The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




OLD BUT VERY GOOD, November 29, 2009
By A. Miller (West New York NJ)
This book is very old but as mentioned in the text after many years the concept is still the same. I really love the insight from the forefathers in the industry. If your serious about the field, buy this book.......



A must-read for all movie makers!, September 20, 2009
By R. Nuttmann (Seattle, WA United States)
This book is very academic in nature, so if good 'ol school textbooks put you to sleep, this may as well. However, if you can stay focused and ignore the somewhat dated pictures and references, you will find this book to have every little thing you ever needed to know about cinematography in it. It is truly the bible to camera work for movie making, just an awesome resource!



The five C's, September 13, 2009
By Oddi S. Diaz
A little out of date in this digital age, but still very useful to know the basic of cinematography.



Five C's Five Stars, September 6, 2009
By Nik (Brooklyn, N.Y. USA)
I believe a filmmaker should know the logistics of the film camera and it's movements so that the outcome of a Film will be greater than expected. Kurosawa, Hitchcock and a great many directors knew, which is why many of their films are enduring. Mascelli writes a book breaking down and defining how an audience percieves a movie as a whole through shots. As long as you know this you can take your film to new heights, like Tarantino... But the basics are essential and every director must know what she/he is getting when a cinematograoher shoots YOUR film. This book should be a part of any filmmakers collection, studied and mastered. Also great for the cinematographer who works with directors who can not put their film into technical terms, as referring to the camera.



INFORMATIVE BUT OUTDATED, June 25, 2009
By Anthony Hampton
This book is a great primer on Cinematography but the moment you open the pages it becomes painfully apparent that its very outdated. I guess it's a classic but it's just too old for my taste. For example, all the images that illustrate the info are from 1960's movies. Early 70's at best. Most of them in black and white. Why does this matter? Well, it's personal taste. I find it more fun and easier to grasp the info if its illustrated in a current way. The way its written is very stiff and static. Pretty robotic.

On the plus side, if you read this book you will have a good base of knowledge to start shooting. It does the job in the sense of giving you the vital info. It fails in making it fun and interesting to read. You may nod off. You could do alot worse, but probably better as well.