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Reading Material for Student Filmmakers

PostedApril 2, 2010
UpdatedApril 23, 2024
ByJonathan Bowen

Books on Below-the-Line Craft and Trade

Industry Magazines and Journals

  • American Cinematographer – An international publication by the American Society of Cinematographers.
  • Cahiers du Cinema – A french film magazine founded in April 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Joseph-Marie Lo Duca and Leonid Keigel.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 Echo – Published by the Association of Sound Designers, The Echo focuses on the art, practice, business and people involved in the industry.
  • 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.

Technology, Trade and Networking Websites

  • 16mm Directory – 16mm Directory is a technical resource directory for supplies and services related to 16mm exhibition.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lynda.com – A subscription based website helping you learn, master, and apply digital tools and techniques.
  • Negative Spaces – A pro HD, video engineering, and digital cinema blog by Director of Photography and Digital Imaging Technician Ben Cain.
  • 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 – Filmmaker, cinematographer, & DSLR guru.
  • 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 collective which 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.
  • 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 on wordpress.com, to which he is adding new entries daily. Reportedly watching an average of 4 to 5 films a day, he is widely consider one the most prolific film essayist in the world.
  • The Daily Notebook [Mubi.com] – A new kind of film coverage. The Notebook combines the scope and variety of a 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. Find the ones that speak to you.
  • 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 non-commercial website created for everyone who enjoys movies and popular culture.
  • Jonathan Rosenbaum – Personal blog of film critic/writer Jonathan Rosenbaum (formerly of the Chicago Reader).
  • Keyframe – Explore the world of film with breaking news, feature articles, artist interviews, indispensable lists and one-of-a-kind video essays in Keyframe, Fandor’s daily digital magazine.
  • 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 – “Blogging the reel world.” A very active and recognized industry blog.
  • Sounds, Images – Cinema blog of ‘At the Movies’ co-host and film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.
  • Variety – One of the most authoritative and trusted source of entertainment business news. For over a 100 years, producers, executives and talent in entertainment have turned to Variety for film, TV, digital, music, and theater business analysis and insights.
  • Ways of Seeing – A Turkish filmmaker’s personal website that includes information on his videos, blog, writings on film & art, and lists of favorite films & filmmakers.

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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