The Elements of Cinema

Rating:
Summary: a complex work, very interesting
Review: For a long time I've been trying to find out just what it is that makes a film a film and this book helped me out considerably. The book pinpoints a few of the elusive traits of the cinema and explains how they are used in combination to produce all the cinematic subtleties. In each chapter it has shot by shot analysis of a scene demonstrating a particular structure and it's full of diagrams and charts which help explain it's ideas. It has been a great help for me in both watching and constructing films.

Be warned, you'll need all your concentration to get through this one. It is intense.