It's
been out for a few years, but Setting Up Your Shots
is the sort of book that I wanted to make sure we reviewed
here at Microfilmmaker Magazine, as it is packed with
useful shots that can help inspire you to try new things
with your camera and to make sure you and your DP/Cinematographer
are on the same page, using the same language.
Setting
Up Your Shots provides over a 100 different camera
moves and editing techniques you can familiarize yourself
with and showcases what popular movies have used these
techniques, which in turn allows you to rewatch some of
your favorites with new meaning.
Comprehension
With a very straightforward approach to cinematography,
Jeremy Vineyard has created a book that is very simple
to understand and utilize. His writing style is easy to
follow and makes logical sense to any reader. The book
makes use of plenty of drawings that illustrate the moves
described in the book, so that you never are at a loss
as what is being shown. While some folks might desire
photos and screen captures rather than drawings, I actually
found the drawings to be much easier to follow, as illustrations
can more easily focus on just the elements you want to
bring to the surface, without getting overwhelmed by all
the data stored in a photograph. (Plus, the fact that
these illustrations use standard storyboard layouts and
symbols helps convey the usefulness of storyboards.)
Additionally,
the fact that the book references a number of films that
you are likely to have seen, from The Matrix to
The Crow to Goodfellas, increases the ease
with which you'll understand the information stored within
its pages.
Depth
of Information
Although Setting Up Your Shots is only 132 pages
long, it's packed with useful information on camerawork
and editing for almost any reader. Film students will
find that this book gives them a great framework to learn
about the basics of filmmaking while more experienced
filmmakers will find this to be a good refresher book.
Plus, it makes a great primer for the much more advanced
cinematography training series like Hollywood Camerawork
(which we reviewed in
our October issue).
Each
of the camera shots and editing techniques featured in
this book, from a simple long shot to a collapsing dolly
to an inventory POV to a freeze frame to a montage, has
a description of what it's used to convey, what films
you will see it in, and an easy to grasp storyboard picture
illustrating the move or edit. Tired of not knowing what
that 'cool' paranoia-inspiring zoom is that you've seen
in films which involve a person's background appearing
to zoom in around them? Just flip to the 'Techniques of
Movement' section to discover that it is, in fact, Vertigo--a
dolly zoom made popular by Alfred Hitchcock, which utilizes
a forward dolly and a simultaneous pull zoom to keep a
subject the same size while the background shifts perspective
rapidly!
One
of the elements that I especially liked about this book
was the way it encourages you to think of the camera in
different ways. It makes you take all the notions that
we often have about cameras and kind of throw them out
the window. Even though most of the films Vineyard quotes
from are fairly mainstream, you'll discover many different
elements of the language of camerawork that can be re-combined
into all new configurations with all new meanings. It's
sort of like realizing that, although there are only 26
letters in the English alphabet, you can use them to form
a nearly endless stream of words and sentences, each of
which is different. Now, imagine what you can do if you
think about more than 100 'letters'…think of how
many unique 'words' and 'sentences' you can compose with
those!
To
further help you with this, each chapter includes cinematography
and editing tests and trials for you to play with yourself
to see what effects you like and find most easy to achieve.
Vineyard encourages you to try so many things with camera
movement and editing techniques that it's impossible to
read this book and not get a few new ideas for upcoming
films!
Interest
Level
In addition to being easy to understand and full of information,
Setting Up Your Shots stays interesting as you are reminded
of camera shots that you had forgotten or are introduced
to ones you might never have seen. The fact that they
include multiple suggested movies with each shot encourages
you to take that interest to the next level by renting
some of the films you might not have seen and watching
how they look.
Reusability
The fact that each shot is given it's own page makes this
a fast book to find a shot you liked with simple instructions
on how to pull it off. This means that you'll be grabbing
this book every time you want to jog your memory or illustrate
an idea to your cinematographer. Because of how compact
this book is, this is an excellent one to tuck into the
side panel of your medium-sized camera bag and take with
you as you shoot your film.
Value
vs. Cost
While $20 may seem like a lot for a 132 page book, the
amount of information that's been crammed into it and
the ease with which Vineyard's made this information accessible
makes this a great value. This contains more practical
information about cinematography (and how it relates to
editing) than the majority of first year film text books
on the market and is substantially cheaper than the $60+
price tag on most of those text books!
Overall
Comment
Whether you're a director, an editor, or just a student
of film, Setting Up Your Shots is a great investment that
will help you prepare for future projects in the film
industry. If you're looking to get into full time cinematography,
then Setting Up Your Shots provides a great primer to
more advanced shooting sets like Hollywood Camerawork.
No matter which way you cut it, this is a book that almost
anyone in the microfilmmaking industry should own.
