Product Description

How is a movie made and what exactly does a director do? This book attempts to illuminate every circumstance, internal and external, emotional and technical, involved in the arduous process that culminates in what we see on the big screen. Only the director knows the background to the scenes, behind every passing frame of film, and the complex series of details and decisions involved, from budget considerations to divine inspiration, from the earliest rehearsal to the final screening. Sidney Lumet's knowledge of the art and craft of directing is considerable, and here he discusses everything from art direction and wardrobe, shooting and editing, the verbal and mechanical soundtracks, to the distribution and marketing of a film and the role of the studio.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2067203 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Amazon.com
It's well known that a vast number of people work on any given movie in roles as varied as writing scripts, choosing locations, dressing sets, costuming the players, lighting scenes, manipulating the camera, directing actors, editing film, working on sound, advertising the finished product, and screening it to an audience. Have you ever thought about how these components are collated? Or why the director is most often considered the author of a film? Wonder no more, because Sidney Lumet's Making Movies is a terrific journey through each stage of filmmaking that is overseen by the director. Lumet, the veteran director of Twelve Angry Men, The Pawnbroker, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict, and many other fine movies, knows the ins and outs of American filmmaking as well as anyone. In this excellent, personable account, Lumet tells what he's learned about making movies in the course of the last 40 years. He shows why fine directors need to have strong imaginations, extraordinary adaptability, and skill in many different fields. His enthusiasm for his life's work, particularly his love of actors, is evident on every page of this book. As Herculean as the labors of film directing are, Lumet takes great pleasure in his work, almost guiltily admitting that the film director's job is "the best in the world."

From Publishers Weekly
Lumet, the acclaimed director of such films as Dog Day Afternoon and Network, presents an anecdotal insider's account of the key elements in filmmaking.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Lumet's book is about the agonizing and ultimately rewarding art of filmmaking. And who better to elucidate the process than a legendary director, with credits such as 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, and Prince of the City? Lumet discusses writers and actors, camera and editing techniques, art direction and sound. Yet Making Movies is anything but a clinical textbook. Lumet's career straddled the shift between studio management and the rise of financiers and talent agencies: he's seen both worlds and candidly reveals his predilections, including his disdain for teamsters, critics, and market researchers. He alludes to the tension between film as art and as business and shows that filmmaking is ultimately a capricious, collective enterprise with no sure formulas. Although overly mechanistic at times, Lumet is most lucid in examples drawn from his own experiences. A fascinating look at the artist at work; recommended for film studies collections.
-?Jayne Plymale-Jackson, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.