Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: On Directing Film by David Mamet ISBN: 0140127224 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08
Rating: 2
Summary: playwriter yes, filmmaker no!
Comment: If you want to learn how to direct film from an inexperinced director, than "On Directing Film" maybe of some interest to you. Mamet wrote this book when he was young and green to moviemaking. His ego was obviously bigger than his vision. He is more intersted in dialogue than he is in visual storytelling, although he will never admit it. Movies are a visual medium, there's no denying it. If Mamet wants to make the cinema a dialougue medium than go head, break the rule. Just make sure you know the rule inside and out before you break it. Mamet does not know the cinema well enough to go beyond convention. I will say Mamet's techniques are intriguing. But what are film techniques worth when they don't show on screen. The most important thing in filmmaking is the end result. When I wacth Mamet's films all I see is a photographed play. Which is not surprising since he is a playwriter. His eye for storytelling lacks visual grace and imagination. A great example of visual storytelling combined with wonderful dialouge would be "Pulp Fiction." Mamet's idea for directing is intresting in theory but shallow in result.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Short and Pleasing Account by Famed Screenwriter
Comment: Of course the question begs, why is David Mamet teaching us how to direct? In one instance, aside from the films he has directed, his expertise and notariety is in writing the script or even the play for the theater. On the other hand, when a good writer has control of his craft, it will be written well enough for any director who takes the script and turn out similar products (either to each other, or even to the script writers vision). Yet, Mamet discloses himself as a competent teacher and director. Its a short book, but there is some good practical information that is discussed, and with student dialogue Q&A to give a sort of "interactive understanding" of how to write and direct a film. On the other hand, Mamet is dogmatic about his approach to the craft and the student answers are all wrong unless answered, not only correct, but the way he wants you to answer them, that is, what he knows to be correct. The dilemma I personally have with all books about writing or directing is they are from a single perspective and allow very little intuition or personal style to interfere. This book is, for the most part, no exception when one has to meet Mamet's standards for what is right or wrong. Given the fact that it works for David, it does not mean it will work for everyone. The trick is to take it all with a grain of salt and skim it off the top. Take what appeals to you and what feels good and what can be applicable to your writing. Its a short book that is clear and concise which is based on lectures given at Columbia University. One of the better books on the subject, so if you feel you need a little more study before you write, I would reccomend this one (although not before Lajos Egris book Art of Dramatic Writing).
Rating: 5
Summary: Hitchcock would have loved this book
Comment: Those who think that modern orgies of self-indulgence by directors such as Tarantino and Guy Ritchie are masterpieces, might think again after reading this well written and concise primer on the craft of directing.
Mamet's argument is essentially that film is a visual montage of shots presented in logical order, that lead the viewer through the goal directed struggle of the protagonist. Every shot should further the immediate goal of the scene and the longer term goal of the movie. The director tells the story by juxtaposing uninflected shots one after the other.
His claim is that this juxtaposition of images is all but forgotten in today's cinema (Hitchcock would certainly agree). Modern directors instead rely on "making the shot interesting" regardless of its merit in the larger goal of the film. Or they rely on the actors to tell the story verbally. Or they follow the protagonist with the camera and ignore the benefits of montage to film plotting.
This book is a careful restatement of time-honored principles of filmmaking expounded by Eisenstein and adhered to by the greatest filmmakers, such as Lang and Hitchcock.
 |
Title: Making Movies by Sidney Lumet ISBN: 0679756604 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: March, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television by Judith Weston ISBN: 0941188248 Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
 |
Title: Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen by Steven D. Katz ISBN: 0941188108 Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions Pub. Date: July, 1991 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
 |
Title: In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition by Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola ISBN: 1879505622 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama by David Mamet ISBN: 037570423X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 13 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
