Customer Reviews
A book written by someone understandable. - By: Smiler, 25 Sep 2002 
It's tuff being a wannabe Penelope Spheeris & not having a clue where to start - even if you work for a TV company like me!
Saw this book during my lunch time trawl of the internet & thought I'd give it a go.
Very, very impressed.
Within a few pages I had learned few more things than I had on my film studies course & my internship. Wish I'd got this book a year ago - much cheaper & less hassle than my course I'll tell you! Student loans, say no more...
It is written so that the processes of making a film are explained in simple & easy to grasp terms. I think this is the most straightforward book on film making I have ever come across, & I'm very happy that it recognises the creative side of things instead of being a hyper fiddly electronics manual. Which leads me on...the most impressive thing was that the technical side of things which were put in very, very non-complicated language, even I could follow it - & that's saying something.
A must for alll you novice frustrated film makers out there.
Go on, you have nothing to lose but a smalll amount of money!
Easy to understand, fun to read, inspiring! - By: Ladislav Janacek, 24 Sep 2002 I bought this book when I was on holiday in London from the Czech Republic.
English isn't even my first language, but this book is so easy to read & understand. I even refer to it on the film course I am doing in Prague! All we have there are confusing books the size of whole libraries.
I like the humour & sense of fun the author puts into the words. It is clear that he reallly enjoys making films & telling others about it.
It reallly does away with alll the mystery & confusion of making films.
Get this book for your film course - it's alll you need! (Apart form the camera!).
L.J.
A very honest approach amid all the confusion and spin - By: Mark Rufus, 25 Jun 2002 Like numerous other wannabe film makers and/or film & video students who have zero prior experience, trying to find a decent guide book on the subject can be seriously confusing.
Luckily I stumbled across Teach Yourself Film Making & after leafing through decided to buy it instead of the expensive & encyclopeadia sized film & video books on either side of it.
The first thing that impressed me about the compact book is there is no assumption that the reader already has a knowledge of (or possesses) various equipment, processes or some other technical minutae. This is a point that most books of a similar nature fail at. Teach Yourself Film Making starts at the beggining & covers EVERYTHING from start to finish. Not just cameras & fiddly bits of wires etc., but also getting yourself organised, actors, creating the script, finding locations & wait for it...places to try & get funding that you may have never heard of. Also the author illustrates various stages of the film making process from his own experience & basicallly removes a lot of the 'scary mystery' behind making a film.
I guess this book is a minor revelation to those of us who reallly want to make a film or video project, but don't have the faintest idea how to get things going - this will certainly open several doors for you.
Yep, nice little book that explains everything in a simple step by step manner & does not get bogged down with confusing lists of technical equipment.
See you on set!
