Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 296 pages
- Published by: Focal Press; Pap/DVD edition September 14, 2007
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0240809351
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0240809359
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Book Dimensions:
10 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
- Weighs: 1.8 pounds
Product Review
"Anthony Artis' "The Shut Up and Shoot Guide" is a good primer for the entry-level documentary filmmaker, presented in a breezy, down-to-earth vernacular style."
-Thomas White, Editor of Documentary Magazine, a publication of the International Documentary Association.
"I vouch for this bookextremely helpful for the newborn documentary filmmaker." -Albert Maysles,
Grey Gardens"A superb addition to the 'how to' subsection of your library, Artis' tome is concise, while containing useful, accessible information on every aspect of documentary filmmaking, all with a doggedly hands-on attitude. Five stars." - Empire Magazine
"The book is a very easy, straightforward read with plenty of graphics to demonstrate proper and improper techniquesIt is also extremely easy to use in its layout. [It] will be helpful to you for many, many years to come." Microfilmmaker Magazine
"Anthony Artis has consolidated years of practical, professional experience into the quintessential blueprint for documentary filmmakers. I have used the techniques in this book on my documentary and narrative film projects, knowing that budget should never stop a filmmaker from seeing his or her vision through. I highly recommend this book if you want to turn your limitations into assets. Now shut up and shoot!" -Pete Chatmon, Writer/Producer/Director
PREMIUM and
761st"Plain and simple, nuts and bolts on making documentary films. It's told in a conversational manner with no wasted or minced words and most importantly no BS! Few books of this type would mention how important it is to take care of your crew and how that can dramatically improve the outcome of your film. Definitely told from an insiders point of view with useful and practical info that will not go over your head." -Cliff Charles, DP,
When the Levees Broke, ThePeoplesDP.com
"The practical approach promised in the title is delivered fully by the text. Artis exposes the pitfalls that can swallow a beginning filmmaker and offers straightforward advice to avoid them." -Jonathan Luskin, Flying Moose Pictures, San Francisco.
"The book is comprehensive and detailed. Indeed the most comprehensive practical (I do hate the word guerrilla, a filmmaker is surely at the end of the day just a filmmaker!) guide to documentary filmmaking I have ever come across! It has three principle outstanding qualities that you seldom find individually let alone together in the same book. The first is how comprehensive it is; the second is how intensely practical it is; and the third is how clear it isBut remember that this book will not tell you how to make a great film or indeed a good film. Or indeed even pretend to. But it will give you clear and practical guidance on how to make your film. And without such guidance it is hard to even get started. This book will help you do so much more than that!
-Nik Powell (Director of the National Film and Television School in London)
Book Description
So you want to make a documentary, but think you don't have a lot of time, money, or experience? It's time to get down and dirty! Down and dirty is a filmmaking mindset. It's the mentality that forces you to be creative with your resources. It's about doing more with less. Get started NOW with this book and DVD set, a one-stop shop written by a guerrilla filmmaker, for guerrilla filmmakers. You will learn how to make your project better, faster, and cheaper. The pages are crammed with 500 full-color pictures, tips from the pros, resources, checklists and charts, making it easy to find what you need fast.
The DVD includes:* Video and audio tutorials, useful forms, and interviews with leading documentary filmmakers like Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens), Sam Pollard (4 Little Girls), and others
* 50+ Crazy Phat Bonus pages with jump start charts, online resources, releases, storyboards, checklists, equipment guides, and shooting procedures
Here's just a small sampling of what's inside the book:
* Putting together a crew
* Choosing a camera
* New HDV and 24P cameras
* Shooting in rough neighborhoods
* Interview skills and techniques
* ten ways to lower your budget
* Common production forms
* Pull off your vision in creative and cost-effective ways
* Bonus DVD with video and audio tutorials, interviews, bonus pages with forms and checklists, and more
* 500+ full color illustrations: this book shows you, not tells you
Reader Reviews
Anthony Artis has created a very usable guide to making documentary films independently, which also happens to be the best guide I've encountered on what you really need to know to get started making independent films of any sort. The techniques he indicates that are designed for documentary filmmaking are essential skills for any independent filmmaker who wants things to stretch a limited budget without sacrificing filmmaking quality. The book is beautifully produced, well bound on high quality paper (as one might expect from Focal Press), and full of very useful illustrations and photos. It is also right on point -- this is designed as a usable guide and not as a book on history and theory -- though there are enough very quick tips and provocative pointers on the history and theory of documentary filmmaking to at least show that Mr. Artis knows his stuff -- this is not one of those books by someone who made a film or two that never made it anywhere and now pretends to be an expert on everything cinematic. Mr. Artis has made several documentary products for a wide range of venues and now works at NYU as an instructor and equipment manager -- he has the streed cred, the professional know-how and the academic training required to really pull of something like this tour-de-force of a usable guide. It reads quickly, with each minor topic covered in a few brief paragraphs with supplementary how-to guides, tips and pointers from professionals. It also covers everything, at least everything you could possibly digest until you have gotten some experience actually making a few films; at the same time he reminds budding filmmakers that there is always more to learn to supplement hands-on experience and points to a number of credible resources that would serve an amateur filmmaker very well. One of the most refreshing features of this guide is that it strikes a good balance between the "down and dirty" guerilla style independent filmmaking it encourages and the recognition that professionalism and "mainstream" approaches to documentary filmmaking developed for a reason. He doesn't diss Hollywood style filmmaking, and is obviously well versed in it, and gives pointers for how to make work professional; at the same time he recognizes that professional standards urged in several mainstream filmmaking guides can become hurdles that keep aspiring filmmakers from picking up a camera and just getting started as they need to in order to develop professionally. Sometimes the "down and dirty" approach that encourages innovation and problem-solving over spending top dollar on the best equipment is just the right approach both for a particular subject matter and a particular style. But the book as a whole covers it all: what to do when you are in a pinch and what to do when you can afford the time and money to give your project extra polish. He covers pre-production, including location scouting and getting releases, making budgets, raising money and securing a crew and keeping them happy; he covers cinematography and lighting and sound, how to get the best picture and sound regardless of your budget and equipment -- while at the same time pointing out clearly what does get sacrificed when you cut back on essentials; he covers shooting and interviewing, editing and distributing. Each chapter is refreshing and clear, written in an engaging style that isn't afraid to use street language but doesn't abuse that freedom to the point of sacrificing clarity. There is a thorough index and glossary and table of contents and even a tutorial dvd that illustrates some of the techniques he mentions and includes helpful charts and forms such as release forms and checklists. There are lots of great books on filmmaking out there -- and Mr. Artis mentions and describes several of them in an index on further reading in his book -- but I can't imagine another guide that is as clear and useful for one who really just wants to get out there, shut up and start shooting. I look forward to other titles in his "down and dirty dv" series (see the website at downanddirtydv.com). I've already assigned this one for a film class I'll be teaching in the Spring for which my students will be making small documentary projects as part of a course on the history of American independent cinema.
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