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Reading Material for Student Filmmakers

PostedApril 2, 2010
UpdatedSeptember 16, 2024

Books on Filmmaking Craft and Trades

Production
Directing
Art Department
Camera Department
Lighting and Grip Departments
Sound Department
Editorial and Post-Production

Industry Magazines and Cinema Journals

  • American Cinematographer – An international publication by the American Society of Cinematographers.
  • AmericanFilm – a monthly movie magazine published by the American Film Institute (AFI).
  • Cahiers du Cinema – An iconic French film magazine that’s been a cornerstone of film criticism and theory since 1951. It’s renowned for revolutionizing film critique and birthing the French New Wave, one of cinema’s most influential movements.
  • Camera Operator – Industry magazine published by the Society of Camera Operators with informative articles and interviews range from historical pieces to in-depth coverage of the most current technology.
  • CinemaEditors – A quarterly magazine published by the honorary Society of American Cinema Editors (ACE) since 1951.
  • DGA Quarterly – Offers in-depth articles about the issues and interests of Directors Guild of America members; expanded profiles of directors and their projects; discussions of new technologies; a deeper look into the guild’s history and the achievements of its members and expanded coverage of trends that affect directors and their teams. Free subscriptions to this magazine are available to students.
  • Journal of Cinema of Media Studies – An academic journal published quarterly by the University of Texas Press, in cooperation with the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. JCMS’s basic mission is to foster engaged debate and rigorous thinking among humanities scholars of film, television, digital media, and other audiovisual technologies. They are committed to the aesthetic, political, and cultural interpretation of these media and their production, circulation, and reception.
  • Cinema Scope – Cinema Scope is one of the most respected English-language publications on film worldwide. Packed with reviews, essays, festival reports, and interviews, Cinema Scope is geared to cinephiles looking for an intelligent forum on world cinema.
  • CineMontage – An industry magazine published by the Motion Picture Editors Guild.
  • The Notebook [@Mubi.com] – A new kind of film coverage. The Notebook combines the scope and variety of a print magazine with the daily content of a blog. Current, global, comprehensive—always. Their contributor-based approach provides many difference voices, critical approaches, geographic locations, and interests.
  • The Echo – Published by the Association of Sound Design and Production, The Echo focuses on the art, practice, business and people involved in the industry.
  • Filmmaker – A quarterly publication, founded in 1992, covering issues relating to independent film.
  • Film Comment – The official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world.
  • The Hollywood Reporter – An American digital and print magazine, founded in 1930, which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries.
  • International Cinematography Guild – An industry magazine published by the International Cinematography Guild.
  • Millennium Film Journal – Since its inception in the 1970s, the Millennium Film Journal single commitment is to the cinema as an art form, not a product, and they continue to maintain the idealist – if aggressively naive – position that artworks and products are separate and distinct species, even if some works are both.
  • Sense of Cinema – An online journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema.
  • Post – An industry magazine that focuses on the dynamic and evolving world of the post-production process.
  • Variety – A leading source of news, reviews and analysis on the entertainment industry, covering film, TV, digital and more. For over a 100 years, producers, executives and talent in entertainment have turned to Variety for business analysis and insights.

Technology, Trade and Networking Websites

  • 16mm Directory – 16mm Directory is a technical resource directory for supplies and services related to 16mm exhibition.
  • ACES Central – Community website for ACES (Academy Color Encoding System), an industry standard for managing color throughout the life cycle of theatrical motion picture, television, video game, and immersive storytelling projects. It provides news, beginner guides, a knowledge base, and a community forum for those who wish to learn and utilize ACES.
  • Adobe TV – Online video resource for expert instruction and inspiration about Adobe products.
  • AbelCine – Covers the broad range of disciplines including film and digital acquisition, optics, audio, workflows and post.
  • The Black & the Blue – The Black and Blue provides tips to help you look like a pro on set and is devoted to delivering useful knowledge about what it’s really like to make a movie.
  • theC47 – An online and offline resource for production based training, information and services.
  • The Camera Report – Podcast of interviews with some of the best cinematographers in the business.
  • The Camera Assistant’s Manual – Digital supplement for the book of the same title, contains a vast variety of resources for working as a professional Camera Operator and a First AC with a strong focus on traditional 16mm and 35mm film camera workflows.
  • Cinema5D – A forum & news blog for DSLR filmmakers.
  • Cinematography.com – A community forum for professional and aspiring DOPs.
  • Cinematography Mailing List (CML) – A mailing list started by Geoff Boyle in 1996 so that professional cinematographers, gaffers, and grips could talk about work.
  • The Cine Lens – Personal blog of lens and photo optics expert and pioneer Matthew Duclos.
  • Creative Cow – Online news and forum for post-production professionals.
  • David Elkins, SOC – Personal website of camera operator and first assistant cameraman, David Elkins, that contains several film and video camera resources.
  • Digital Photography Review – An independent resource dedicated to the provision of news, reviews and information about digital photography and digital imaging.
  • DVXuser – An online community and forum for digital filmmaking.
  • Digital Photography Review – An independent resource dedicated to the provision of news, reviews and information about digital photography and digital imaging.
  • Film & Digital Times – The journal of art, technique and technology in film and video production.
  • The Film Magazine – Independently owned, and United Kingdom based, collective of film scholars and aficionados, who are intent on making a safe space for film fans, critics and academics to engage with thought-provoking and insightful articles on cinema big and small and have throughout their history embraced analytical thought and critical insight.
  • Film-Tech – A community forum for professional film and video projectionists and exhibition engineers.
  • FrameWorks – An international listserv on experimental film, avant-garde film, film as art, film as film, or film as visual poetry; film’s expressive qualities, aside from or in addition to its storytelling capacity.
  • John August – Personal blog, Podcast, and script writing resources of acclaimed screenwriter John August.
  • John Brawley – An experience blog by an Australian cinematographer.
  • LinkedIn Learning @ UCF – A leading online learning platform that helps anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals. Explore over 12,000 courses and 5,000 video tutorials from industry experts and leaders all in one place. LinkedIn Learning is available to all UCF students, faculty, and staff.
  • NoFilmSchool – NoFilmSchool is a site for independent creatives and multi-hyphenates.
  • ProLost – Run by former ILM employee and self-proclaimed “accidental technologist” Stu Maschwitz, Pro Lost provides updates on filmmaking & DSLRs.
  • Philip Bloom – Personal blog of filmmaker, cinematographer, and DSLR guru Philip Bloom.
  • PhotoCineNews – A blog dedicated to the convergence of photography and video. As photographer’s retool their skill set to this emerging medium, PhotoCineNews is dedicated to delivering the latest news and innovations in this brilliant new genre.
  • Process Reversal – A non-profit organization that provides image-creation resources with an emphasis on photochemical filmmaking in the digital age. We teach workshops, program screenings, and organize artist visits. PR seeks to preserve film through research, resource development, and film productions focused on advancing the aesthetics and technology of the medium itself.
  • Pro Video Coalition – The industry’s best writers, bloggers and video gurus under one url.
  • REDUser – An online community for Red camera systems.
  • RED Learn – Tutorials about camera technologies and RED products.
  • Roger Deakins, ASC – Cinematographer Roger Deakin’s website and forum in which he personally posts and responds to reader questions about the art and methods surrounding cinematography.
  • Ron Dexter, ASC – Straight answers to frequent and seldom-asked film and video questions you will not find answered anywhere else.
  • Self-Reliant Film – The ultimate DIY site that was launched to champion small-crew, low-budget, and regional filmmaking.
  • Social Sound Design – A Q&A site encompassing all the wonderful disciplines of sound design.
  • SoundWorks Collection – Takes you behind the scenes and straight to the dub stage for a look into audio post-production for feature films, video game sound design, and original soundtrack composition.
  • So You Wanna Work in Movies? – A manifesto by Oliver Stapleton, BSC about the how, what, and whys of working in the film industry.
  • Steve Yedlin, ASC – Cinematographer Steve Yedlin demonstrates and discusses digital cinematography and color science concepts.
  • Super 8mm Wiki – A online encyclopedia about the Super 8mm film format.
  • The Ultimate Guide to Script Supervising – The team at StudioBinder goes over what a script supervisor does, why they’re so important, and also provide a free script supervisor template and forms for you to utilize.
  • Video Copilot – Provides in-depth training and software solutions for artists working on film & television productions.
  • Vimeo Video School – Vimeo Video School is a fun place for anyone to learn how to make better videos.
  • Vincent Laforet – The blog of a professional filmmaker and photographer who enjoys discussing his craft and sharing tips and tricks.
  • Wolfcrow – Workflows for filmmakers and media professionals.

Cinema News, Theory, and Criticism Websites

  • Acquarello – Strictly Film School – A collection of cinema studies, articles, readings, and media by a NASA flight systems design engineer.
  • The Art of Memory – Minimal Film, Music, Literature, Poetry, Art.
  • The AV Club – Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.
  • Cinema Scope Online –  A weekly updated web supplement to the print version of Cinema Scope. In the magazine, they have a limited amount of space to pack the world of Cinema As We Know It in.
  • David Bordwell’s Website on Cinema – Personal website of Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
  • Dennis Grunes – Dennis Grunes is a film scholar and historian with a blog. Reportedly watching an average of 4 to 5 films a day, he is widely considered one the most prolific film essayist in the world.
  • Diagonal Thoughts – Some notes on seeing and being, sound and image, media and memory by Critical Film Studies professor.
  • Early Cinema – A website dedicated to the first decade of cinema.
  • Evan E. Richards – An image blog of single frames taken from films by a videographer, photographer, editor, camera operator and teacher.
  • Every Frame a Painting – A series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016, by Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou.
  • Film Studies for Free – Film Studies for Free actively espouses the ethos of Open Access to digital scholarly material. It aims to promote good quality, online, film and moving-image studies resources by commenting on them, and by linking to them.
  • Handmade Cinema – A guide to the people, practices and themes of artisanal moving image production.
  • Images – A journal of film and popular culture created for everyone who enjoys it.
  • Jonathan Rosenbaum – Personal blog of film critic/writer Jonathan Rosenbaum (formerly of the Chicago Reader).
  • Landscape Suicide – Descriptive Zoopraxography.
  • Matte Shot – A tribute to Golden Era special FX.
  • Moving Image Source – Museum of the Moving Image.
  • Movies in Color – A website featuring stills from films and their corresponding color palettes.
    A tool to promote learning and inspiration. Updated daily.
  • Preservation Insanity – Film preservation journal/blog.
  • /Film – Slash Film covers the latest news, reviews, and interviews for movies and TV shows.
  • Sounds, Images – Cinema blog of ‘At the Movies’ co-host and film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.

Video Art, Installations, and Time-Based Media

  • Guide to Projectors for Interactive Installations – [By Blair Neal] This two-part guide focuses on the use of video projectors in production and interactive environments. Part 1 focuses on the projector as hardware (lenses, lumens, surfaces, etc.), and part 2 goes into more details on the software and calibration considerations. This gathers some of that disparate knowledge into the important bits you need to make informed decisions about creating a high-quality video experience.
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