What are the best books, websites, videos etc. on film grammar?

June 28, 2009 1:20 PM

What are the best books, websites, videos etc. on film grammar?

I'm in the planning stages for a new and heavily visual project and I wanted to know what the best resources are on film grammar. I know very little about it, and I will need to know quite a lot.

What I want most are resources which are a) clearly written and presented, so that they are easily understood, b) affordable, and c) readily available.

Do you have any suggestions?

posted by johnofjack to media & arts (11 comments total)

I assume you're talking about an extremely loose definition of Film Grammar, in which case I'd recommend:

Cinematography

Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers by Blain Brown

The Five Cs Of Cinematography by Joseph Mascelli

Editing (picture and sound)

In the Blink of an Eye - Walter Murch

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film - Michael Ondaatje

The Eye Is Quicker: Film Editing: Making a Good Film Better by Richard D Pepperman

The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice by Ken Dancyger

Story

On Directing Film by David Mamet

Directing

Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen by Steve Katz
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 1:30 PM on June 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

How to Read a Film by James Monaco.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:49 PM on June 28

Note that most of my books are practical (how to or why to) as opposed to theory. If you want theory, the classic in the filed is Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art: An Introduction. Used copies of previous volumes are readily available for much cheaper than the new edition costs new--long as you have a half decent used book store in town. For instance Powells.com has the 4th edition for $6. It's 15 years old but suited me fine in film school in the 90s.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 1:55 PM on June 28

When I was doing film at university every single lecturer recommended Pam Cook's The Cinema Book. It covers just about everything.
posted by hnnrs at 2:08 PM on June 28

Roy Thompson's "The Grammar of the shot" is a good practical introduction to the different types of camera framing and composition. He explains how to achieve them, how to link them together and the narrative meaning that this gives.
posted by rongorongo at 3:29 PM on June 28

Sorry, I didn't know I was using "film grammar" in an unusual way.

What I'm looking for in particular is a clear explanation of the "rules" of editing: how to follow one image with another in such a way that it's immediately obvious what is going on. What I am absolutely not looking for is information on how to edit like a glitzy MTV performance video or like Michael Bay, where it's frequently impossible to tell who is where in relation to everyone and everything else, and what any given action changes in relation to everyone and everything else.

Now I feel a bit foolish for calling it "film grammar" when searches on "editing" turn up some very useful info.

But what I'm looking for isn't restricted to editing; it also has to do with framing images and choosing what goes where in them, as well as how to move things through images, etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions of useful texts. If anyone has any more, please don't hesitate to share them.
posted by johnofjack at 3:55 PM on June 28

In that case the companion volume "The Grammar of the Edit" - same author - might be more interesting to you (although shooting the appropriate footage to allow for flexible editing is half the battle I think).
posted by rongorongo at 4:25 PM on June 28

You didn't use it in an unusual way, just a broad way. At it's tightest, Film Grammar is pretty easily explained. Check Wikipedia.

Other phrases which will help you with your clarified interest are mise en scene (framing), Eisenstein's theory of montage (editing), and crossing the axis (aka the 180 degree rule) (cinematography).

Note that every book recommended in my initial answer is relevant post-clarification as well. What those texts will do is explain the why and how of the explanation of these terms.

At the risk of being verbose, I'll give you an example from David Mamet's On Directing Film, which is more a text about filmmaking than directing, per se. That is, it's a book about how to tell a story with film. In it, he talks about Eisenstein's theory of montage, which is summarized as Image A + Image B = Idea C.

Mamet's most basic example is (and remember that I'm paraphrasing Mamet who is paraphrasing Eisenstein): Shot of a foot stepping on a twig + shot of a deer looking up = the idea of danger or alertness in the mind of the viewer. This is often defined as "telling the story with the cut" as opposed to telling the story with the shot. Eisenstein (and Mamet) believe this is the best way to tell a story with film.

The difference between the two can be brief or subtle. Good storytelling communicates the most with the least. The shorter a scene (and by extension a shot) can be without losing impact the better the scene (or shot) will be. For example, a short shot list:

- Hand raises a gun, pulls the trigger
- A flock of pigeons takes flight

Pretty short, right? However, what's communicated? A gun has been fired. Is that all? Yes... so then the good filmmaker is left with: how can I convey this with less? The answer is that you don't need the trigger being pulled:

- Hand raises a gun
- A flock of pigeons takes flight

The viewer is aware that the shot has been fired by the juxtaposition of these two shots. In fact, their juxtaposition is so strong, it is in fact weakened (from an Eisensteinian point of view) by the presence of the sound of the gunshot.

One of the main reasons most American films suck these days is because filmmakers do not understand the theory of montage and attempt to tell their story with the shot. Mamet refers to this as "follow the protagonist" and partly blames the invention of the steadicam.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 4:45 PM on June 28 [3 favorites has favorites]

It's not very technical, but you might find The Cutting Edge: The Magic Of Movie Editing inspiring. It's a documentary made a few years ago which sort of outlines the development of movie editing across the years, showing how it's a direct line of development, and interviews a lot of big-time movie editors about their craft. Maybe the good "warm-up" or overview to help get a handle on the concepts. I've watched it more than once, actually.
posted by hippybear at 12:09 AM on June 29

Thanks for all the recommendations; I imagine it'll be awhile before I can say which of these are best answers, but I'll definitely be following up on the suggestions.
posted by johnofjack at 8:23 AM on July 1

So far I've gotten The Grammar of the Shot and The Grammar of the Edit through inter-library loan. I'm halfway through Shot and I have to say that it's exactly what I was looking for: Thompson's writing is clear and concise; he explains techniques and gives just enough examples to make his point without belaboring it; he emphasizes approaches which usually work and warns against ones which usually don't.

My only complaint is that he is, entirely, too fond of, commas,. This complaint is a minor one considering the wealth of information in the book.

I'm sure I'll have to buy my own copy of the books rather than relying on notes.
posted by johnofjack at 12:49 PM on July 26