Immerse yourself in movies (CONT’D)
So I’m pulling together a series of posts for next week to create a set of resources we can use to immerse ourselves in the world of movies. There will be five subject areas:
Movies
Scripts and Screenwriting
Film Analysis and Criticism
Filmmakers
The Evolution of Filmmaking
I pretty much have the Movies and Scripts and Screenwriting resources in place for the initial posts. Obviously whatever helpful suggestions that emerge along the way, I’ll add to those lists. However in the run-up to next week, I am specifically soliciting your ideas for those other three areas.
Today: The Evolution of Filmmaking.
Short of attending film school, what can someone do to learn the essentials — and hopefully beyond — in the area of studying the history and development of filmmaking? These are some of the suggestions thus far:
“Down and Dirty Pictures, “Peter Biskind
“Easy Rider, Raging Bulls,” Peter Biskind
“An Empire of Their Own,” Neal Gabler
“Cinema: Year by Year, 1894–2000,” Robyn Karney
“The Oxford History of World Cinema,” Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
“To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios,” Karen Paik
“The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood,” David Thomson
DVD
“A Decade Under the Influence”
“Fog City Mavericks”
“Martin Scorsese’s Personal Journey Through American Cinema”
What other books, documentaries, DVD commentaries, websites and resources about the history and evolution of filmmaking are ones you would recommend?
Despite the Blogger fiasco, I hope to launch this project on Monday.
Finally there’s this: Teddy Pasternak had recommended the title Go Into The Movies for the project which seems pretty great, right? But then Annika W had another suggestion I thought was quite good: Deep Focus. Her thinking:
As a bona fide cinematographer’s term, it pays homage to what you’re doing with this — trying to draw attention (focus) to the overall art of filmmaking, not just the writing. In cinematography, it is a shot where the background is in focus, thus the information in that background is as important as what’s in the foreground and often contains hidden clues to the story, which is also what you’re doing with the immersion project — trying to create a trove of resources to serve as a filmmaking foundation for us writers. The information in the background informs what’s in the foreground. Plus, on it’s most obvious level, we’re being encouraged to focus more deeply on filmmaking. So, at least three levels going on there, and you know how you like levels!
If I could get your thoughts on those two possibilities, that would be cool.