Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors (Volume 1)

This is a true update of a true classic performed by a true professional and teacher. The first edition has been my creative companion for several years. It has been my go-to resource for reinforcing the basics, and serves as a yardstick to measure my current level of knowledge. The first time I read it (one sitting, while waiting at LAX) I understood some stuff, but it did set my course toward cinematographer, and established the framework for the stuff I had to learn and experience in order to craft stunning images that tell compeling stories. I'm still working on that; and the worn, marked-up pages are falling out of my first edition. Second edition is not simply an update to encompass more of digital cinematography. Many of the explanations and descriptions have been refined, and do a superior job of helping one to grasp the concepts. There are a few typos and grammar gotchas and oversights bla, bla, bla. Who cares? The content is what counts, and the content is superb. No matter what the occupation (this is my fifth career), the devil IS in the details - usually boiling down to basics. We generally don't screw up the fancy stuff, it's usually overlooking something basic that causes screw-ups. Blain Brown attempts and succeeds in helping the reader build a solid foundation of basic cinematographic knowledge and toolsets. He provides the foundation, it's up to us to build the structure. It's what a good teacher does, and it's why I usually re-read cover-to-cover once a year or so. It's a good book for beginners even though it's a little advanced. It takes a lot of lighting and shooting and time in the trenches to figure all this stuff out. There will be "oh yeah" moments when you discover something and it clicks with something you read before. For the intermediate level, it's a perfect text and reference. For advanced practitioners? I guess that depends on that person's needs. To me, "advanced" is ASC members and others at that level of professional expertise. Folks at that level mostly seem to be down to earth, still learning, and solidly grounded in the basics. Yeah, I think this book is great! I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about visual storytelling at any level. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for caring enought to share, to inform, and to inspire.

It was so cheap and helped me so much in filmmaking. I loved it. Some sections of it were not as helpful as others, but in all its a really helpful resource. I ordered this and a couple other filmmaking books. I liked this one the best. The "DSLR Cinema: Crafting the Film Look with Video" was not helpful AT ALL. The author just talked and talked about the gear and about philip bloom. It was also very misleading, and implied that you needed everything in the book to make a film, when all you really need is a camera and and idea.I've gotten more useful information from random videos on youtube than in that book, about both gear and filmmaking on a budget on DSLRS. This book actually talked about filmmaking, and wasn't just a useless catalog of photography gear. You can tell from the other reviews that this is a great book. Buy it. DSLR Cinema: Crafting the Film Look with Video - I found this not useful at all. For 20 bucks, it's very cheap, but it doesn't even come near the amount of useful information this has in it. It talks much more about the gear you'll need than actually using it. (if that made sense) Anyways, this is a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in filmmaking.

This is an excellent introductory text for students of film, and would also serve as a good point of departure for enthusiasts looking to embark on producing their own creative film content. Blain Brown gives a decent breakdown of basic cinematic principles such as structure, shooting methods, visual narrative and cinematic storytelling in the opening chapters. In subsequent chapters he hones in more particularly on the various intricacies and considerations that relate to technical specifications of production equipment and how these relate to the DP's work. The third area of focus is that of post-production techniques and tools. A chapter is also dedicated to on-set operations. This second edition sees substantial updates on the first, particularly in the content that addresses changes in production equipment and software, such as cameras, lighting and HD digital encoding. While no single text could conceivably be exhaustive in addressing the entire scope of what an aspiring cinematographer needs to know, this book gives equal attention to considerations of theory and praxis and enables readers to identify relevant further (specialised) areas of reading. One aspect which came as a constant irritation is poor editing of the text - it is littered with typographic errors and incorrect in-text references - which compromises the reading experience somewhat.

Without getting into too much of a song and dance about how this book has impacted me, I feel it necessary to give a little background on myself in hopes of putting this book into better perspective for potential buyers. For the past year and a half I've decided to dedicate my life to pursuing a career in filmmaking. This has all been self-taught, reading 19 books, making multiple short films, corporate videos, working and making money in both my creative and business endeavors as a freelancer of sorts. I have read books on overall film production, directing, editing, making cinematic images, corporate videography, etc. I consider myself a Writer & Director, but I have also recently been doing work in cinematography. As a filmmaker you have to have a huge amount of respect for what goes into crafting the film image. This book gives a solid foundation for how important the cinematographer is, not only from a cinematographer perspective but also from an overall filmmaking perspective. So if you're likely in a similar position as me in trying to better yourself as a filmmaker, this book will undoubtedly be of use to you. If you're someone who wants to have a career solely as a cinematographer, you'll need this book in addition to the many more specialized books on lighting, camera operating, lenses, post-production color grading and correcting, etc to develop your abilities. So in conclusion, I highly recommend this book as a solid theory and practice-oriented look at the process of cinematography and the tools necessary to make cinematic images.

I have read many cinematography books and this one stands out as an intelligent, thoughtful, and comprehensive text. Cinematography requires knowing a lot, and this book does a great job of covering all the basics and then some. I noticed one reviewer described this book as amateurish and annoying; I'm not sure where that's coming from. I found this book to be anything but that. You can tell the writer speaks from experience and is not simply parroting something he read elsewhere. He does a nice job too of referencing his points with shots from actual films, so you can literally see the point he is making. I recommend this book without reservation as a good starting point for anyone interested in learning cinematography.

As a 2d/3d Artist constantly creating content , images and dealing with cameras in both 2d plane and 3d virtual environment creation, I was always concern about having the right framing to tell the right story and having the right composition. Since I bought this book , it gave me a totally new perspective what to look forward in creating believable and interesting camera composition for my virtual creations. Now I am able to understand more and have a reference book to go back in , in moments of doubt. This is a well written book that is very easy to understand and relate to, even if you are totally new to the world of cinematography. A must have for both the creative environment shot design artist, the movie director, and anything inbetween. Even architectural visualisation could benefit from it.

I found "Cinematography: Theory and Practice..." an effective reference tool. It is easy to find the area I wish to explore and read the individual component without having to have read prior sections. There is ample depth on each of the core practical and stylistic elements relevant to film production, but it is highly accessible for those beginning their craft or for those with some knowledge requiring review. Very well written and accessible text, but challenging enough to stimulate advancement in the technical field.

This is a must for all cinematographers who are just starting out. It makes all the concepts easy to understand and gives great examples. I actually found myself taking notes and finding it easy and even somewhat enjoyable to read. This was a required "textbook" for my class and I'm happy to say that I will not be selling it (as I do for most of my textbooks) because I want to use it as reference in case I need it in the future. It covers a lot of material but will teach you a great deal not only about the technicalities but also some techniques and even certain lingo and brands in the industry. I have not looked at the DVD yet, but the book is good enough in that you can learn from it without the additional material. The only reason I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars is that it has quite a bit of spelling/grammar mistakes. Not too much (maybe one out of every 75-100 pages?) but I would expect at least the editors to catch them. I'm just very picky with stuff like that.

Davvero un libro completo! Necessario per chi vuole intraprendere la lunga strada del filmmaker! Minsta allargando davvero gli orizzonti in questo campo. Compratelo e non ve ne pentirete promesso!

Itz a brilliant book in one sentence. A buyer can surely go for it undoubtedly. 5/5

It has a summary of interesting techniques. Some of them explained, some others just mentioned. It tells a little about many things, introduces to every aspect of cinematography. Later on, when you read the book you think: I'll buy another one about this particular subject i liked, to know more about it. It's the perfect book for people who have been playing around with video and cinema and wonder about how is it in the real productions and check if you were right.

Very knowledgeable in the art as well as ins and outs of cinematography.

Diese Buch begleitet mich täglich durch meine Arbeit. Nicht nur Szenenanalysen, sondern auch Lichtsetzung beim szenischen Film wird hier genaustens unter in die Lupe genommen. Ein TOP Buch!