Below I’ll give you my selections for the best Filmmaking books by a few categories. I will cover these and other great books more in depth later.
1. The Filmmaker’s Handbook, 2013 Edition (2012)
Widely acknowledged as the “bible” of video and film production, and used in courses around the world, The Filmmaker’s Handbook is now updated with the latest advances in HD and new digital formats. For students and teachers, professionals and novices, this indispensable handbook covers all aspects of movie making.• Techniques for making dramatic features, documentaries, corporate, broadcast, and experimental videos and films• Shooting with DSLRs, video, film, and digital cinema cameras• Digital editing with the latest video editing systems• In-depth coverage…
2. Filmmaking: Direct Your Movie from Script to Screen Using Proven Hollywood Techniques (2010)
Filmmaking, the definitive resource for filmmakers, blows the doors off the secretive film industry and shows you how to adapt the Hollywood system for your production. Full of thousands of tips, tricks, and techniques from Emmy-winning director Jason Tomaric, Filmmaking systematically takes you through every step of how to produce a successful movie – from developing a marketable idea through selling your completed movie. Whether you’re on a budget of $500 or $50 million, Filmmaking reveals some of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets. Make your movie and do it right. The companion…
3. Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005)
Here’s what started the phenomenon: the best seller, for over 15 years, that’s been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny and candid look inside the movie business. “Save the Cat” is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying, including: The four elements of every winning logline The seven immutable laws of screenplay physics The 10 genres that every movie ever made can be categorized by ― and why they’re important to your script Why your Hero must serve your Idea Mastering the 15 Beats Creating the “Perfect…
4. How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck: Advice to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro (2011)
Newly updated and revised, How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck is a quick and easy guide that will make your video better instantly—whether you read it cover to cover or just skim a few chapters. It’s about the language of video and how to think like a director, regardless of equipment (amateurs think about the camera, pros think about communication). It’s about the rules developed over a century of movie-making—which work just as well when shooting a two-year-old’s birthday party on your phone. Written by Steve Stockman, the director of the…
5. The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, 6th edition (2017)
Filmmaking involves much more than just buying a camera and a computer and The Digital Filmmaking Handbook covers everything you need to know, whether you’re making a feature-length movie, a series of webisodes, a VR project, or even your first short film. This one-stop digital filmmaking resource will guide you from your initial idea to getting your finished project “in the can.” It will show you how to create shots and effects that are rarely associated with low-budget productions.What’s New?Web-based distribution has finally cracked open the field and…
6. On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director (2005)
After more than twenty years in the film industry as a screenwriter, storyboard editor, and director of memorable films such as The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick turned his back on Hollywood and began a new career as the Dean of one of the country’s most demanding and influential film schools. His absolute devotion to the craft of filmmaking served as a powerful impetus to students at the California Institute for the Arts for almost twenty five years, with a teaching style that included prodigious notes, neatly crafted storyboards, and handouts containing excerpts of works by Kierkegaard,…
7. The Director’s Six Senses: An Innovative Approach to Developing Your Filmmaking Skills (2016)
The Director’s Six Senses is an innovative, unique, and engaging approach to the development of the skills that every visual storyteller must have. It’s based on the premise that a director is a storyteller 24/7 and must be aware of the “truth” that he or she experiences in life in order to be able to reproduce it on the big screen. Through a series of hands-on exercises and practical experiences, the reader develops the “directorial senses” in order to be able to tell a story in the most effective way….
8. Shot By Shot:Practical Guide.. (2011)
Book by John Cantine…
9. Teach Yourself Film Making (Teach Yourself: General Reference) (2007)
If you have ever dreamed of being the next Scorsese or Spielberg, Teach Yourself Film Making is the most comprehensive, user-friendly guide to mastering every aspect of making movies. The book takes you from scriptwriting to financing, casting, and cameras, all the way to postproduction….
10. Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player (1996)
This is both one man’s remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through. Part production diary, part how-to manual, Rodriguez unveils how he was able to make his influential first film on only a $7,000 budget. Also included is the appendix, “The Ten Minute Film Course,” a tell-all on how to save thousands of dollars on film school and teach yourself the ropes of film production, directing, and screenwriting. A perfect gift for the aspiring filmmaker….
Best Filmmaking Books that Should be on Your Bookshelf
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some filmmaking books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Observational Filmmaking for Education: Digital Video Practices for Researchers, Teachers and Children
Author(s): Nigel Meager
Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Palgrave Macmillan, Year: 2019, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2355172
Migrant and Diasporic Film and Filmmaking in New Zealand
Author(s): Arezou Zalipour
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Year: 2019, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2355496
Jean-Luc Godard’s Political Filmmaking
Author(s): Irmgard Emmelhainz
Publisher: Springer International Publishing; Palgrave Macmillan, Year: 2019, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2409067
Finding the Personal Voice in Filmmaking
Author(s): Erik Knudsen
Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Palgrave Pivot, Year: 2018, Size: 1 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2309491
Reassessing the Hitchcock Touch: Industry, Collaboration, and Filmmaking
Author(s): Wieland Schwanebeck (eds.)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, Year: 2017, Size: 4 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2152926
Virtual Reality Filmmaking: Techniques & Best Practices for VR Filmmakers
Author(s): Celine Tricart
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2017, Size: 37 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2304735
Early Race Filmmaking in America
Author(s): Barbara Lupack (ed.)
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2016, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2257460
Cinéma Militant: Political Filmmaking and May 1968
Author(s): Paul Douglas Grant
Publisher: Columbia University Press, Year: 2016, Size: 3 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2269154
Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era
Author(s): Pearl Bowser; Jane Gaines; Charles Musser
Publisher: Indiana University Press, Year: 2016, Size: 15 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2285702
Video and Filmmaking as Psychotherapy: Research and Practice
Author(s): Joshua L. Cohen, J. Lauren Johnson, Cathy Malchiodi
Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2015, Size: 1 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 1321461
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are absolutely hot items according to Chicago Tribune, others are written by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.