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Deck the Shelves...
Our Annual Gift Book Guide
by Ray Zone
This holiday season finds offerings of movie books with encyclopedic listings of film titles and an array of books about independent filmmaking from pre-production to distribution. A casebook style volume dealing with the history of a very special film is also included.
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide 2008
Plume
1630 pps, paperbound, $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-452-28893-5
Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide
Plume
688 pps, paperbound, $20.00
ISBN: 0-452-28620-4
Since 1969, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guides have provided a nicely organized and reliable listing of films with DVD and video releases. The 2008 edition is a monster with over 17,000 entries and over 400 new titles. Maltin and his crack team of editors have made hundreds of additions, corrections and changes to ensure that the new volume is as accurate and current as possible.
For the first time, Maltin has also brought out a Classic Movie Guide as a supplement to the big volume. The Classic Movie Guide covers films from the silent era up to 1960 and makes space for 1,000 films never covered before from genres such as “B” Westerns to vintage foreign films. With a grand total of over 9,000 films, the Classic Movie Guide gives coverage to many forgotten gems of cinema that increasingly turn up on DVD and cable television.
Zagat Movie Guide 2008
Edited by Curt Gathje
Zagat Survey LLC
446 pps, paperbound, $14.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-57006-888-1
Zagat’s new Movie Guide 2008 presents the results of its most recent
survey with a listing of 1,950 films, 40 new films and the addition of 310
earlier titles. Some 17,643 moviegoers participated in the survey, with an
average viewing of 2.2 films a week, collectively seeing about two million
films in the last year.
The new survey notes a change in viewing habits with 52 percent of those surveyed
viewing movies on the big screen and 48 percent (up from 43 percent in 2006)
preferring to view movies at home. Nicely organized with capsule ratings,
the Zagat Movie Guide can conveniently be taken along on trips to the video
store.
Planning the Low-Budget Film
Robert Latham Brown
Chalk Hill Books
432 pps, paperbound, $29.95
ISBN: 978-0-9768178-0-2
Robert Latham Brown is a seasoned line producer with a long list of motion picture credits. He uses his book as a text for undergraduates, teaching a course on Production Planning at the School of Cinema/Television at the University of Southern California. This pragmatic volume covers pre-production thoroughly and concisely with separate chapters on the basics of low-budget production, scheduling and production expenses during the shooting period, and post-production.
Included in an appendix is the budget for the film The Anarchist’s Cookbook, as well as an invaluable listing of resources and a glossary. Highly recommended if you’re beginning your first film.
The Filmmaker’s Handbook:
A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age
Third Edition
Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus
Plume
817 pps, paperbound, $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-452-28678
Generally regarded as one of the “bibles” of film and video courses,
this 2008 edition of The Filmmaker’s Handbook has been updated by Steven
Ascher to incorporate recent changes in motion picture technology such as
high definition formats. Covering the entire subject of filmmaking from A
to Z, the Handbook discusses general principles of motion picture production
in a clear, fastidious fashion.
A website for the volume is planned but, as Ascher points out, “A book
has certain advantages. You can take it with you to the top of a hill. From
there, you can get a view of the filmmaking world that stretches out below.”
The Handbook strikes an excellent balance between a general overview of filmmaking
and its contemporary tools––such as software used for scheduling
and post-production.
Independent Film Distribution:
How to Make a Successful End Run Around the Big Guys
Phil Hall
Michael Wiese Productions
272 pps, paperbound,
ISBN-13: 978-1-932907-16-2
It’s difficult enough to make a feature film. But getting it shown can be even more challenging. Phil Hall has fashioned a guerilla-style handbook of film distribution and, after a brief history of independent production, packs this book with interviews of many different people who have worked in various areas of the motion picture industry. Each of them offers a unique perspective based on his or her own experience.
Gregory Hatanaka, for example, a distributor and a filmmaker, sets forth cogent advice about the realities of theatrical and DVD distribution. “If you find you are not being offered a theatrical deal,” notes Hatanaka, “then you must make a decision of what fork in the road to take: either to distribute the film yourself theatrically or to take a straight-to-video deal.” Other interviews with magazine editors, film publicists, critics and publishers round out a great variety of viewpoints.
Hall writes in an entertaining style and the book is so breezy, you’ll enjoy reading it even if you aren’t a filmmaker interested in distribution. But if you are, much sage counsel is to be found here. The fact that it’s an engaging work of contemporary film history is a bonus.
Lust, Caution
The Story, the Screenplay, and the Making of the Film
Eileen Chang, Wang Hui Ling and James Schamus
Pantheon Books
308 pps, hardbound, $22.95
ISBN: 978-0-375-42524-0
Lust, Caution is the first film to be directed by Ang Lee since he won the Academy Award for directing Brokeback Mountain in 2005. Pantheon has given a quality treatment to Lee’s new film, Lust, Caution, with this volume. It includes the original story by Eileen Chang, upon which the film is based, the screenplay by Wang Hui Ling and James Schamus, and extensive production notes by everyone from co-producer David Lee to director of photography Rodrigo Prieto. A lovely photo section in color also features still frames from the film.
Chang’s highly dramatic story has been given a lush new life in cinema and those who have enjoyed the film will appreciate revisiting it with this equally well-produced book.
Ray Zone can be contacted at r3dzone@earthlink.net.