It's well known that a vast number of people work on any given movie in roles as varied as writing scripts, choosing locations, dressing sets, costuming the players, lighting scenes, manipulating the camera, directing actors, editing film, working on sound, advertising the finished product, and screening it to an audience. Have you ever thought about how these components are collated? Or why the director is most often considered the author of a film? Wonder no more, because Sidney Lumet's
Making Movies is a terrific journey through each stage of filmmaking that is overseen by the director. Lumet, the veteran director of
Twelve Angry Men, The Pawnbroker, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict, and many other fine movies, knows the ins and outs of American filmmaking as well as anyone. In this excellent, personable account, Lumet tells what he's learned about making movies in the course of the last forty years. He shows why fine directors need to have strong imaginations, extraordinary adaptability, and skill in many different fields. His enthusiasm for his life's work, particularly his love of actors, is evident on every page of this book. As Herculean as the labors of film directing are, Lumet takes great pleasure in his work, almost guiltily admitting that the film director's job is "the best in the world."
Reader Reviews
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A friend recommended this book saying, "I'm not sure you want to learn about making movies, but this is a great project management book." Well...I could see his point, but I didn't feel the same way about the book. There's a thin thread throughout about the way Lumet conducts his movie project, most evident in the book's best chapter (7) entitled "Shooting the Movie: At Last!" The pieces of the puzzle all fall together at that point, and you get a true sense of everyone's responsibilities and how Lumet plans and uses these resources. So yeah, that's project management. But if you're going to buy this book, buy it because you're interested in how movies get made, starting right from how a script is chosen, through to the preview. From that perspective, it's a great book. Again, in the book's best chapter, you get a sense for just how draining - and unglamourous - it is to actually shoot the movie. Early pick-ups, lots of work with stand-ins to get the set (esp. lighting) right, multiple takes, late-night viewing of rushes. This is tough work, and Lumet describes it clear, concise language. And he pulls no punches as to where his frustrations lay in the process. Roger Ebert's cover blurb states "I am sometimes asked if there is one book a filmgoer could read to learn more about how movies are made and what to look for while watching them. This is the book." I'd say that's a very accurate summation of what you'll find here.
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