Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint

A comprehensive tome on filmmaking. You'll learn much from this book no matter who you are. If you want to make a film or just want to know about filmmaking, this one should be a part of your library

Basically this book is a three part book. The start of the book goes into the film making process, what it is about, why bother and how to get started. It gives you a general air of what is going on before a film starts shooting. The middle part of the book is extremely technically useful. Don't be put-off by the fact that it is a British book, most of the standards are the same and the writer covers both US systems and UK systems. Anyway the value of this book is in that the writer interviews very important people that work in the filming process - actors, special effects, film lab, cameramen, editors, sound editors, legal agencies, projectionists, marketing people, producers, directors... etc.... and they all give very profesional tips on what you should do and what you should NOT do. The third part of the book deals with CASE STUDIES and various filmmakers talk about their projects and what went right and what went wrong. Overall this is a very good book with lots of information from the people that matter in this industry. There is a lot of information on what NOT to do when shooting your first film. Anybody who wants to get into to film making should not miss out on this writer/director's account of his experiences with film making.

I am only Half of the way thru this book so far, but this is INCREDIBLE. Its actually giving me a head ache, how much information this guy has crammed into his book. The graphics, illustrations and photos are all excellent, and even the cartoons (which I normally HATE) are good. It helps that the chick is kinda cute! Every chapter gives you a "blueprint" of what you need to know about that specific part of movie-making. Sound, camera, make-up, music, setting up a company, editing, casting, it's all there. There's even a chapter on catering which includes recipes for film crews, it's brilliant. Another good thing is that the writing is laugh-out-loud funny sometimes, you can really tell that this guy has been thru the mill when it comes to making no-budget movies. This book is a breath of fresh air. If you don't believe me, go to a book store and flick through it. If you walk out without buying it, I'll be amazed.