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

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Great book, October 2, 2009
By Linda Krogh (Norfolk, VA USA)
i recieved the book in a great time-frame, and the price was excellent. Thank you so much for providing me with my needed university reading.



Almost completely useless, June 11, 2008
By A. M. Sloan
There are so many shortcomings with this book--where to begin? The text throughout is in serious need of an editor. The author jumps from one thought to another then returns to the first later in the chapter. The information in the book is presented as authoritative and yet some of it is downright wrong. Many of the images are pixelated, small, or ambiguous. There are several instances of page / image / figure references that are incorrectly linked. Occasionally, new terms appear in the book which are never explained--the reader is just supposed to "know" them. Overall it feels like someone who is about 80% competent as a cinematographer decided to write this book, but they had no idea how to organize their thoughts in a cohesive manner.

True, there are good bits of info in the book. But these nuggets are scattered randomly here an there and their appearance amid pages of incorrect or incomplete information casts a shadow of doubt over the entire work.

If you know nothing about cinematography, you'll probably learn a thing or two from this book. Otherwise it is almost a complete waste of time. So much of it is vague, misleading or false. Do NOT buy this book expecting a definitive, well-written authority on cinematography. Not worth the money. An embarrassment to whoever pieced the book together.



Comprehensive text book!, May 6, 2008
By Yousef Linjawi (Los Angeles, CA)
Blain Brown's book is very comprehensive towards the technical and theoretical aspects of the bare bones of cinematography. I found the chapters to cover film and HD quite well and the five C's of cinematography are well illustrated too. I know for a fact that many cinematography professors in film schools from all around the country do require this reading in their curriculum. So, If you're a beginning student in filmmaking or cinematography you will find more than what you need here, but yet still stay in track and not get lost. Moreover, if you've been shooting for a while and know most of what goes inside the camera department, you're still going to benefit a lot from this reading, it really puts you in perspective. I personally and professionally recommended this book highly.. So, two thumbs way up!!



Sections are poorly written and full of errors, March 5, 2008
By Avid reader (San Francisco)
The book has a lot of useful information in it. Unfortunately, it could have used a copy editor and someone to verify all of the information in it. There are A LOT of typographical errors. I spent a great deal of my time verifying what was written in the book in other texts after I discovered several errors. Depth of field/depth of focus, come on, please proofread. The book also makes explanations more convoluted and unclear than necessary. Again, I referred to Malkiewicz (the edition with David Mullen-a very good example of someone who writes clearly and intelligently about cinematography), The Filmmakers Handbook and notes from my introductory cinematography class to untangle what Brown was tangling.

The book is not up to Focal's high standards. Please hire an editor for the next edition and actually incorporate the corrections to the text that readers submit. Conceptually, the book is disorganized. Please consider an outline for the next edition.



Best Cinematography Book Ever!, February 8, 2008
By Ryan Frost (Concord, NH)
This book answered all the questions I had on the subject that no other resource could. Great book for any aspiring filmmaker novice or semi-pro.