Filmmaking in Action

420 Pages·2015·19.02 MB·English

by  Adam Leipzig

NOTE: SPINE elements that meet fold at back cover wrap 1/16” onto back cover.
Get the inside scoop from the best in the industry.
“Filmmaking in Action manages to capture every detail and
nuance of the incredibly complex filmmaking process, and will L
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remain as current as the latest blockbuster thanks to its innovative GIP
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integration of online resources. This is an invaluable guide for LIG
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anyone interested in a film career or simply wanting a deeper
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understanding of what goes into the making of what goes onto AW
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the silver screen.” I
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—JEFFREY KATZENBERG, CEO, DreamWorks Animation S

“There are so few books about how to make movies from start
to finish that are both incredibly detailed yet easily digestible.
Filmmaking in Action is a generous resource that can provide real
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guidance to film novices and professionals alike.” I
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—AMY PASCAL, Chairperson, Motion Pictures Group of
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Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2006–2015
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“My hat is off to the authors of Filmmaking in Action. I wish I’d
YOUR GUIDE
had a book like this back when I was a film student.” A
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—JIM MORRIS, President, Pixar Animation Studios
I TO THE SKILLS
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“There are few joys in life that can equal the euphoria of making
a beautiful film. Filmmaking in Action is a powerful tool to G
accomplish that goal.” AND CRAFT
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—MATTHEW MODINE, actor (Full Metal Jacket; The Dark Knight Rises) s
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“The kind of textbook you’ll want to keep handy so you can refer y Im A
to it again and again.” Gett C
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—JOE PICHIRALLO, Chair, Undergraduate Film & Television, n
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute agi I
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Where Students Learn o:
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LaunchPad for Filmmaking in Action includes case studies, exclusive video interviews, er
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an interactive e-book, and more! See the inside back cover for more information. o
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macmillanhighered.com ARFO ADAM LEIPZIG • BARRY S. WEISS
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with MICHAEL GOLDMAN
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Learn about the film industry from the experts.
11 “If you put yourself into a scene, you can contribute to 12
“The editorial workflow is in large measure determined by what the director is giving you. Be a collaborator, not just
Filmmaking in Action hdoawili etsh– ea M rfienod opy trEaollgicoetet ,s ivssee tsedhra.o”n ta,s shisotawnt esdoituorn odf fiilsm sr einccolurddineg dN,e barnasdka h (2o0w13 ), Chapter a pa– iMri cohfa ehl aKnahdnT,sh e.ir”ddi tKorin odf (m19o7re7 )t,h Saanv 5in0g fiPlrmivsa, tien cRlyuadnin (g1 9C9lo8s),e a Enndc Loiunnctoelrns (o2f0 t1h2e) Chapter Where Students Learn
The Descendants (2011), and Snakes on a Plane (2006)
guides you through every Telling the Story
Editing Skills through Editing
step of the production LaunchPad for FILMMAKING IN ACTION
you are deciding are: what shot shall I use? Key ConCepts Key ConCepts
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firsthand experience,
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Informed guIdance about all areas of Interactivity with the Print Book
and unparalleled access
fIlmmakIng from expert authors.
Combining video interviews with experts, firsthand case studies from real
to Hollywood’s best and
Filmmaking in Action addresses technical logistics, storytelling challenges, and business
movie sets, links to professional resources, and more, the interactive units of
brightest. complexities in a single book, offering a deep and immersive approach to filmmaking. Topics
like editing, cinematography, and sound design are covered dynamically with a focus on LaunchPad for Filmmaking in Action bring together all of the study tools for the
technical mastery and creating effective, memorable moments in a film’s story.
book, chapter by chapter.
Callouts throughout the book—at the end of each chapter and in the How Do I…?
boxes—point you to video interviews with film industry professionals about
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softlights, which are small and ❚ Sound
191 38 11
To Access LaunchPad for FILMMAKING IN ACTION
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a full spectrum of InformatIon, hInts, and tIps.
If your book came packaged with an access card to LaunchPad for Filmmaking
Boxed features look at filmmaking from different and productive angles: Tech Talk discusses
in Action, follow the card’s login instructions. To learn more about or purchase
the hardware filmmakers will encounter in the classroom and on the job, Business Smarts
explains the ins and outs of financing and deal making, and Producer Smarts provides access to LaunchPad for Filmmaking in Action, go to launchpadworks.com.
big-picture examples of a producer’s role. All three boxed features appear throughout the
book’s chapters, providing a variety of perspectives on technology, business, and production
management. Filmmaking in Action also includes marginal tips related to the subjects at hand,
packing the book with practical, accessible instruction.
mech_Leipzig-FilmmakinginAction-SE-060315
How Do I . . . How Do I . . .
Set the Tone On-Set? Motivate the Camera?
Go to LaunchPad and find out: macmillanhighered.com/filmmaking Go to LaunchPad and find out: macmillanhighered.com/filmmaking Get even
name: David Gordon Green name: Mandy Walker
title: Director title: Cinematographer more online.
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(2013); Pineapple Express (2008); Shattered Glass
(2008); All the Real (2003)
Girls (2003)

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Discover Discover:
❚ How communication and tone in the ❚ Why you might want to work out camera
collaborative process are cemented moves as early as preproduction
❚ Why every set is not the same, even ❚ How Walker worked with the grip LaunchPad for
with similar crew members department to find a solution to a complex
❚ How Green varies his approach based sequence in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia
on the material he’s working on ❚ What you might do to relate camera
VAicstiito tnh eto L laeuanrnc hmPoarde —fora Fnidlm tom eaxkpinlogr ein Vismito tvheem Leanut ntoc henPhaadn fcoer yFoiulmr smtoarkyi’ns gim inp act Filmmaking in Action
how you might use this advice. Action to learn more—and to explore
how you might use this advice.
offers a full digital
57 173
package of valuable
03_LEI_1699_ch03_043-068.indd 57 1/14/15 9:48 AM 07_LEI_1699_ch07_149-176.indd 173 1/26/15 2:25 PM
ADvice from profeSSionALS in HoW Do i…? viDeoS.
resources, including the
Each chapter includes a How Do I…? feature that profiles a Hollywood professional and offers a
corresponding video on LaunchPad for Filmmaking in Action. Exclusive interviews offer real advice How Do I…? videos,
to aspiring filmmakers. The participating directors, writers, producers, editors, designers, and other
interview videos, case
industry insiders have worked on movies ranging from blockbusters to indies, including Star Wars,
Fight Club, Pineapple Express, Nebraska, Winter’s Bone, Prince Avalanche, Alice in Wonderland, The studies focusing on
Rock, and many more.
industry professionals,
chapter-specific
Action StepS eXpLAin
directories of resources,
158 Part 2 Image and Sound
HoW it’S Done.
ACTION STEPS and more.
LYoouw d-oBn’ut dnegeedt f aDnucyt cehqu Aipmngenlte t oT griect ka professional-looking Dutch angle—you Processes from all areas of filmmaking are
just need the camera and your tripod.
1 Remove the base plate from the tripod and install it on your camera at a broken down into simple, easy-to-follow Action
90-degree angle.
23 TYoiguh tceann itu fisrem tlhye, atnripdo tdh’esn t isltl ildeev etrh eto c carmeaetrea ao nDtuot cyho uarn tgrilpeo.d. Steps boxes, giving you the tools you need to macmillanhighered.com/
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FIGURE 7.1 Diagram of a reverse shot
2 2
pCoasimtioenra 1 “ThpCeo asRimteioevnrea r2se”
Actor 1 Actor 2
Actor 1 Actor 2 Actor 1 Actor 2
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Your Guide to the SkillS aNd Craft
Adam Leipzig
Chapman University, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Barry S. Weiss
Member, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Michael Goldman
with
Bedford /St. Martin’s
A Macmillan Education Imprint
Boston  •  New York
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For Bedford/St. Martin’s
Vice President, Editorial, Macmillan Higher Education Humanities: Edwin Hill
Publisher for Communication: Erika Gutierrez
Developmental Editors: Jesse Hassenger, Stephanie Ventura
Senior Production Editor: Peter Jacoby
Production Associate: Victoria Anzalone
Marketing Manager: Tom Digiano
Copy Editor: Jamie Thaman
Indexer: Kirsten Kite
Photo Researcher: Christina Pompa
Director of Rights and Permissions: Hilary Newman
Senior Art Director: Anna Palchik
Text Design: Maureen McCutcheon
Cover Design: William Boardman
Cover Art/Cover Photo: © Insight Imaging/Getty Images
Composition: Graphic World, Inc.
Printing and Binding: RR Donnelley and Sons
Copyright © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or
in writing by the Publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
0 9 8 7 6 5
f e d c b a
For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
(617-399-4000)
ISBN 978-0-312-61699-1
ISBN 978-1-4576-8471-5 (Loose-leaf edition)
Acknowledgments
Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the art selections they
cover. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever
without the written permission of the copyright holder.
00_LEI_1699_FM_B,i-xxiv.indd 2 3/24/15 1:23 PM
About the Authors
Adam Leipzig
Adam Leipzig is the CEO of Entertainment Media Partners, which provides informed guid-
ance for independent media companies, financiers, and producers, and is the publisher of
Cultural Weekly (www.culturalweekly.com). Adam teaches at Chapman University’s Dodge
College of Film and Media Arts, at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and he is a mem-
ber of the Producers Guild of America. He has overseen more than 25 movies as producer,
executive, or distributor, including March of the Penguins; Dead Poets Society; Titus; Honey,
I Shrunk the Kids; Amreeka; and The Story of the Weeping Camel. Adam served as president
of National Geographic Films and as senior vice president at Walt Disney Studios, and in each
of those positions was responsible for the movie industry’s most profitable film of the year.
He is the author of Inside Track for Independent Filmmakers: Get Your Movie Made, Get Your
Movie Seen, a how-to manual for students and professionals with tips for solving the prob- Photo by Ann Fishbein
lems most faced by emerging and independent filmmakers. Adam loves to hear from his
readers; contact him at [email protected].
Barry Weiss
After completing his MFA at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Barry worked on some of the
most profitable, award-winning projects of the last 20 years. In the roles of animation execu-
tive, producer, and collaborator with Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, and Turner
Pictures, he has achieved an unparalleled record of success. Barry was instrumental in the
creation of two animation studios, leading the teams that created the animated characters
for the Stuart Little and Spider-Man franchises, plus characters for 20 additional films, such
as Open Season and Academy Award nominee Surf’s Up. He is credited on 62 films and
shorts, two of which have won Academy Awards and eight additional nominations. Barry is
also an Emmy Award winner and began his career as a tour guide at Universal Studios.
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Imageworks
Michael Goldman
Michael Goldman is a veteran entertainment-industry journalist and author, who has
penned seven books, including his work coauthoring Filmmaking in Action. Among these
are the New York Times best seller John Wayne: The Genuine Article; Clint Eastwood:
Master Filmmaker at Work, an authorized look at the legendary director’s filmmaking tech-
niques; and Reality Ends Here: 80 Years of USC Cinematic Arts, the definitive history of the
world’s oldest and most famous film school. He is a frequent contributor to American
Cinematographer magazine and writes for a host of industry publications, newsletters, and
websites, including CineMontage, SMPTE Newswatch, and Post magazine. Michael served
for many years as senior editor of the famed industry trade journal Millimeter and, before
that, as an editor at Daily Variety. In his work over the years, Michael has interviewed many
of the world’s leading filmmakers across all disciplines. Learn more at his website, Photo by Tony Donaldson
www.hollywood-scribe.com.
iii
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Preface
Filmmaking is changing. In an era when the art and science of last year’s Acad-
emy Award–winning accomplishments are quickly discarded in favor of newer
processes, tools, and thoughts for the coming year’s movies, instructors teaching
the introduction to film production course are tasked with a difficult challenge: to
provide students with a solid foundation of the century-old principles of filmmak-
ing, coupled with the ability to use tools, technologies, and production centers
that transform on a day-to-day basis. At the same time, they are striving to moti-
vate students and instill the importance of storytelling in all films.
Before we started this project, we found that a comprehensive introductory
text for film production did not exist—at least not in the form we wanted to see. We
believed the time had come for a film production textbook that keeps students up-
to-date on today’s digital filmmaking techniques and also discusses every aspect
of film as an art form, as well as its commerce, as the industry is undergoing a
seismic shift. It became our goal to bring the cutting-edge wisdom of top profes-
sionals into the hands of today’s students—empowering the next generation of
filmmakers. And we wanted to bring our breadth of experience to film students
everywhere.
In the pages of this book, we draw on our experiences in the film industry, as
well as the experiences of others during this digital revolution. Our team consists
of Adam Leipzig, who has been a part of the film industry through his long career
of supervising movies, from Dead Poets Society to March of the Penguins, the lat-
ter of which found unprecedented success while he was president of National
Geographic Films. Barry Weiss has shaped the technical and aesthetic rules of
filmmaking and pushed them into new areas during his fifteen-year tenure as se-
nior vice president of the Academy Award-winning Sony Pictures Imageworks.
He was one of a handful of members chosen in 2003 by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences to reconstitute the Science and Technology Council of
the Academy, where he served as chairman of the Public Programs and Education
Subcommittee and currently serves on the executive board of the Short Films and
Feature Animation branch. Finally, Michael Goldman has years of experience as a
journalist and author covering all aspects of the filmmaking industry, and inter-
viewing many of the world’s leading filmmakers. Together we have worked on
over 100 films and with tens of thousands of film and digital video artists, scien-
tists, craftspeople, educators, and executives.
It is our mission with this book to address the real-world situations students
will encounter in their first classroom project and throughout their careers, build-
ing on the following principles:
❚ Film and video have become the most important form of communication in our
time. To engage the world productively and to be contributing citizens, film
majors and non-majors alike must attain essential video literacy, in creation
and understanding of this most important medium.
❚ The film industry thrives on communication, collaboration, and the ability to
improvise.
v
00_LEI_1699_FM_B,i-xxiv.indd 5 3/24/15 1:23 PM
vi Preface
❚ Understanding the foundations of film and video will help students identify
where they want to focus their future studies and how those areas fit into the
overall process and art form.
❚ The digital revolution has made filmmaking more democratic and also more
complex. Enormous, expensive productions and micro-budget indies share
many of the same production principles, and it is important for students to
understand these principles as they apply to all scales of filmmaking.
Like the films we love, we want this book to engage the reader with a good
story, well told. For this book, that means synthesizing contributions from award-
winning, working filmmakers; a contemporary perspective that students can re-
late to; and a wealth of information and resources. These elements are presented
in the book’s innovative features.
Features of Filmmaking in Action
Informed guidance about all areas of filmmaking
From our extensive careers in Hollywood, we don’t just know the technical logis-
tics of making movies; we understand the challenges of storytelling and the com-
plexities of the film business. This is why Filmmaking in Action offers a deeper,
more immersive approach to filmmaking. For example, Chapter 11, Editing Skills,
offers an overview of the technical process, while Chapter 12, Telling the Story
through Editing, provides perspective on using that process to create effective,
memorable moments in a film’s story. Cinematography, lighting, sound, and de-
sign receive similarly dynamic attention throughout the book. We also walk read-
ers through important preproduction stages, such as pitching and screenwriting,
and key postproduction concepts, such as distributing and marketing. In short,
Filmmaking in Action covers the skills, craft, and business of film in a single de-
tailed yet accessible book—with the up-to-the-minute expertise to back it up.
Advice from professionals in How Do I…? videos
Each chapter includes a How Do I…? feature, which profiles a Hollywood profes-
sional and offers a corresponding video on LaunchPad for Filmmaking in Action.
These are exclusive interviews of filmmakers offering real advice that students
can use. These directors, writers, producers, editors, designers, and other indus-
try insiders have worked on movies ranging from blockbusters to indies, includ-
ing Star Wars, Fight Club, Pineapple Express, Nebraska, Winter’s Bone, Prince
Avalanche, Alice in Wonderland, and The Rock. Together, their advice forms an
expert crash course in all facets of filmmaking.
Action Steps help students succeed
The authors break down processes from all areas of filmmaking into simple, easy-to-
follow Action Steps boxes, giving students the tools they need to succeed, whether
they’re working on their first student film or beginning their professional career.
A full spectrum of information, hints, and tips
Recurring boxed features encourage students to look at filmmaking from different
and productive angles: Tech Talk discusses the hardware filmmakers will encoun-
ter in the classroom and on the job; Business Smarts explains the ins and outs of
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