Making Pictures: A Century of European Cinematography FROM THE PUBLISHER
The first comprehensive examination of the cinematographer's art, Making Pictures presents incisive analyses of hundreds of visually stunning films along with a complete technical and creative history of the cinematographers' unique craft. Illustrated with more than 500 images in both color and black and white - most of them enlargements of actual film frames - it features a wealth of location shots and expository stills.
SYNOPSIS
In this impressive volume, IMAGO, the Federation of European Cinematographers (founded in 1992), selected 100 European films to represent European accomplishment in the cinema. Stills from each film are presented with a text that describes the film's aims, innovations, narrative, and technique, with particular emphasis given to camera techniques. Two lengthy chapters, on the history of European cinema (by Michael Leitch) and the medium of cinematography (by Cathy Greenhalgh) introduce the survey of 100 films. The book concludes with seven chapters on technical equipment, including film, cameras, studios, and lighting. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once said, "Cinema is the truth, twenty-four times a second." From that brief quote springs this weighty, almost academic work on the history and importance of European film, starting from the optical entertainments in the 19th century and ending with 21st-century technical innovations. In between is packed a wealth of visual imagery, information and analysis. Although it features gorgeously produced stills from a multitude of movies, this doorstopper shouldn't be mistaken for a coffee-table book. It's a cinematographer's handbook and a cinephile's summer reading, so those who don't wish to crawl through detailed information about every technical aspect of European filmmaking are best directed elsewhere. But for the devoted film lover, there's much satisfying material here, including analyses about lighting night setups, the cinematographer's role and in-depth explorations of 100 films including The Battleship Potemkin, The Blue Angel and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Rather than provide movie information in standard review or flat description formats, the authors choose to jam-pack one page per movie with intricate detail about the film's director of photography, notable technical aspects and commentary about the use of light, backgrounds and mood, with comments from the likes of Ingmar Bergman's frequent collaborator, cinematographer Nykvist, among many others. The result is a stunning look at the way in which movies are made, both technically and creatively, and how European cinema in particular has influenced global filmmaking. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Filmmaking is a collaborative art, and few elements are as important in the director's palette as the contributions of the cinematographer. Overseen by IMAGO, this oversized book elucidates that relationship while paying tribute to milestones in a century of European cinematography, analyzing the achievements and challenges of 100 classics (e.g., The Battleship Potemkin, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Das Boot). Added features include an overview of European cinematography, an essay on the cameraman's role by veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff, an appreciation of the craft by director Bernardo Bertolucci, a meditation on film and light by Swedish lens man Sven Nykvist, and the actor's view by the late Marcello Mastroianni. The closing chapters on foreign film studios, camera system innovations, and other technical matters will appeal only to film specialists. For a book accenting the visual elements of film, it's disappointing that one must struggle through the microscopic, squint-inducing text, and some of the illustrations, reproduced from the films, are in a format much too small to be appreciated properly. Despite the valuable information and lavish illustrations, the book's hefty size, high price, and small print make it an optional purchase for large academic film collections with generous budgets.-Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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