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PRODUCING AND DIRECTING THE SHORT FILM AND VIDEO DAVID K. IRVING AND PETER W. REA, FOCAL PRESS, BOSTON, 3RD EDITION, 2006
One of the main messages of Producing and Directing The Short Film and video is to be wary of attempting both to produce and to direct your short film, as many novice filmmakers do, as this might overstretch your resources and prevent you from realizing your film's potential. Do one thing and do it well is the authors' essential advice. It's a warning that's well warranted, but ironically it is advice that the authors have failed to follow in approaching their own book, much to its detriment.
This is the third edition of Producing and Directing The Short Film and Video, expanded to include coverage of digital technology and animation. It is also supported by a companion website which includes sample paperwork (script breakdown sheets, call sheets, budgets, etc.) for download.
As indicated by its title, the book purports to eschew a generalist approach to filmmaking in favour of focussing on two specific disciplines: producing and directing. The authors move in considerable detail through each stage of the filmmaking process, from initial script development to eventual distribution, structuring the text around the examples of four short films (two live action narratives, one animated narrative, and one live action documentary), and include the insights of the directors of those films. This use of specific films to illustrate the authors' advice is a good idea and keeps the book practical and relatable. However, it would have been more helpful if the actual films had also been provided with the book in a DVD insert, rather than leaving readers to rely merely on the shooting scripts provided in the book's appendix.
Irving and Rea identify many of the most common areas where novice filmmakers let themselves down, for example: not being professional enough in their approach; not planning enough in preproduction; undervaluing the importance of art design in drawing the authence into their film's fictional universe. They provide great coverage of the producer's main tasks in pre-production, thoroughly explaining and providing examples of script breakdowns, strip boards, etc. There is also an excellent overview of most crew roles to assist those with no on-set experience, a...