of 16mm or 35mm film in mind, that doesn't take away from its relevance. I was very interested to learn some of the "older" film techniques because they have direct relationships to digital cinematography (such as shutter speed, ISO ratings, origins of color white balance, and light metering). It's really good to know where these concepts came from instead of understanding them in a vacuum.

[jm]

There's a couple of great chapters in the middle where Malkiewicz talks about specific shooting scenarios and how to light them. That part, while being almost entirely unstructured, holds a lot of useful information. Most of the rest of the book, unfortunately, is firmly stuck in the film area - despite an update that supposedly happened in 2005 - and at best of historic interest to the digital filmmaker.

[Jonathan]

Highly informative but a tad outdated

This is a great basic book for cinematography, but there have been many advances technologically to date that make the book feel outdated, but great if you need to know the basics.

[Meghal Sivan]

Okay

[Morgan McGuire]

This book is comprehensive and well written. The table of contents is exactly what you'd like to see for your first cinematography book. It is also one of the last books written before digital capture and video swept the industry, so a good portion of the practical advice is laughingly obsolete. I hope we see a rewrite for new technology soon!

[Patrick]

The best basic cinematography text I've come across, very clear and straightforward.

[Creative Wool Media]

HDSLR films are not covered, at least not in the version I'd read, but this book is a great for those interested in Cinematography.

[Harsh Trivedi]

work improovment

[Marcia]

This is geared to the professional filmmaker, but I gleaned a few ideas from it.