From a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright comes invaluable insights and practical instructions on the art of film directing. Mamet looks at every aspect of directing--from script to cutting room--and draws from a wide variety of sources to make his points.
According to David Mamet, a film director must, above all things, think visually. Most of this instructive and funny book is written in dialogue form and based on film classes Mamet taught at Columbia University. He encourages his students to tell their stories not with words, but through the juxtaposition of uninflected images. The best films, Mamet argues, are composed of simple shots. The great filmmaker understands that the burden of cinematic storytelling lies less in the individual shot than in the collective meaning that shots convey when they are edited together. Mamet borrows many of his ideas about directing, writing, and acting from Russian masters such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, Sergei M. Eisenstein, and Vsevelod Pudovkin, but he presents his material in so delightful and lively a fashion that he revitalizes it for the contemporary reader.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
A small mega book!, May 18, 2008
By
J. M. Sharma (India)
Over all I was surprised to see the size and no. of pages of the book. But Really in this case, Size doesn't matter. Its full of gr8 info in a very interactive and excellent style.
A must hav for all who are realted to film.
great great book, December 31, 2007
By
fincherfan (NY)
Probably one of the best books I've ever read about making movies.
While Mamet is a bit overly rigid in his approach to classical montage here, it is a good contrast to the 'films' with people sitting around a table talking to each other. It will make you reevaluate your approach to placing the camera, directing the performance, structuring your story, visually interpreting a screenplay, etc... It is a quick read and you will surely revisit it through out your career as a filmmaker.
Excellent Concise Guide, February 15, 2007
By
Susan Barrett PriceExcellent supplement to McKee's STORY, to be used to break a scene into the shots that will show the story. As he says, in the end, all you have is your shot list. Also very useful for animation planning, comics, and graphic fiction writing. Mamet has been criticized because he has not actually directed many movies -- but sometimes a beginner's mind can document insights into a craft better than the old pros, for whom everything has become second-nature.
Makes it's point succintly, May 31, 2006
By
Terrence Aybar (New York City)
I'll keep it short. For one, this book is really short. I read it on the way to and from work in the same day. Secondly, Mamet says more in these hundred or so pages than most textbooks on the same subject. All that matters is that every scene serves a purpose and drives the story forward. True, there are exceptions to this rule but hearing Mamet tell it like it is with very little fat around his words is a refreshing alternative to long winded suggestions. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in directing anything at all.
Good place to start to get a few basic points, November 11, 2005
By
C. A. BoylsteinThis book represents Mamet's notes from a guest lecture course at Columbia. I began reading this after seeing Heist, which is a movie I like very much visually. I was about 2/3 through with my script at that time. I had only used a camcorder a few times - at the beach and shooting a wedding reception (both works of art :)) I watched Sparta while reading through the first few chapters of this book. Yes, Mamet definitely has his own "style," where dialogue is terse and images flow one after the other. His 'mentor' in the biz is Sidney Lumet, and I'm reading his book, Making Movies, currently. Mamet's is more a theoretical-style course as one would expect from course notes from Columbia. Lumet's is more a great director telling stories about the aspects of Hollywood movie making, chillin' with Pacino and Hepburn, taking a shot at Teamsters every 10 pages or so... Mamet's basic point is keep the plot/dialogue to a minimum and tell your story visually by combining different images in a way that it tells your story. He stresses using what I'll call a 'visual logic' to get from point A (opening shot) to point B (closing shot) - asking, what is the simplest, most logical way of getting there? There are some examples that are rather basic and may get tiresome. 1 important thing is don't TELL your audience everything - do some of it (shots)and leave the rest for the audience to fill in- this won't be random, however - the audience will fill in the rest the way you want it to through the way you've edited your shots together - logic is universal - you are not only directing actors - you are directing the audience! It is a minimalist philosophy that I happen to enjoy. I really don't need a character to narrate his previous and next action to me - that seems very stale... to each their own -
This book helped me understand the basic point of movie making even when heavily narrative - it still is all about the shots and editing them together. If you already know all of this then why are you reading? Go out and make your movie.
I have only read up to the sentence - "Go make your storyboards," as that is what I'm currently doing - mapping every little shot with camera angles/heights/zoom outlined. I've already discovered my script, perhaps like this review, is too "wordy." Anyway, the book is a quick read, cheap, and to me, worthwhile. For many, including Lumet, the magic of film is light. For Mamet, what I got is the magic is in the editing. Obviously combined, outside of story line, which is true of various mediums, lights/editing are what movie making is all about. Best of luck fellow travelers!
