Focal Press has a nice series on film going, one of those books being Film Craft: Cinematography. This book covers the craft of motion picture photography. Though the book is not a text book of any kind, it does provide insights from some of the film crafts professionals.  There are interviews with some of the Cinematographers from film greats such as Vittorio Storaro and Christopher Doyle.  Through the interviews the book goes over some of the things that perhaps challenged these Cinematographers to bring to the screen some of the powerful images from films such as Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago, and Nine.

The book gives glimpses into the world of film making and the diverse working relationships amongst professionals, and how it all influences the project and perhaps even makes it better than what was first anticipated.

The book is also full of side bars, with advice that readers can use on their own works. As noted the book is not a text book of any sort, though one could glean some knowledge from the book, it is by no means a how to book.  It presents the personalities that make the film looks as it does. Controlling what the camera is doing, the exposure, lighting, Color, focus, depth of field, and compositions.

In this look at the folks behind the camera in the Film Craft series does a good job at bringing those personal experiences to light as some of the film crafts professionals relay their thoughts and experiences and even events or places that influenced the kind of shots and lighting they eventually used in a film shot.

The books lay out is solid and enjoyable to view, the back cover though falls short with some of the wording disappearing into the colors of the cover.  Its large format lends well to the content of the book and is enjoyable not only to read, but the choices of illustrations and film stills all are beautiful to behold.

Film Craft: Cinematography, does a spectacular job at giving an inside look at some of the professionals, wonderful insights, and bits of biographical information on some film greats. The reader does not have to have a passion for film to appreciate this book, if they are involved in film in any aspect; this book is just some icing on a great cake. The only odd thing I would present is that while the book covers many Cinematographers from around the world, Asian film is not represented, nor is several others like mentioned, no Chinese, Russian, Indian, nor Swedish. It must have been very difficult to decide what and who to include in such a book. 

Have fun, play games….

Read this book

Edwin Millheim

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