Product Description

Setting Up Your Shots is a complete visual encyclopedia of creative camera set ups and moves every filmmaker and cinema fan will want to own.

Over 100 storyboards with simple descriptions have been especially designed for this book. They show filmmakers, home video buffs and cinema fans how to achieve an incredible number of effects, images and compositions.

This book is presented in an elegant horizontal format to create the proper cinematic perspecitve. It also provides over 135 references to great shots from classic movies, including:
- Titanic
- Blade Runner
- Star Wars
- Vertigo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90713 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 155 pages

Customer Reviews

Don't bother with this book.
I hate to be too negative about something, but I bought this book expecting to find out about how to plan my shots to tell a greater visual story. What you get from this book is just a list of many types of shots.

I then found and ordered 'Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker' which was EXACTLY the book I was after. Which works for beginners and more experienced filmakers alike.
My opinion is whatever your level, you're far better off with Cinematic Storytelling.
Put your money towards that one.

Disappointing
I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about the way films are made, and how directors use cinematography to convey particular concepts and emotions.
It does not do this (although the summary had led me to believe it would). All it does is provide brief descriptions of basic camera techniques (pan, zoom etc), along with sketch illustrations and indications of where you might see the techniques in use it well-known films.

This seems to me pretty pointless. We all know what zoom, pan etc are, and we are not likely to go rushing out to get a copy of 'Blade Runner', or whatever, to wait for the poorly described episode to come up so we can see a real example.

Don't bother!

A Good First Step
This well organised, easy to read book is a great starting point for any wannabe filmmaker. Excellent illustrations help the reader to visualise the many techniques described, from the most basic to the more advanced. If you already have a knowledge of film language, this book serves as a useful reference, and if you don't, it is the perfect introduction, which not only explains how filmmakers use techniques to evoke a certain emotion or emphasise a point, but also encourages you to look for these techniques when you watch a film, and makes suggestions as to which films to look at (this is very important - the illustrations, while good, can never fully explain a film technique, as film is all about the moving image). Chapters include Basic cinematic techniques, Composition techniques, Crane techniques, movement, perspective, and editing, as well as a miscellaneous section. The pages of this book really do include what the title suggests: Great camera moves every filmmaker should know. Of course, you won't learn how to be a great filmmaker from a book, but in conjunction with a video or DVD player, this is a good place to start.