Video Editing Books

Indespensible for translating a book or play into the moving image! It elevated my art, I can tell you!

A great book! Lots of useful examples to follow and a very good description of the technology for both beginner and advanced students of filmaking and visual artists of all kinds. I'm a multimedia artist and I thouroughly enjoyed this book for its indepth look at QTVR and digital image making for both still and video. Rich in detail and great in practical advice and examples that helped me immensly. A great book reference book for everyone!

Bill Froug's book was first published in the seventies as a reaction against the autuer theory. What Froug did was interview some of the most respected screenwriters in the business along with a few new risers and ask them about screenwriting.

What emerges from the interviews is the that each writer has their own particular techniques for screenwriting. There is no one set way for writing screenplays. A much more useful insight into the process of screenwriting than the books currently available.

The full list of screenwriters are: Nunnally Johnson (Grapes of Wrath), I.A. L Diamond (The Apartment), Buck henry (The Graduate), Stirling Silliphant, William Bowers (The Gunfighter), Walter B. Newman (Great Escape), Edward Anhalt (Jeremiah Johnson), Lewis John Carlino, Jonathan Axelrod and David Giler.

I feared the book would concentrate more on anacdotes than techniques but the interviewees dispense out the essential information on how they personally handle writing and what they think is a 'good' script. Save space on your bookshelf for it.

P.S. Hiliarious reading is David Giler talking about his experience with a troublesome 'autuer' during the filming of Myra Breckinbridge.

If you have read several scriptwriting books, you could be forgiven for thinking 'What else could there be to say about scriptwriting?' - particularly by an English writer - as opposed to a Hollywood style writer.
You'll be pleasantly surprised by this book. It offers insights that I have never read before in my 30 or so scriptwriting books packed on my shelves. It states obvious facts that make you feel like kicking yourself for not seeing them before - a 'How come I never thought of that before' scenario. These insights are very valuable as they touch upon your own personal perspective as a writer. In other words it's not just a how-to-do book, it is also a how to access the scriptwriter within - not by exercises but just by straight-talking that really makes sense.
It does give clear examples of scene layout and examples of how-to- do aspects as well as how-not-to-do, so it does cover everything in an understandable way that is also very useful.
To summarise - It is a deep, insightful and very clear book. It is very different from other books on the market and so is definitely worth a read. It is suitable for a beginner, but probably better for someone who has read at least one scriptwriting book before or if you are looking for your first books and want to buy more than one book.
Although written from an English perspective, it non-the less very applicable to any scriptwriter - even in Hollywood - and I highly recommend it.

Wow! Herbert's style is informative and easy to read. The book reads like you're talking to your favorite aunt! The resources are WONDERFUL, and she includes a lot of great tips on developing a story the guys in Hollywood will accept. She does all of the leg work--all you have to do is write the script.

I professionally work in the field of computer based digital video and know that there simply isn't much written about timecode. This book is a great reference, I have used it to successfully implement VITC and LTC encoders/decoders in software, timecode math libraries and the like. This is the book I refer to and recommend when these often confusing topics arise. I have used the first two editions but have not seen the third. I hope it adds more information about digital production.

pls send for me more information how i can buy this book and i wan't to send cheake by bank to give more save for me and my addres is p o box:20725 manama.bahrain to: hussain salman al shike ali hussan thanks

This is a wonderful and highly readable book, which does a superb job of opening up a fascinating but hithertofore totally unexplored area of film and television. A must for anyone interested in the relations between fiction, reality, and drama and wants to know how to enter this fast growing script field and how to write punchy and dynamic scenarios. Absolutely five stars.

For beginning writers, this book could be useful. The 'journey' image is sometimes overused, but this is in part because it responds to a deep need in us. Preachers often use the image of a journey; indeed, many stories in the Bible will use the journey as part of the tale (if not the integral part of the tale). Mythological figures often have their lives and exploits told in journey images -- from times as ancient as those of Gilgamesh, through to modern times, the journey is important as a storytelling device. One can think of Gilgamesh, or Odysseus, or Aeneas in the ancient world; one can think of Moses and Martin Luther King, Jr. in search of the promised land; one can even think of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, seeking the Emerald City, when in fact she's looking for home.

The characters along the way in the journey also represent key elements in our lives -- dangers, strengths, things to love, to hate, to avoid, to embrace. These are archetypes. As others have noted, there are other guides to these (Campbell being perhaps the best known, and perhaps the best writer of these), but Christopher Vogler's use of these mythic structures and the journey process to help beginning writers puts the framework into an interesting and accessible guide.

This is a work with a journey of its own -- as a third edition, there are stories within the making of it. Vogler relates some of these, which include some major motion pictures experiences (one of the primary storytelling vehicles of the twentieth century) in his introduction. This has developed also in part due to critique and questions Vogler has received over time. One of those is that this is formulaic. Films, television shows, songs, poems, stories -- all of these are susceptible to being formulaic, and there is a fine line between following a form and being a slave to the formula.

This guide is practical. For those with experience writing, it can be a bit of a retreat, and, in truth, a bit simple. But for those looking to break into writing and have little experience with how to craft a story, this can be a good guide. While we are surrounded by stories in our lives, many of us don't quite know how to tell them well. Vogler's book gives insight into a process for making meaning and making sense while doing so.

Based on content alone, I would have considered three stars; however, I have a hard time accepting *writing* advice from a book so badly written. I realize Mr. Vogler is a story analyst, not a writer. Still, the style here is atrocious, often to the point of distraction.

As he describes various films, he frequently jumbles his characters and his actors, creating a rambling, grammatically nightmarish style: "Recurring mentors include 'The Chief' on 'Get Smart', Will Geer and Ellen Corby as the grandparents on 'The Waltons', Alfred in 'Batman', James Earl Jones' CIA official in Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October, etc." (For the record, I typed this sentence exactly as it appears in the book, other than my inability to italicize the Jack Ryan titles. Yes, those commas are found outside the quotation marks; yes, Mr. Jones's name is made plural possessive.) This utter disregard for parallelism can be found on nearly every page. In addition, Mr. Vogler refers to some characters only by their names ("In the film The Last of the Mohicans, Major Duncan Hayward is the rival of hero Nathaniel Poe..."); he refers to still others as only the names of the actors ("James Stewart forces Kim Novak to change her hair and clothing ..."). I was left with the feeling of a first draft, as if Mr. Vogler hadn't yet looked up the names he couldn't recall.

If you can overlook these stylistic eyesores (obviously, I have a difficult time doing so), you might find something useful in these pages. Or you might not. As demonstrated by the variety of reviews, this book's usefulness really depends on the reader.

Do you have an intermediate grasp of mythology and archetypes? You'll be bored by this. Have you read Joseph Campbell's _The Hero With A Thousand Faces_? You'll probably wonder why anyone bothered to publish this, because Mr. Vogler quotes and paraphrases Mr. Campbell to a worshipful degree. Do you write with characters in your mind first, and let them "tell you what to do" in terms of plot? You'll want to approach this book as a road you can wander from, not a roller coaster track you must stick to or die. Do you have some fully developed characters you'd love to explore, but struggle with plot? This book (as well as any study of archetypes) can help you find some signposts to guide your way. Are you entirely unschooled in archetypes and mythology but would like to learn? This book isn't the best starting place available, but I doubt it's the worst.

Before you start reading, examine your writing goals and your knowledge of archetypes to decide if this one is worthwhile for you. (Oh, and examine yourself for grammatical-OCD tendencies to decide if you can endure it.)

As a teacher my interest in the book was not so much in the hopes I would learn how to write a smashing new hit for Hollywood as how I could better see the patterns in narrative and relate them to my students. Certainly Campbell will remain a first choice in that regard but this suggests some interesting new facets as well. Perhaps a problem with contemporary story telling is the need to shock. Understanding the patterns that have traditionally worked may not help directly in a postmodern world that has seen the death of art though they may still be useful as a via negativa. Congratulations to those who have succeeded in their writing careers despite having read the book.

As someone who applied Joseph Campbell's earlier work to my own 'Virtual Trilogy' of novels ( see Virtually Maria (Virtual Trilogy) and A Matter of Time) I found this book a useful interpretation of Campbell's theories to the modern medium of film and contemporary novels.

However, it is by no means as comprehensive as the original on which it is based and anyone reading it would be well advised (in my view) to read Campbell's work in depth. Nevertheless "The Writer's Journey" is a useful addition to any writer's reference library and fun to think of when you are watching any of the movies to which it refers.

This isn't really important, but in re another reviewer's criticism of Vogler for asserting that Daedalus helped create the Minotaur -- what V. actually says is that "Daedalus had a hand in creating" the Minotaur, which is true, since D. built the apparatus Pasiphaë used to mate with the bull to conceive the monster, etc. Pedantry rules!

If you are thinking of enrolling in a film school to study how to write scripts, GET THIS BOOK FIRST. You might save a lot of money. This book has everything. It's easy to read. I wish I'd found this book before wasting tons of money on U*LA.

Screenwriters Bible?

This is what your girl friend would give you in her return visit from the library; she would "make you a tape"; she would go to the library, get a whole bunch of things that have the label "screenwriting" and shove them in this little file when she heard your going to be screenwriting.

I honestly thought that this thing would be a large book that deals exclusively with script format.

The truth is that this guy basically went to the Screenwriters section in a library, tore out a whole bunch of pages from everything he could get his hands on and shoved it into this little book.

It is everything and nothing at all.

Sorry. If you dont have access to many things as is, if you dont have access to a library, a book store, the internet, if you are in the Amazon Jungle where no signs of life exist for hundreds of miles, then this might be the best book out there.

If you are truly void of all resources,
cannot get your hands on anything in regards to Screenwriting,
this collage of snipets from everything under the sun might be for you.

One of the most useless books out there. (But then again, so are most screenwriting books).

Not the best for Format. Thats for sure.

This book is most helpful on formatting tips, story arc and how things look on a screenplay. That aside the book isn't entirely necessary because of screenplay writing programs such as Final Draft or Screenwriter which tackle the formatting and appearance issues so the writer doesn't have to. Also, don't take a lot of the advice and "rules" Trottier gives and lays out too seriously or set-in-stone because it's all coming from a guy who hasn't sold a single screenplay all his own. He's a teacher and the old saying, "those who can't do, teach," definitely applies to this guy. If you want to learn the screenwriting craft, reading this book certainly does not hurt one bit; so, pick it up and draw your own conclusions.

I've read a few books on screenwritng and I find this this book just as helpful as the others. It's fun, and puts the prospective writer at ease. Well worth reading and doing the homework. Now get that screenplay written and stop just reading about :)

THE SCREENWRITER'S BIBLE, in one volume, comprises six substantial guidebooks:

Book I: How to Write a Screenplay--A Primer;
Book II: 7 Steps to a Stunning Script--A Workbook;
Book III: Proper Formatting Technique--A Style Guide;
Book IV: Writing & Revising Your Breakthrough--A Script Consultant's View.
Book V: How to Sell Your Script--A Marketing Plan;
Book VI: Resources and General Index.

The book's large format 386 pages, eleven by eight-and-a-half inch, would equal more than 600 pages in the more common format of nine by six inch.

Book I: How to Write a Screenplay. Aptly subtitled a primer, this book presents a compact introduction to screenwriting. In particular, Trottier focuses on the three-act structure with six key turning or plot points: the catalyst; the big event; the pinch (or midpoint); the crisis (low point); the showdown; the realization. Throughout, the author includes examples from well-known films.

Book II: 7 Steps to a Stunning Script. This workbook includes 25 checkpoint lists and a character/action grid - highly useful in constructing the screenplay.

Book III: Proper Formatting Technique--A Style Guide. "The spec script is the selling script, sometimes called the writer's draft. You write it with the idea of selling it later or circulating it as a sample. Once it is sold and goes into pre-production, it will be transformed into a shooting script, also known as the production draft. The spec-script style avoids camera angles, editing directions, and technical intrusions" (page 114). This book convinced me to use the author's software "Dr Format" instead of "Final Draft." To illustrate formatting a spec script, Trottier includes his humorous three-page script "The Perspicacious Professor." I have enrolled in his online Formatting course.

Book IV: Writing & Revising Your Breakthrough--A Script Consultant's View. In this book the author includes tips on "how to direct the camera without using camera directions" and exercises based on his clients' scripts to instruct the reader on how to revise to current spec writing style.

Book V: How to Sell Your Script--A Marketing Plan. In addition to numerous suggestions on marketing, Trottier cautions the screenwriter to protect your work. "Registering one's copyright and displaying the copyright notice on the script's title page is no longer seen as something done by paranoid writers." In this book I learned that Writers Guild of America will register one-page synopsis, longer treatments, as well as draft(s) of a screenplay.

Book VI: Resources and General Index. This book comprises several lists containing "carefully selected entries." I promptly looked up the first entry: "Updates to The Screenwriter's Bible" on the author's website [...] and found a useful tip on formatting as well as revisions on one of the exercises in Book IV. Presumably these changes will be included in the next edition.

Five shining stars to this book.