Direction category: 829 books
Nothing Happens
Chantal Akerman’s Hyperrealist Everyday
Language: English
Release Date: February 9, 1996
Through films that alternate between containment, order, and symmetry on the one hand, and obsession, explosiveness, and a lack of control on the other, Chantal Akerman has gained a reputation as one of the most significant filmmakers working today. Her 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce,...
Making Faces, Playing God
Identity and the Art of Transformational Makeup
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2013
Wearing a mask—putting on another face—embodies a fundamental human fantasy of inhabiting other bodies and experiencing other lives. In this extensively illustrated book, Thomas Morawetz explores how the creation of transformational makeup for theatre, movies, and television fulfills this fantasy...
Film School
A Memoir
Language: English
Release Date: November 1, 2011
An “entertaining” memoir of a very non-typical film student making his way through USC’s famously competitive program (Los Angeles Times).
When Midwestern journalist Steve Boman applied to the University of Southern California’s vaunted School of Cinematic Arts, the world’s oldest...
by Jack Benza
Language: English
Release Date: September 1, 2005
Language: English
Release Date: September 1, 2005
There are more than two hundred reality TV shows planned for this year alone. Millions of people have applied to be on these shows; only a handful have been chosen to compete and win big money. One of those chosen few is Jack Benza, and in So You Wannabe on Reality TV he lifts the veil of secrecy...
The Fall of Buster Keaton
His Films for MGM, Educational Pictures, and Columbia
Language: English
Release Date: July 16, 2010
Born into a family of vaudevillians, Buster Keaton made his first film appearance in 1917 at the age of 21. By the early 1920s, he had established himself as one of the geniuses of silent cinema with such films as Sherlock, Jr. and The Navigator and his 1925 work, The General, placed at number 18...
John Ford
Poet in the Desert
Language: English
Release Date: November 21, 2013
John Ford--Poet in the Desert is an uncommon biography. Author Joe Malham offers rarely explored facets of this dark yet towering poetic genius in a fascinating analysis of the artist's personal life. The influences on Ford's work, from art, history and politics to the man's mystical faith, are skillfully...
Agnes Varda
Interviews
Language: English
Release Date: December 4, 2013
Over nearly sixty years, Agnès Varda (b. 1928) has given interviews that are revealing not only of her work, but of her remarkably ambiguous status. She has been called the "Mother of the New Wave" but suffered for many years for never having been completely accepted by the cinematic establishment...
Cassavetes Directs
John Cassavetes and the Making of Love Streams
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2008
In 1983 visionary director John Cassavetes asked journalist Michael Ventura to write a unique film study—an on-set diary of the making of his film Love Streams. Cassavetes laid out his expectations. He wanted "a daring book, a tough book". In Ventura’s words, "All I had to do for...
Jean Epstein
Corporeal Cinema and Film Philosophy
Language: English
Release Date: May 16, 2016
This is the first comprehensive study of Jean Epstein's fiction and documentary films, film theory, and writings on poetry and homosexuality. Until now no general introduction to this very influential filmmaker, thinker and writer was available in English. The book unfolds the intellectual trajectory...
Guillermo del Toro
Film as Alchemic Art
Language: English
Release Date: February 27, 2014
A critical exploration of one of the most exciting, original and influential figures to emerge in contemporary film, Guillermo del Toro: Film as Alchemic Artis a major contribution to the analysis of Guillermo del Toro's cinematic output. It offers an in-depth discussion of del Toro's oeuvre and investigates...
Joss Whedon
The Genius Behind Buffy
Language: English
Release Date: April 10, 2003
Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy is a biography of Joss Whedon, the wunderkind creator of television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly.
From Booklist: Writers, actors, and fans often call Joss Whedon a genius. It’s easy to see why. Whedon, who got his start writing for...
by Maurice Yacowar
Language: English
Release Date: October 11, 2010
Language: English
Release Date: October 11, 2010
A reissued classic that examines the structure and themes of each of Hitchcock’s British feature films.
by Joseph McBride
Language: English
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Language: English
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Orson Welles called Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947) “a giant” whose “talent and originality are stupefying.” Jean Renoir said, “He invented the modern Hollywood.” Celebrated for his distinct style and credited with inventing the classic genre of the Hollywood romantic comedy and helping to...
The Filmmaker's Guide to Visual Effects
The Art and Techniques of VFX for Directors, Producers, Editors and Cinematographers
Language: English
Release Date: March 27, 2017
The Filmmaker’s Guide to Visual Effects offers a practical, detailed guide to visual effects for non-VFX specialists working in film and television. In contemporary filmmaking and television production, visual effects are used extensively in a wide variety of genres and formats to contribute to...