Neil Landau

I've written, directed, and produced corporate and marketing videos for 20+ years, and this book is spot on. I'm recommending it to every newbie in the business who asks what they really need to know when starting out. It's authoritative, easy to understand, well-organized, and efficient to use. Reading its tips you not only find a lot of very practical information in an easy-to-crack nutshell, but you can almost see the strange and wonderful things that can go on whenever a project is envisioned, a storyboard sketched, or a camera about to roll (or is already rolling). I'd say, in addition to students and those in the biz, it'd also be interesting to serious film buffs who like to know the nitty gritty of what goes on. In brief, highly recommended!… (más)

101 Things I Learned in Film School, a review

Having little interest in the making of films I asked to review this book because my son had made application to several film schools after obtaining his MFA. When he arrived home after graduation, I presented him with the review copy. He laughed and pulled his own copy from his duffle bag. “Read it,” he said, “and tell me what you learn.” So having pledged to read and review, I did so.

I was immediately impressed by the simplicity of the book. Both the graphics and the instruction worked together to lead you through the book.. As a teacher of young adult reading I also was impressed at the interrelations between the genres. When I had finished the book I loaned to one of my students who was a film buff and he treated it as it was sacred. For one who is just a casual student of film or has film in the future, this is a good beginning.
Jim McGuire… (más)

I graduated from film school and I absolutely love little books like this one. Some of the wisdom was new for me though much of it was traditional film knowledge presented from the author's unique perspective. Some of the lessons were technical, like day-to-day stuff while working on a film, and some were about the art and how to best present it. The best tidbits had to do with trimming your work down for better clarity, better flow, better tension, and almost better everything. This applies to the screenplay, the film, and even the production itself.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is attributed to filmmaker Sidney Lumet: 'All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.'… (más)

I'd classify this as a coffee table book (although most coffee table books are over-sized while this one is certainly anything but...). To me it still qualifies as a coffee table book because it's probably best enjoyed by flipping through it randomly rather than reading straight through. It covers a wide variety of topics relating to the industry.

The format of the book sets up the information as 101 points, all presented as single sentences, followed by an explanatory paragraph or two and accompanied by an illustration on the facing page. These are simple line drawings which, while I personally didn't care for the style of, fit well with the simplicity of the text.… (más)