Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors

I recently picked up Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors, and it has quickly become one of my go-to resources for understanding the art and science of cinematography. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in the industry for a while, this book provides invaluable insights that will help take your craft to the next level. Content & Structure: The book is incredibly detailed, covering a wide range of topics from the basic principles of image making to the more technical aspects of lighting, camera angles, and shot composition. It’s broken down into manageable sections, with plenty of real-world examples that illustrate key concepts, which makes it easy to grasp even complex topics. Technical Insights & Practical Applications: One of the standout features of this book is how it blends technical theory with practical application. The author doesn’t just explain cinematographic techniques but also discusses how these techniques affect the storytelling process. The tips on working with lighting, choosing lenses, and planning shots have already made a noticeable difference in my work. I also appreciate the sections that address the collaboration between directors and cinematographers, which is crucial for successful projects. Visual Learning & Examples: The book is filled with stunning visuals that help you understand the concepts being discussed. The images provide a visual reference for the theories being presented, making it easier to see how things work on a film set. Accessibility & Readability: Despite being packed with technical information, the book is written in a way that’s accessible and engaging. It’s not overly academic or filled with jargon, which makes it easier to follow and digest. Conclusion: Overall, Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors is an essential read for anyone serious about cinematography. It’s a comprehensive guide that covers everything from the creative side of filmmaking to the technical nuts and bolts. If you’re looking to deepen your understanding of cinematography and elevate your skills, I highly recommend this book.

If your goal is to be a member of a large film crew, then "Cinematography Theory and Practice" will give you a solid foundation to understand what to expect as a member of such a crew. On the other hand, if you are a "lone wolf" videographer, this book may exceed your needs. In a well written, if occasionally repetitious exploration, Brown begins by telling how what appears on the screen can be shaped to effectively tell a story. He then turns to explore the tools used to create what goes on screen, including cameras, lighting, camera movement and set operations. His descriptions can be quite detailed, as in the eight pages of the book's smallish type explaining how to work the slate used at the beginning of a take. I was pleased by the discussion called "Linear, Gamma, Log" which explained compression systems designed to extend the range of light in capturing video. On the other hand, I wish the author had had more concrete suggestions on the various settings that one can change in a modern digital camera to create the compression schemes. It's also would have helped if there had been a little exploration of the post-processing that goes into decompressing these schemes. One can gather from the book that the set is organized into a very rigid hierarchy, where a grip would never speak directly to a director, and where each person has strictly defined roles. For a person entering into this hierarchy, Brown explains all the do's and don'ts that a person needs to keep out of trouble. For the "lone wolf" or even small film crew, this book may be overkill. Reading about how a big crew handles things, like the marking of media that has been used and not yet downloaded, can be useful in the translation to smaller operations. On the other hand, exploring the variety of lights that are available on a big production may not be of much use to a filmmaker with a couple of LED panels at his disposal. The book has a companion web site. Readers should not look for an access code on the back cover but just go to the web site and follow the instructions for access. I found the videos there to just repeat what was said in the book, and to be of low quality for book on cinematography. If you want a textbook that tells you about how large production crews work, this book is ideal. For smaller scale operations, you will have to infer a lot.

As a graduate film student, the stories included about how cinematographers work on set are extremely helpful. It's a must for cinematographers who work with multiple people.

The content in this book is absolutely fantastic. However, the e-book is badly in need of a copy editor. I suspect the print edition of this book is fine. (I’ve not seen the print version.) I am using the ebook edition, read on the Kindle app for MacOS. (Date of writing this review: March, 2018, by the way. Hopefully they’ll fix these problems.) I do not recommend the e-book version until someone fixes the hundreds of annoying copy editing mistakes. Get the print version. Problems include: There are egregious misspellings. For example, “STTADIOAM” for “Steadicam” at location 7734. Photographs are often too small and often matched with incorrect captions. There are unusual hyphens where no hyphens are needed. There are occasional pull quotes in the book, but these quotes are presented as if they were regular body copy. Thus one is repeatedly unaware that a pull quote is a pull quote until finally reaching the quote’s attribution line at the very end. It is confusing. Bulleted list items appear as one bullet item per page, with nothing else on a page excepted for that single bullet item (which is typically just a few sentences long.)

Einwandfrei.

Esse livro é sem dúvidas um guia bem avançado pra qualquer um que quer de fato entender sobre filmmaking, não apenas arranhando a superfície, ele explica em detalhes conceitos bem técnicos de forma bastante clara. Definitivamente recomendo!

Ouvrage extrêmement intéressant et passionnant. Non seulement l'auteur aborde tous les points techniques de la photographie en cinéma numérique, mais il étudie également en détail la signification des plans, mouvements de caméras, de la couleur,... Bref, un livre à recommander à tous ceux quil s'intéressent à l'image en cinéma.

A fantastic book. Covers the artistic side as well as the quite deep technical elements. Never getting bogged down in technicalities for the sake of it and always managing to keep it releveant to the topics at hand. It's densely packed with very useful information and I've really enjoyed all of it. The challenege is remembering and putting all this good stuff into practice!! The sections on continuity were enlightening as were the parts on colour theory and how cameras actually work. A really excellent reference - if you film with any degree of seriousness you should have this book.

I had this book suggested to me by an artist I look up to. Yes it is expensive and thick, but you get more than your moneys worth. There is break downs of famous film frames to color keys and camera set up. A must have.