I checked for a thread about this but didn't see one.
The idea is simple, just list a few books about film that are personal favorites.
Starting it off, in no particular order:
Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic - Dan Auiler. I happen to like books about individual films and this is one of the best. Not a huge book but has a lot of interesting information and photos about a film I really have an interest in. Bottom line, a fun book, one that I go back to re-reading sections of every year.
The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting - Mark Cotta Vaz, Craig Barron.[/b] Before CGI, paintings were used in backgrounds or foregrounds to create a scene that might be too costly to build from scratch. This could be everything from a planet to a room in a house. The book is incredibly well researched and shows matte examples from films like the Wizard of Oz and Citizen Kane. One of my favorites shown is Vandamm's glass house by Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest. The authors mentioned that the filmmakers received many inquiries from people trying to obtain the architecture plans for the house, when the exterior was really just a terrific painting.
Celluloid Skyline - James Sanders Here is what a reader wrote about this book: "If there was ever a book that really needed to be written, and was then executed nearly flawlessly, this is it. Documenting the multi-threaded releationship of New York City and Hollywood (the movie biz began in NYC, and the studios' financial offices remained there; much of the writing/directing/acting talent came to Hollywood from NYC; Hollywood's backlot NYC was the setting of thousands of films; the ideas of the Hollywood versions eventually changed the real thing; etc.), this is a heckuva fun and interesting read.
Among its most fascinating parts are information on the techniques used to create believable NYC settings by the studios (e.g., the most detail I've ever seen on Hitchcock's enormous Rear Window set), examples of the vast amount of architectural and local-color detail contained in the studio's art department photographic files (more than in some of NYC's museums!), and its general architectural analysis of NYC's major iconic structures: skyscrapers, rowhouses, tenements, train stations, nightclubs, etc.
But of even greater interest are the detailed treatments of how NYC was SHOWN in films (both well-known classics and obscure titles) of different genres and eras, and how the IDEA of NYC affected the world audience, and eventually changed the city itself as new generations flocked to their city of dreams... A flip through the photographs alone is a total pleasure."
Would agree and would add that the large shot of Hitchcock's ROPE set is terrific among others.
This book came out years ago and I was amazed at how little attention it received. The author said it took 15 years to write it and I felt disappointed for him because I think this is a special book. Now, Turner Classic Movies is doing a cross-promotion highlighting the films in the book so hopefully it will get a nice boost.
Btw, if interested, I would suggest getting all of these books in hardcover form, particularly Celluloid Skyline as the paperback is too small to do the images proper justice.
The idea is simple, just list a few books about film that are personal favorites.
Starting it off, in no particular order:
Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic - Dan Auiler. I happen to like books about individual films and this is one of the best. Not a huge book but has a lot of interesting information and photos about a film I really have an interest in. Bottom line, a fun book, one that I go back to re-reading sections of every year.
The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting - Mark Cotta Vaz, Craig Barron.[/b] Before CGI, paintings were used in backgrounds or foregrounds to create a scene that might be too costly to build from scratch. This could be everything from a planet to a room in a house. The book is incredibly well researched and shows matte examples from films like the Wizard of Oz and Citizen Kane. One of my favorites shown is Vandamm's glass house by Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest. The authors mentioned that the filmmakers received many inquiries from people trying to obtain the architecture plans for the house, when the exterior was really just a terrific painting.
Celluloid Skyline - James Sanders Here is what a reader wrote about this book: "If there was ever a book that really needed to be written, and was then executed nearly flawlessly, this is it. Documenting the multi-threaded releationship of New York City and Hollywood (the movie biz began in NYC, and the studios' financial offices remained there; much of the writing/directing/acting talent came to Hollywood from NYC; Hollywood's backlot NYC was the setting of thousands of films; the ideas of the Hollywood versions eventually changed the real thing; etc.), this is a heckuva fun and interesting read.
Among its most fascinating parts are information on the techniques used to create believable NYC settings by the studios (e.g., the most detail I've ever seen on Hitchcock's enormous Rear Window set), examples of the vast amount of architectural and local-color detail contained in the studio's art department photographic files (more than in some of NYC's museums!), and its general architectural analysis of NYC's major iconic structures: skyscrapers, rowhouses, tenements, train stations, nightclubs, etc.
But of even greater interest are the detailed treatments of how NYC was SHOWN in films (both well-known classics and obscure titles) of different genres and eras, and how the IDEA of NYC affected the world audience, and eventually changed the city itself as new generations flocked to their city of dreams... A flip through the photographs alone is a total pleasure."
Would agree and would add that the large shot of Hitchcock's ROPE set is terrific among others.
This book came out years ago and I was amazed at how little attention it received. The author said it took 15 years to write it and I felt disappointed for him because I think this is a special book. Now, Turner Classic Movies is doing a cross-promotion highlighting the films in the book so hopefully it will get a nice boost.
Btw, if interested, I would suggest getting all of these books in hardcover form, particularly Celluloid Skyline as the paperback is too small to do the images proper justice.
