cinematography

I purchased Setting up your shots basically because it tells and gives you a storyboard shot of differnt camera techniques, Crane shots and editing techniques. For these things I found this bok to be a blessing because it explained a lot of different shots that i didn't know. It also explains them in a very straightforward manner and sites several movie as examples. So why three stars? Mainly for two reasons. One problem with this bookm is that it doesn't tell you how to get some shots. ex. various crane shots. What kind of crane? Another problem is the fact that the author suggests you go out buy book on certain subjects say, composition but he doesn't mention any by name. Overall I did like the very straightforward explanation of different shots. This is a decent book( not essential) that film buffs may appreciate more than fimmakers.

This is without a doubt one of the most worst books I have ever read. It is written for a child and has a tone which will be insulting to anyone who is intersted in professional film making.

In some cases the author is simply incorrect in his terminology. The author is a wannabe film maker who has a snowball's chance in hell of ever doing anything other than to write this innane piece of crap.

This book was obviously not written by a professional film maker, but by an amateur for amateurs.

The illustrator claims to be a "professional". The illustrations for this book are equally bad.

Don't waste your time or money on this waste of paper.

...open this book and point to the page.

A previous reviewer complained that all this book does is show the shot. Presumably that person wanted a to-do list of which knobs to turn, what equipment to set up, how much the rentals should be, etc etc etc.

When I write a shooting script, I use the camera terms here as *verbs*. "Dolly past [character] and Spin Around" Anybody in the crew who does not understand is handed the book. Quickly I get "Oh, THAT's what you mean."

In fact I bought more books for that purpose alone.

Gee, what a shame it's not in color photographs. Gosh it might even be better in 3D. How about virtual camera moves holographiclly jumping off the page?

Get real. This is an idea book. Look. Get the idea. Get to work.

Got it?