Research Catalog

Title

This is how you make a movie / Tim Grierson.

Author

Grierson, Tim

Publication

• London : Laurence King Publishing, 2021.
• ©2021

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

192 pages : illustrations (chiefly color); 24 cm

Summary

With a twist on the practical moviemaking genre, This is How You Make a Movie brings the subject to life by explaining the terms through the films you know and love. Using key scenes from some of the best-loved movies of all time, Tim Grierson explores everything from cinematography through to the secrets of talking to camera. Depth of focus is explored through Citizen Kane, forced perspective through The Lord of the Rings, and slow motion through Reservoir Dogs. Elegant schematics describe the practical detail, and provide informative background to the highly readable and enjoyable text.

Subject

• Motion pictures > Production and direction
• Cinematography

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (page 186) and index.

Contents

• ACTING. Method: Drawing from personal experience to deliver a searing authentic performance ; The films: On the Waterfront ; The King of Comedy ; Lincoln -- Improvisation: Using the screenplay as a springboard to invent fresh, spontaneous reactions to a situation ; The films: This is Spinal Tap ; Knocked Up ; Girls Trip -- Rehearsal: Working on a story at the script stage, developing characters by reacting off the rest of the ensemble ; The films: Secrets & Lies ; Henry V ; Everybody Wants Some!! -- Monologue: Revealing a character's state of mind through his own words ; The films: JFK ; Glengarry Glen Ross ; National Lampoon's Animal House -- Motivation: Understanding what drives your character, even if those reasons are elusive to everyone else ; The films: Good Time ; Lost in Translation ; Precious -- Non-professionals: Casting everyday people to bring realism to film ; The films: Elephant ; Fish Tank ; Close-Up -- DIRECTING. Framing; Determining the geography of a scene by where you place the actors ; The films: Do the Right Thing ; A Dangerous Method ; Let the Sunshine In -- Depth of field: Strategizing how much of the frame you want in focus ; The films: Moonlight ; The Maltese Falcon ; Apocalypse Now -- Tracking shot: Following along with your characters as they navigate through a space, which creates a sense of energy and movement in your film ; The films: Atonement ; Children of Men ; The Turin Horse -- Close-up: Focusing on the intimacy and emotion of the human face ; The films: Persona ; The Passion of Joan of Arc ; If Beale Street Could Talk -- Long shot: Moving the camera back in order to get a better look ; The films: City Lights ; Playtime ; Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- Aspect ratio: Deciding how wide the frame should be to maximize the drama ; The films: Meek's Cutoff ; American Honey ; Chinatown -- Forced perspective: Utilizing the optical illusion to play with size and scope ; The films: Elf ; Songs from the Second Floor ; King Kong -- Canted angle: Tilting the camera, heightening the tension ; The films: The Third Man ; Sweeney Todd ; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ; Fallen Angels -- Crane shot: Placing the camera high above the action for a touch of grandeur and drama ; The films: Gone with the Wind ; Gold Diggers of 1935 ; Intolerance -- Rule of thirds: Splitting the frame into nine segments to highlight what's most visually interesting and important ; The films: Certified Copy ; It's Complicated ; Shame -- Breaking the fourth wall: Erasing the barrier between audience and actor, bringing us into the action ; The films: Ferris Bueller's Day Off ; Amélie ; Deadpool -- Negative space: Understanding that, sometimes, diminishing the characters in the frame can make for powerful commentary ; The films: L'Avventura ; Roma ; Punch-Drunk Love -- LIGHTING AND CAMERA. Deep focus: Filling the frame with images we need to see ; The films: Citizen Kane ; The Innocents ; The Rules of the Game -- Chiaroscuro: Articulating mood and suspense through shadows and light ; The films: The Godfather ; Touch of Evil ; The Night of the Hunter -- Key light and fill light: Illuminating your actors so that their reactions are clearly visible, while also offering shading and definition ; The films: Mudbound ; Daughters of the Dust ; We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Low light: Shooting in darkened locations without losing the drama ; The films: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ; Solo: A Star Wars Story ; Zero Dark Thirty -- Golden hour: Capturing the ethereal glow of a setting (or rising) sun to create a little movie magic ; The films: To the Wonder ; Before Sunset ; War Horse -- Slow motion: Decelerating the action, intensifying the emotions ; The films: Reservoir Dogs ; Bonnie and Clyde ; The Matrix -- Panning: Moving the camera from a fixed point in order to take in all the action ; The films: The Last Picture Show ; The Lobster ; Paranormal Activity 3 -- Steadicam: Utilizing a crucial piece of camera technology to simulate the feeling of agile, controlled motion ; The films: The Shining ; The Tree of Life ; Birdman -- Handheld: Taking the camera off the sticks and embracing the unsteadiness of real life ; The films: Husbands and Wives ; Two Days, One Night ; The Blair Witch Project -- POV shot: Letting the audience see the world through a character's eyes ; The films: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ; Cloverfield ; Hardcore Henry -- Split diopter: Fashioning a clever visual trick to create tension ; The films: All the President's Men ; The Untouchables ; The Hateful Eight -- Split screen: Reorienting the viewer to consider multiple scenes or images simultaneously ; The films: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ; Down with Love ; Timecode -- Zoom: Drawing the viewer closer to the action - or moving away for a provocative purpose ; The films: McCabe & Mrs. Miller ; Star Wars: The Force Awakens ; Quiz Show
• EDITING. Dissolve, wipe and fade: Finding myriad creative ways to move from one scene to another ; The films: BlacKkKlansman ; Star Wars ; Field of Dreams -- Smash cut: Juxtaposing one image with another, shocking the viewer in the process ; The films: Lawrence of Arabia ; 2001: A Space Odyssey ; North by Northwest -- Crosscutting: Moving between action in different locations, juggling suspense on several fronts ; The films: Return of the Jedi ; Cloud Atlas ; Dunkirk -- Jump cut: Disorienting the viewer by chopping up scenes and ignoring the rules of continuity ; The films: Breathless ; The Royal Tenenbaums ; Melancholia -- Non-diegetic sound: Allowing the audience to hear things that the characters cannot - or, why a musical score matters ; The films: Psycho ; Casino Royale ; Wonder Woman -- WRITING. Dialogue: Perfecting the art of how your characters communicate with the world around them ; The films: When Harry Met Sally... ; The Spanish Prisoner ; The Bridge on the River Kwai -- Voiceover: Articulating the inner thoughts of characters - whether they're talking to themselves or us ; The films: Barry Lyndon ; Goodfellas ; The Informant! -- Foreshadowing: Hinting early on at what's to come in a story ; The films: Vertigo ; Million Dollar Baby ; The Prestige -- Plastic images: Infusing inanimate objects with emotional or symbolic meaning - because, sometimes, a cigar is most certainly not just a cigar ; The films: Bicycle Thieves ; Inception ; The Piano -- Antagonists and obstacles: Determining the external and internal forces that are trying to hold your protagonist back ; The films: The Empire Strikes Back ; Rocky ; Requiem for a Dream -- Theme: Expressing the ideas occurring inside the plot ; The films: The Avengers ; The Social Network ; Free Solo.

Call Number

MFLF 21-2236

ISBN

• 9781786275585
• 1786275589

OCLC

1233309093

Author

Grierson, Tim, author.

Title

This is how you make a movie / Tim Grierson.

Publisher

London : Laurence King Publishing, 2021.

Copyright Date

©2021

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 186) and index.

Local Note

DISCUSSES VARIOUS TECHNIQUES AND METHODS VIA CASES OF NUMEROUS FILMS. COLOR ILLUSTRATED.

Research Call Number

MFLF 21-2236