On Film-Making (Hardcover)

• Category:  Books  »  Entertainment  »  Film & Video - Direction & Production
• Format: Hardcover   Learn more about the Hardcover format using Tower WIKI.
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• ISBN: 0571215610
• WAPI (Tower ID): 101175148
• Release Date: August 11, 2005
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #609035 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
• #5769 in Entertainment (See Top 100 Entertainment Bestsellers)
• #355 in Film & Video - Direction & Production (See Top 100 Film & Video - Direction & Production Bestsellers)

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A priceless examination of the filmmaker's craft, from the renowned director of Sweet Smell of SuccessAfter 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, Aristotle, and others. At the core of Mackendrick's lessons lay a deceptively simple goal: to teach aspiring filmmakers how to structure and write the stories they want to tell, while using the devices particular to the medium of film to tell their stories effectively. In this impressive volume, edited by Paul Cronin, the myriad materials that made Mackendrick's reputation as an instructor are collected for the first time, offering a chance for professionals as well as students to discover a methodology of filmmaking that is challenging yet refreshing in its clarity. Meticulously illustrated and drawing on examples from such classic films as "North by Northwest,"" Citizen Kane," and "Touch of Evil," Mackendrick's elegant lessons are sure to provide inspiration for a new generation of filmmakers.

The film director Alexander Mackendrick began his career at London's Ealing Studios in 1946, where, after spending several years working on storyboarding scripts, he directed some of that studio's most celebrated comedies, including WHISKEY GALORE and THE LADYKILLERS. His Hollywood career included the legendary film noir, THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, but he retired from filmmaking in 1969, citing an inability to become a "deal maker." Hollywood's loss was the film world's gain, however, as his subsequent career teaching film at California Institute for the Arts benefited generations of students, who gained both from his classes and from the publication of this remarkable collection of his notes, ON FILM-MAKING. Mackendrick teaches that film happens in the head as much as on screen, in the minds of both the viewer and the movie's creator. In a series of illuminating and invaluable chapters centered on dramatic construction and film grammar, Mackendrick uses examples from movies like Orson Welles's THE THIRD MAN and his own SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (which he self-effacingly characterizes as a failure) to illustrate subjects like screenwriting and character relationships. These refreshing and readable master classes are an exercise in conveying both technique and enthusiasm for one's craft. Aimed at the aspiring student but also of great benefit to the ordinary film enthusiast, they both demystify moviemaking and highlight the processes involved in every aspect of a film's creation.

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