Interactive Books

Wow, this book is a terrific combination of writing academics, insight and personal agony experienced by a one time actor attorney, producer, writer and current UCLA professor. The dark text at the end of each lecture "from the trenches" imparts Ron's actual experiences with some very famous people and movies. It is priceless and makes this book a fascinating read. The last chapter recounts the "Real Rocky" story, and this alone makes the book worth the money. Ron keeps it interesting and by the end of the book you feel as if you've been through the mill with him.

Frank Nuciforo
Cambria, Ca

Suppa is giving out a lot of information in this book. It's like several books rolled into one. All the information is good except for the introduction/preface by Lew Hunter. Hunter must have been all wired up on some new drug, because his delivery is disjointed and unorganized.

There are a few minor issues such as Suppa referring to Steve McQueen's movie "Bullitt" as "Bullet." Come on, Ron.

Ron Suppa is a successful film producer and instructor: he's taught fine courses in the UK on the topic of screenwriting and here offers in book form the contents of his course, which packs tips with personal experiences and polish. REAL SCREENWRITING: STRATEGIES AND STORIES FORM THE TRENCHES covers everything from movie dialogue and spec teleplay plots to understanding the importance of the entertainment lawyer. Any screenwriter - even those already successful - needs REAL SCREENWRITING to hone and perfect skills.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

If you are serious about fulfilling your dream to become a screenwriter and cannot attend Ron Suppa's classes at UCLA, it is compulsory you buy this book. It offers a rare blend of instructional criteria directly applicable to your work, with philosophical wisdom from Aristotle to David Mamet. Wondering how to define your characters or exacerbate your conflict? Accomplish that goal using his point by point "Strategies", or the plethora of easily relatable examples he gives from a treasure trove of cinematic masterpieces. Along the way you will be both entertained and impressed by his "From the Trenches" segments, priceless personal experience from a bona fide raconteur.

As a film producer, commissioned/produced writer with BBC & Granada and with a current 12MIL project underway, I can only emphasise that reading Ron Suppa's latest book was like a magnesium flash of finally understanding what real screenwriting requires.

It's not just an enjoyable read but 'from the trenches' is I think - and I've pretty much read them all - the quintessential reference book for aspirant or crestfallen screenwriters - it is a remarkable compendium of searing truth, sage pearls and machine tools.

Anyway - as one writer who's pissed blood over honed drafts, to another - great f***ing book!

Our children loved Richard Scarry when they were little, and they still do! This wonderful activity book is great for homeschooling families. The calendar and holiday pages are great for notebooking projects. Don't miss this one!

I had this book as a child and loved it. So, this Christmas I bought three copies for each of the 7 year olds in my family. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did. I used it for many years when I was little.

I have taught Kindergarten and never liked the use of activity books/sheets, etc... . My 4 yr old daughter loves busytown and asked for this when she saw it on Amazon. I bought it against my will only to find that it actually had some really nice things for her to do. It wasnt just filled with "practice" sheets; although there were some of those with tracing letters and numbers. It had a section for her to make a mobile, make a paper town and even had an assortment of national flags that she could decorate with. The ideas and projects are very traditional and most children dont get to do these kinds of projects or have ever heard of them. When she made the flags, other children that came to our home didnt even know that other countries had flags. She learned quite a bit from this book such as: flags to other countries, holiday pracitces, writing her letters and numbers, sequencing and patterning. There were pages that were just for coloring which she didnt have an interest in but I thought they were nice illustrations that most children would enjoy. Dot to dot was also in the book, as was making mothers day cards, fathers day cards, valentines day cards, and thank you cards which was nice to teach children to do after receiving something. There was also a place to make bookmarks, bookplates, and easter decorations (other holiday decorations too). Most of the projects, for my daughters age required me working with her as opposed to her working on her own, but it was enjoyable for me as well as Richard Scarry does a nice job with his writing and illustraions.

This $10 book is way underpriced. There are pages and pages of stuff in this book and has really inspired our two year nine month old to entertain herself for hours, coloring, cutting, making paper airplanes, paper dolls, etc. Really well thought out, well designed. High quality drawings (authentic Scarry, not his estate's). I am tempted to buy another one and have our child start over again. It's been three months but she still has about one third of activities left. HIGHLY recommended.

Though this activity book is just wonderful and full of great crafting and learning acitivities, it is an abridged version of the book we loved when we were kids. The book, organized around the 12 number-it-yourself calendar pages, includes seasonal connect the dots, a paper village to color and build, paperdolls, paper airplanes to fold, greeting cards, Valentines, and bookmarks. The Christmas activities are missing altogether.

My two year old grandson loves this book. He is crazy about trains anyway, but this is a fun way for him to interact with the pictures that have little doors that open and unfold the book as it becomes a long train.

I've yet to meet a Richard Scarry book I didn't like. This one is no exception. The story is entertaining; the book has flaps (a big plus w/my son); and the whole book folds out to a train. After reading it, my son likes to unfold the whole train and pretend he's in a train cage. Whatever that is. Too, a good travel book - 8 hour car ride, 4 hour plane ride. Been there, brought this book. No tears.

The storyline is great and a nice idea that the full train opens up displaying each car; but some pages have no flaps on them at all. Lift the flap books are great but need to have more than just a handful of flaps; especially for a R.Scarry book; kids that like those are into detail and to only put a handful of flaps on there kind of shortchanges it.

This book is very entertaining, young children will be fascinated by it. Although it is only nine inches long, it folds out to an eight foot train. The premise is that Bananas Gorilla has lost his bananas and is searching the train for them. Bananas Gorilla goes from car to car, and there are captions at the bottom of the pages describing the search. As a combination of story and advanced manipulatives for young children, there is no question that this book is one of the best.

My preschooler received this book in his Christmas stocking. We tuck it away to pull out on rainy days. Classic Scarry illustrations in a very creative format. This book is an A+++ in our home!

Purchased as a gift for my granddaughter who loves rocks and shells. I prefer this to buying "princess" products, as it encourages her interest in science.

I promised my grandson books about rocks for his birthday. I was very suprised about this book for the price. It is very, very, good book for children. He is 7 years old and is very happy.
A very happy Grandma!

All DK Eyewitness books are fabulous. If you are a classroom teacher you must attempt to purchase all of them and have them available in your classroom library. My students love to read these books and use them as references.

A great book, but I gave it to my granddaughter just as she began her quest for infor about chemistry after a few years of loving rocks. She is six.

My son is six years old and this book captivated him for a good four nights, a few pages a night, for his bedtime story. It is very visually appealing with vividly colored pictures and thick glossy pages. It is written very well, easy for a young child to understand, yet filled with information about rocks and minerals. I have to read it to my child as he's not an independent reader yet, but an independent reader would also really enjoy this book. It is made for children but not at all "babyish." A great way to either learn about rocks and minerals, or introduce a child to non fiction.

I'm very impressed with this book and will be purchasing more DK Eye Wonder titles. I've looked at their other titles and they all look like wonderful books.

Gary has done an excellent job with this book. I came to Director with a programming background, and basically this book and Gary's Advanced Lingo for Games books have allowed me to do whatever I can imagine with Director. Doesn't treat you like an idiot. Clear. Understandable. Practical. Highly recommended, and I'm going to buy the MX version when it comes out.
David Downie

Great book ! ( I just received my copy of Using Director 8.5 "Specialedition") It is really great for me since I haven't been using Director since version 5, and so much as changed !

I have been browsing through the book to get the missing or forgotten info I need to get our project up, and I have found almost every answer I need in the first 15 minutes !

I am confident this book will get me back up and running in no time, If you want to learn Director Fast, Buy this book !

Great book ! ( I just received my copy of Using Director 8.5 "Specialedition") It is really great for me since I haven't been using Director since version 5, and so much as changed !
I have been browsing through the book to get the missing or forgotten info I need to get our project up, and I have found almost every answer I need in the first 15 minutes !

I am confident this book will get me back up and running in no time, If you want to learn Director Fast, Buy this book !

Weighing in at about one-thousands pages, this book has some of the best information for practical production techniques and getting things done in Director. Having compared it to a half dozen or so other books before purchasing, it was the only one to truly address Lingo in a serious way. There seems to be a hole in the market since a few Lingo specific books that had been available at one time (from O'Reilly and another from the defunct Hayden Press) are either out of date or out of print.

Though its a heavy application, most of director is not that hard to learn (being proficient and artistic is another matter). But taking it to the next level requires an understanding of Lingo and integrating it into the rest of the programs features for practical use. Mr. Rosenzweig has done this, and with great enthusiasm and love of subject. It is an excellent book and the most advanced one that I could find on the shelves last year.

The beginner should take heed that this may be overwhelming, for all others I highly recommend it.

This book is probably the best book you will ever find on how to use Director. I read it without knowing anything about programming and i am pretty advanced now. If you feel that you are a really slow learner and/or you have no experience using a computer, don't try to learn anything about director. If, however, you are a motivated student, Gary Rozensweig will teach you from the ground up about this ultra-powerful program. For 36 dollars, it's almost a must. This book will also be great for advanced director users as a reference. get it quickly. The only drawback of this book is the fact that one of the most important appendices is almost totally missing(publishing error). There is a downloadable version of the appendix on QUE's site (HTML & PDF). Don't let this tiny glitch stop you from owning the best book on director out there!!!

The illustrations are simple and engaging, the textures are varied (both within a book and from book to book), and the wide-ranging adjectives in an otherwise repetitive text make these books good vocabulary builders.

Can't recommend this enough for babies, toddlers, and even preschoolers.

We love this book! My husband and I are sci-fi and fantasy fans, so we figured it isn't too early to start our little one off right - we also have the That's Not My Robot book. Our daughter loves the pictures and the different, interesting touch-and-feel parts of each page.

This is the only "thats not my" book we own but I'm defintely thinking of buying more in this cute touchy feely series. Its a nice quick read and my son really likes feeling all the different textures. Cute illustrations and nice repetative words make this great for babies who are just getting into books.

Our 10-month old absolutely loves this book. He also has "That's Not My Pirate" and loves it, too. Both really hold his attention, and he quickly learned which parts of the pages have different textures. We plan to buy more from the same product line. The vocabulary is unique and the textures are very creative.

Highly recommended!

This is a cute book about a mouse trying to find her dragon. She sees several other dragons, each with a particular feature, like a fuzzy tongue or a prickly tail. She finally finds her dragon with its scaly wings.

There are a variety of textures for a child to touch. The illustrations are very appealing, and the dragons are rather charming, not scary in any way.

It's a nice change from the usual puppy, kitten or bear books we have. My daughter, who is enthralled with Sandra Boyton books, has gotten picky about reading any other books. But, we've had this just for a day, and she has enjoyed it several times already.

The book is very sturdy; the pages are nice and thick. The cover seems to have a thin coat of plastic, which is nice if, like me, you have a child that likes to chew on the spine.

Happy with the music and book. Really nice to have all the "oldies" to teach our new granddaughter.

About 7 years ago, when my dd was a baby, someone gave me the set with the book, CD and cassette. This was our absolute favourite - she loved it so much that it was pretty much on all the time, and it didn't irritate the living daylights out of me to hear it all the time (which most mommies will likely agree is a rare thing indeed!) We did get other Wee Sing titles, but this one is the best, in my opinion. Only one problem with it, though - you may find yourself with one or more of the songs stuck in your head all day long.....I remember walking around with "Three Blue Pigeons" stuck in my head, for days ..... (only for it to be replaced with the song about elephants jumping on a spider's web) lol!

There are a lot of things about this set that endeared it to me. For starters, the music is well done, but not overdone or overly flowery. The children's voices are tuneful and lovely (but not overly perfect, either). The overall effect of this is that you feel encouraged to sing along, rather than just listen (no matter how well -or badly- you sing). Another lovely thing is that the instrument voices, and sound effects chosen for the songs really enhance them - for example, the song about elephants jumping on a spiderweb has a wonderful deep bouncy drum tone. Wonderfully illustrative!

We lost the CD at a friend's house, and the cassette is, of course, quite dead now, but I still remember a lot of the songs (we still have the book), and still use the little lullabye medley to sing my ds (now 17 months) to sleep, and I sing the "Good Morning" song when he gets up in the morning. Big smiles every time :)

Now that I've found it again, I will definitely be buying another copy. This one's a definite keeper - enjoy!

i was given this cd by an aunt, and my first daughter was only 5 months old when I started playing it in the car. It was the only thing that kept her quiet in the car seat. She would holler until I put the cd on. By the time she was 18 months old, she knew all the songs and sang them! Now my daughter is 4 and my other daughter is 2 and a half. The poor cd wore out and I bought another one off amazon in the meantime, and that one is starting to skip too now. They need to make cd's for kids more durable since these cd's are going to be played over and over and over again! This cd was the best thing that happened to us other than the children

I bought this when my daughter was around 18 months she just loved following along with the fingerplays. Hours and Hours of entertainment.

We bought many children's song for my son, and this is his favorite. He loves to buzzz when he hears the bee comes, and claps his hand when he hears "clap you your hand as slowly as you can ...". He didn't talk too much before, but this tape really makes him much more vocal then before. The music is so soothing and he listens to it every day before he goes to bed.

What can I say, I went to the same college as Thomas and I have worked for him as a student, so keep in mind that I might not be fully objective, yet it is undisputable that this is an honest depiction of a tough profession in which he clearly excelled is quite remarkable. He doesn't hesitate to give you a brutal insight into the ups and downs of a difficult job that clearly takes a lot more than just talent, but also dedication and vision. Thomas has proven that he has mastered all three and on top of it stuck to his principles! Read this book before you embark onto the journey of being a commercial filmmaker: commercial or not: learn how to have to think on your feet, accept defeat before corruption, and turn defeat into success. The credo is to believe in humanity and people that will share your vision, because after all you want to tell a good story, share your point of view, and entertain the audience while of course you have to sell a product. Commerce and art do not have to be contradictions and Thomas shines a light on the somewhat mysterious paths we all have to take. Respect and congratulations to an honest book with many helpful tips! Read it and marvel at its wonders. Thanks to the author.

As a producer/artist who is considering a move into the commercial production world, I wanted a book that explained, in a step-by-step fashion, the mundane work routines of a commercial director without glamorizing the business or condescending like an Idiot's guide. This book is exactly that. No frills, just the facts. It is so well-organized, informative, and concise--with tons of great advice that I know I will continue to reference for years to come. It will probably be some time before I can apply all the tools in this book to my professional career, but in the meantime, I feel so much more confident about my decision to move in this new direction. Thanks for writing this, Thomas. I would have been wondering for years if I should take the plunge or not.

Finally, a book about the process of making commercials! It's an easy, up to date read and has lots of funny examples. Really all aspects are there, even the politics of commercial business, how true. Enjoyable read on your flight to Cannes!

This was a superb book, one of the best I've read recently (I read hundreds).... because the author writes from a professional working director's standpoint, and his tips are carefully crafted and communicated.

The thought process behind the Ford/mountain spot, and revisions for example (pages 62-66) was superb, eg why not having the woman drive up, the visuals, framing etc.. very practical and well written.

The business end of it was extremely well put together as well, with advice for commercial directors and how to properly shop their spec reel and establish themselves.

As someone who primarily creates internet commercials for my company's products and seminars, I found a ton of solid content here, too - for all aspects of crafting the spot professionally. The author put a lot of work into writing this, it's extremely professional, hands-on, and should be considered a "seminar in book format" for commercial directors. It's just that powerful. Nice work - thanks!

Two thumbs up - this one's a winner.

- ken

What I liked about the book was the straightforward advice and insights into how things really get done in commercials. The author really gets into the nitty-gritty talking about his experiences so that you are left with an idea as to how these highly charged commercials are made. Do visit his website to see the actual commercial which was the main case study in the book.

I was looking to get a quick run on how Adobe Premiere Pro 2 works as I was familiar with other video packages. Not only was this manual easy to use in showing how to utilize many of the features of Adobe Premiere but it gave you ideas on how to set your workspace to maximize your editing efficiency.
I found I was able to skip to some chapters I wanted to learn more about first and ignore others that had characteristics similar to other programs I had used.

This is a good start to using the powerful features of this program. Now all I need is another book to help with the advanced image and sound editing for those videos that look grainy or have sound drops.

Got the program? Need help to use it? This is probably the best reference. I rated it 4 stars because not all of the material is in the lesson. You will have to copy resource material to your computer.

Anyone would easily think that Adobe premiere pro would be such a hard thing to learn how to do. Thanks to Jeff Schell, that problem is over. With easy excercises, this book is the essential tool to help you understand how to use the problem much better. It teaches you the basic tools, guides, and shortcuts that can help you create your own masterpiece (whatever that may be). The book also includes the disc that helps you step by step to create a simple video. I highly recommend this book for those who definitly want to learn Premiere Pro. It's Good Stuff

A book that I can read and understand without breaking into a sweat.
It solved one of my big problems inside five minutes.
You will not regret buying this book.

I would rate myself at the intermediate level when it comes to editing. I was fairly new to Premiere Pro 2 (was using 6.5 before) when I purchased the book. There were some things I knew already that the book described but I didn't know a lot of the shortcuts. It also taught me a great deal about using all of the Audio features, so that was a huge bonus for me. All in all, I thought the book was great. It was easy to work through and follow. It also allows you to skip around throughout chapters easily.

After reading several chapters, and struggling to assemble my own one-minute documentary for a class project, I'm paying closer attention to how a documentary is put together from an artistic, expressive point of view. We used this book in a short, informal class for older adults. We started by writing a one-minute description of an important moment in our lives. We recorded the narration, then added photos, videos, and recordings. I found that with each additional step I could pare back excess verbiage and let the images convey the ideas. There are plenty of technical books about how to operate a digital camcorder. Thank goodness, this isn't one of them.

The Art of the Documentary
By Mary Cunningham
Review by Pi Ware

Mary Cunningham's "The Art of the Documentary" is an attractive full-color compilation of interviews with some of the world's foremost documentarians. It's an intimate and insightful glimpse into both the art and craft of docs and a must-read for filmmakers serious about creating non-fiction work. You'll learn how Errol Morris creates "first-person cinema" using The Interrotron; why Ken Burns locks music before script, how D A Pennebaker futhered art via technology, and how cinema-verité documentarians like Haskell Wexler are able to "inspire" scenarios within their films.

Notably missing are the king of the personal documentary, Ross McElwee, and the masterful doc team of Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger. But Cunningham fills the spaces with interviews of the behind-the-scenes players--editors, executives and cinematographers. And in doing so she gives you a broader picture of the doc world and deeper insights into what it will take for you to make a successful non-fiction film.

Ever wanted Ken Burns or others in the pantheon of documentary greats as your personal film making mentor? This book gives you that and more. This versatile book is as perfect for someone just starting out in documentary films as it is for a veteran who wants in on a few secrets of the masters. Our film production company read from it aloud on location and everyone, from the producer to the cinematographer to the researchers, all gleaned practical tips from it. The interviews are substantive, insightful and most importantly, very useful. A real keeper for those interested in learning nuances and techniques from a wide range of documentary styles.

Megan Cunningham's Art Of The Documentary offers ten conversations with some of the best documentary directors, editors and producers in the industry. Nonfiction documentaries reveal the methods and focus their directors, which is captured in chapters which begin with project concept and move through the entire production process. Plenty of color photos illustrate each director's works.

Consider this book a master class in documentary filmmaking.

Megan Cunningham's interviews are incredibly engaging - she manages to at once explore each documentarians' creative process, AND discuss how these various filmmakers achieved their success, AND to discuss specific films in-depth AND to elicit the filmmakers' fascinating views on theoretical issues such as what constitutes "cinema verite" or whether documentaries can be considered art.

Furthermore, Cunningham's book is wonderfully readable and well organized (and full of photos!). I especially enjoyed how Cunningham devoted equal space to such luminaries as Errol Morris and lesser known but equally powerful documentarians such as Lauren Lazin. The book manages to seamlessly cover more than 50 years of American filmmaking and it's wonderful to have the thoughts of multiple generations of directors, editors, and cinematographers compiled in one volume.

Whether you're a fan of documentaries, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, or unfamiliar with the entire field and would like to learn more, "The Art of the Documentary" is the book for you.