Choosing Books To Read

the end of a home movie is just the beginning of our story can be of great help in matching books to your own tastes but friends don't know your tastes as well as you do so sampling the contents of a book is important the first book I looked at seemed too advanced so I asked Jack if he had something more basic the next book was just what I wanted Jack showed me a section on close-up shots I couldn't help remembering a scene from my film where you could hardly tell it was sue the book explained how to frame a closeup properly the author's way of writing his style was clear and simple and his examples were very interesting I understood what he was getting at I guess I liked what he said and how he said it there may be many books on one subject but not all authors write in the same way with Jack's help and by sampling the contents Don chose a useful book I went to the library after reading Jack's book I was ready for more the librarian told me that there was a whole section on film she showed me where it was and suggested that I just look around you know browse through the books browsing in the library is another good way to get a general idea of what books are available whatever you interest is there are books devoted to it in the library you just have to [Music] look titles May give Clues to the contents of a book the word advanced in a title tells a beginner the book's probably not for him of course titles are only a clue the best way to find out about a book is to sample its contents I thought I'd found a good book but when I looked through it it seemed too simple so I went to the card catalog to look through the short descriptions of the books on the cards first I tried film the card sent me to moving pictures hm I thought this looks interesting making and showing your own movies recommended all-around book for the young filmmaker 1939 Wow movies sure have changed a lot since then the good thing they tell you the publication date I was getting a little discouraged when I realized something there might be another book by Philip grasset he was the author of the book I borrowed from Jack there was another book of his The Complete Book of amateur film making I figured I'd probably enjoy another one of gret's books luckily the one I wanted was on the Shelf choosing other books by an author that you like can work for you too for instance if you like this book by Aldis Huxley then you'll probably enjoy choosing another book of his the island if you enjoyed 1984 by George Orwell you might like other books of his sure enough gret's new book was just as helpful as the older one one section explained what I should have done to keep my scene composition from looking so bad now I knew how to do it better grasset used the same interesting style he used in his other book as I read I could picture all the things I could do to improve my next [Music] movie as I got more interested in the subject I thought I ought to own some books on movie making so I visited bookstores browsing in bookstores is another way to find and choose books whatever your interests are inexpensive paperbacks are easy on the pocketbook and they offer many of the best additions but there are certain things to watch out for titles may be just designed to arouse your curiosity I found that you have to be careful about titles sometimes they can be misleading I remember one book I picked out the title promised exciting New Concepts but the whole book just told about how the author and his wife had made corny movies of their vacations but I've also found some really great books with pretty ordinary titles I remember one I almost put back without even looking inside cuz the title didn't seem very exciting but then I figured what have I got to lose I was sold on the book when I came to a chapter on zoom lenses I remembered how I had made everyone seasick with so many jerky zooms the author said that overdoing the zoom is a common mistake made by beginners and that generally you should use it only to emphasize a particular part of a scene besides titles other Clues to content sometimes can be found in the short claims and descriptions that some books have on their covers or jacket flaps these claims can be helpful guides but remember they always present the book in the most favorable way they're meant to help sell the books [Music] some books also show biographies of the author checking the author's experience can also help you choose the right book I was having trouble deciding between two books on camera work but I read the biographies of the authors the first book was written by a well well known film producer who had made a lot of speeches about films but he just wasn't a cameraman the man who wrote the other book though had professional experience behind the camera I figured he had to know what he was saying so I bought some books and kept finding more in the library I widened my film reading in another Direction since I always liked history I got interested in the old silent movies when I told the librarian about my interest she showed me a subject guide to books in print it listed almost every book still available on all subjects including the one I was interested in the old silent movies there are also many other specialized listings of books that will fit almost any special interests after I found a book I wanted in the listing I checked the card file to see if the library had it my favorites were about some of the old silent film [Music] comedians sometimes you can get good ideas for books to read by seeing a play or a movie a movie he liked LED Don to the book it was based on by William Golding he used the listing in the book def find other books by the same author book sections of newspapers book reviews and book columns are also good ways to learn about new books as well as to get opinions about them but they are opinions you may not always agree with a particular reviewer sometimes it's a good idea to sample the book yourself so for choosing book books there were things that helped me the card catalog the special listings reading over parts of books you know skimming to see if I like the author and his style and well just finding out all I could about the books and I asked for help when I needed it knowing how to choose books is a skill that's worth developing it sure helped me make better [Music] movies