5 comments about Film Directing Fundamentals: From Script to Screen.

1. IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BECOME A FILM DIRECTOR THIS IS ONE OF MANY BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ AND STUDY!!!



2. This puts the duties of a director into perspective. It emcompasses a lot of the tasks that amateaur directors neglect. It was an easy read and hit a lot of bases that film books miss.



3. Learn from the big picture to the nuances. I have a horrible memory and I find having the 'big picture' helps keep everything organized.
   
   #1 - The first big plus;
   I have been learning to write screenplays for several years. This book helped me understand what was wrong (and right) in my last two writings.
   It turned them into a movie and showed 'where and why' they failed.
   
   #2 - Secondly;
   It demonstrated that writing and directing are much more integrated, than one would imagine. Learn them both and become better at each.
   
   Start with the big picture, this book accomplishes that.



4. ....the first book to make sense of it all...where to put the camera...how to stage the scene...how to help actors find the performance...it teaches these things as much as any book can, and will save you the cost of one third of film school



5. This book is filled with valuable and helpful information for budding directors. I'm currently in the process of putting everything in this book to good use. The thing I like about this book is that it's not just one of those books that says you need to storyboard everything, because unless you have good drawing skills that really isn't feasible. The book gives an in depth look on how to pre-plan your film shot by shot and the use of floor plans to illustrate camera set-up's. It's so simple, but this is the type of thing that will make you prepared when you come to shoot, instead of just winging it.

No comments about Century of Innovation (Theatre & Drama).

5 comments about Tomart's Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles.

1. I found this guide to be very complete for older star wars collectables, but I was dissapointed that it did not have any more current star wars items such as the Saga or 30th Anniversary collectables. This is not a bad reflection on the book itself as the information in the book is very accurate. I would have still bough the book had I know it only had older items listed. An update with current values and items would be a great idea.



2. I bough this book recently and was surprised to find, not only are all the pictures tiny, THEY ARE BLACK AND WHITE! It is increadibly hard to read and does not cover "revenge of the Sith". I have a few other Sansweet books "the action figure archive", "the star wars poster book" and "star wars - from concept to screen collectibles". But, young jedi, save your money here and consider "Star Wars Super Collector's Wish Book: Identification & Values" by Geoffrey T Carlton. I find that book gets used alot more, is more up to date and easier to read. Hope this review was helpful (I think I was being generous with 3 stars, I havent opened this book since I got "super collectors wishbook")



3. The "Tomart Guide" is the only Star Wars price guide you'll ever need. It is comprehensive with just about every production Star Wars item known to exist in the world. Did you know that they made "Star Wars Dog Chow" in Australia in the early 1980's? How about a ceramic tape dispenser where you pull tape from between C-3P0's legs? Or a Boba Fett cake pan...there's no better way to honor the most notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy than a frosted cake with his likeness. From tacky to the timeless, it's all contained within the pages of the Tomart guide, with hundreds of photographs of many of the items listed in the book. No true Star Wars collecting geek should go without it. This is the only Star Wars price guide authorized by Lucasilm, and no other guide is as detailed and thorough as the Tomart guide.



4. This is it - the only book you will ever need to find what you have been looking for in the STAR WARS universe!

   "DO or DO NOT, there is no try." - YODA




5. Tomart's Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles is the most valuable book any Star Wars collector can own. Stephen Sansweet is the expert in the field of Star Wars collectibles and it definitely shows here. The layout is so easy to use and the book contains many photographs to aid you in your search for what each collectible is worth. This is the bible for Star Wars collectors!

5 comments about Miss America.

1. As a huge Howard Stern fan, I bought this book with my expectations set very high. All of my expectations were completely fulfilled and I would recommend this book to anyone, whether you are a Stern fan or not. It is an amazing look into an amazing and prolific man's life. I think this book is even better than Private Parts.



2. as private parts, if not better. i can't say enough about the two howard stern books. the man puts out perfect art!



3. It's next to the worse book I've read yet, "Private Parts," is the worse. My gosh, you'd think with all his money he could write something worth reading except about his ham life; this guy has got to figure out what a plot and theme is, there is none. And just run on sentences going nowhere. He must sell them to his followers, becasue there is nothing of interest in it just talking and talking and talking of the FCC, and how he did this and that, where ever he ends up, he does. It was not a disappointment in that, I figured it would be something along that order, especially after I read the dirty mouth garbage and seen the pictures in "Private Parts."



4. It would be far too easy to dismiss this book as "just more of the same from the author of Private Parts" because by and large it is just that. But if you do write off (no pun intended) Howard's second novel, then you will truly miss out on discovering the real Howard Stern.

   What Howard does in Miss America that he did not in Private Parts, is take his time to think. In his second novel he does not seem in such a mad rush to blurt out every intimate detail of his existence and of those around him. This time we discover a slightly older and more thoughtful Howard Stern. Don't get me wrong he has not seen any error in his ways, nor does he intend to change them. But he does stop to consider why and it makes the whole reading experience far more enjoyable.

   Howard has still not lost his rapier wit and it is still delivered with a sledgehammer. Nor has he lost his love of naked females and that is sort of reassuring, for if he were to change at this point, we would know he was a phoney.

   In Miss America Howard does go back over some old territory, but this time gives us another perspective. For Example we see the World of Howard, from Robin's eyes and it is an eye opener. Howard also has fun exploring and analysing his friendship with Fred Norris and this all makes for great reading. But the fun really begins when he gives us full chapter and verse on how he totally destroys a rival DJ and it is then that book becomes (to use a cliché) a real page turner.

   Miss America is not as funny as Private parts, but a more thoughtful and enjoyable read as once again we are get another look at the world through Howard's small and very dark glasses.




5. First off, I would like to state that I never read Private Parts by Stern, which I was told was a better book. I personally was disappointed in this book. After reading this book, I felt like he was just writing another book because Private Parts did so well. It had some parts that were funny, but for the most part, I felt like it was a book for Stern to insult everyone that he could in a book. I believe that Stern is one of the smartest men in radio, and that he does what he does very well. I am not part of that audience, and perhaps that is why this book did not appeal to me very much. After having read this book, I felt like I had gained nothing by reading it. It left me with no good feeling, and I really wasn't any more educated because of it. I was quite disappointed to say the least.

5 comments about On the Road to Tara.

1. 
   Fabulous! Fantastic set illustrations from a classic. Interesting background info. A treat. I want to frame some of the pages.



2. Overall, ON THE ROAD TO TARA gives dozens of wonderful anecdotes about the making of the epic film GONE WITH THE WIND, using Selznick as the focal point. The real life characters seem much larger than life here, and not the one's you'd expect. Issues of that time resonate in our own, including racism, Hollywood's role in shaping national morality, ageism, drug addiction, homophobia and meglomania.

   Unfortunately, David Selznick is a very unsympathetic character. He's troubled, undisciplined, unwittingly cruel, irrational-and those are his endearing qualities! Though the author takes pains to show that Selznick was always apologetic after he flew off the handle, there is no soft side to warm this character up a bit. He is reminiscent of Charles Foster Kane but with no love interest but a wife who stays completely out of sight.

   Vivien Leigh is just as complex, living a life filled with scandals-she was living out of wedlock with Laurence Olivier, which had to be kept a complete secret from press and public. She was British, and many thought it a crime that a non-Southerner, let alone a non-American play Scarlett. But her determination closely mirrors Scarlett O'Hara's in single-mindedly getting just what she wanted. Over all, a good overview of the making of a classic.




3. This book is seriously lacking. The pictures are not great and the text is uninteresting. There is nothing here that you haven't seen before.



4. Surprisingly, considering Harmetz's previous books, this volume is, without a doubt, the WORST book ever written on "Gone With the Wind." The text is riddled with mistakes, and many of the illustrations are mislabeled. Thank goodness, the book apparently has been a huge failure in the sales department, so there should be NO trade paperback edition. May it soon be "gone with the wind" ...



5. Finally, a new and interesting book on the film Gone With The Wind! For years a certain Gone With The Wind "Authority" has published book after book containing the same fuzzy and out-of-focus photographs...many mislabeled !

   Furthermore, Aljean Harmetz provides the reader with FRESH & NEW information...and does not, as other's have done, plow the same old field of familiar"facts" regarding this film .

   BRAVO to Ms. Harmetz for giving the readers and collectors something FRESH & NEW !

1 comments about The Vertical Hour: A Play.

1. This poorly reviewed play reads as well as it was performed. The political chops of present day America is discouragingly immature, not to mention Broadway. Too bad, and everyone's loss, as this play hits home in a powerful and meaningful way.

1 comments about American Cinema: One Hundred Years of Filmmaking.

1. American Cinema is a treasure that combines 300 illustrations from extraordinary films of the 20th century, along with great introductions to each film, in each genre. From the beginning of filmmaking to the modern classics that have captivated audiences, this is a great book for anyone interested in both the history of cinema, as well as behind-the-scenes information about the actors in the films selected. An outstanding and in-depth book that makes a great gift to anyone who loves the intrigue of film, and the stories behind them.
   Highly Recommended for its depth, scope of genre, explanations and photography.
   Barbara Rose, author of, `Individual Power' and `If God Was Like Man'

No comments about Shakespeare: The Basics.

2 comments about Clear Speech: Practical Speech Correction and Voice Improvement.

1. One of the best books for any speech-impaired reader. This is one of the few books that had helped to resolve my speech defects. For over 30 years, I had very severe speech impediments. Over the next 10 years, most speech defects were only mild and eventually dissolved. Today, I can speak with absolute fluency and more surprisingly I can sing too. My hard-worked pronunciation is now perfect.
   
   If you're deaf, I most recommend a pronouncing dictionary (the most ideal gift for any deaf-born child). If you have some degree of hearing, then do buy yourself a pronouncing dictionary with the CD-ROM. All the pronunciations are cryptically written in IPA alphabets, each alphabet representing a certain sound, which you make with just a certain lip position and a tongue position.
   
   A PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY IS MOST VITAL TO ANY DEAF READER - and SHOULD be introduced in every deaf school in the country. I myself went to a deaf school where the outmoded speech therapy was dreadful and abstruse. I'd never really learned any good speech there, only the approximate sounds. Only in my twenties did I really learn the basics of correct/proper pronunciations. Firstly, I learned the pronunciation of each letter - by graphic/visual descriptions of shaping lips and tongue when making sounds. It took me years to rebuild my pronouncing vocabulary - with the help of a pronouncing dictionary.
   Pronouncing dictionaries help you distinguish any confusing, sound-alike pronunciations such as "such" and "search," "caught" and "cot," "sword" and "sawed," etc. And learn to rhyme words such as "beautiful" and "dutiful," "feather" and "leather," etc.
   Once you have mastered IPA alphabets and speech, you can too learn foreign languages - and you CAN. I have learned oral German and French and can speak with such absolute fluency that parents have asked me to give grinds to their kids.
   
   Your second book should be "English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course" by Peter Roach. This one teaches you phonetics - the IPA alphabets, lip positions, tongue positions, etc.
   Your third and subsequent books should contain exercises for your vocal cords, tongue, lungs, etc.



2. +++++
   
   This slim book, by theatre director and former college speech and drama director, Malcolm Morrison, is a VERY practical book for speech correction and voice improvement. It is written in an easily accessible form and has tried and tested exercises. The arrangement of the material in this book with clear illustrations makes it easy for anyone to understand and work from effectively.
   
   This book is concerned with helping to correct mismanagement of a healthy speech and voice mechanism. Emphasis is on the readjustment of habits, a readjustment anyone can make through practice.
   
   This book is divided into three parts:
   
   (1) Essentials of Speech and Voice.
   
   (i) Speech as a habit (ii) The nature and analysis of faults (iii) Relaxation (iv) Posture
   
   (2) Problems of Voice Production.
   
   (i) Faulty breathing (ii) Inadequate pitch range in the voice (iii) Faulty tone (iv) Routines for establishment of forward placing of the voice
   
   (3) Speech Faults
   
   (i) "R" sound (ii) "S" sound (iii) "L" sound (iv) "TH" sound (v) The glottal stop (vi) Indistinct speech
   
   Finally, I'll repeat: besides the excellent instruction, this book (as compared to others) has the virtue of directness and economy. In other words, if you like sifting through reams and reams of theory, then this is NOT the book for you. This is, instead, a book that will get you practicing right away.
   
   In conclusion, this is a very practical book that cuts through the jargon and aims at helping you improve your speech and voice right away!
   
   (first published 1989; preface; using this book; 3 parts or 14 chapters; main narrative 75 pages; note to teachers)
   
   +++++

2 comments about One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the Nineties (Applause Acting Series).

1. this book is alright, there arent many monoloques and I really didnt find more than 5 which I liked enough to play with. by monoloques for the 90s, they mean monoloques pertaining to topics and issues which were prevalent in this decade, also most of the monoloques are somber, few are comical or light, i would not recommend this for the beginner



2. I was able to find pieces in this book not only for my college acting courses, but also for auditions for graduate school. It was truly very helpful, with a variety of types of characters to choose from. I would recommend it to anyone.