(Part 3) Best performing arts books according to redditors
We found 11,743 Reddit comments discussing the best performing arts books. We ranked the 3,908 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
41. The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information
22 mentions
Great product!
There were 5 books released yesterday.
Books Released 12/18:
If you want to catch up on the new Star Wars Canon check out my video explaining the new canon.
A few years ago I did this with "The Big Lebowski". Went all right, Dude's car got a little dinged up.
Buy it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Gentlemen-Lebowski-Excellent-Tragical/dp/1451605811/
Official site: http://www.runleiarun.com/lebowski
Free preview: http://www.scribd.com/doc/40270058/Two-Gentlemen-of-Lebowski-by-Adam-Bertocci
Jewish people only make 1.73% of the US population yet make a much more substantial amount of the high-profile actors and directors in hollywood. They are overrepresented in Hollywood(disclaimer: I have absolutely zero problems with this, it's just a fact) and part of the reason is because of history, which is outlined in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/An-Empire-Their-Own-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
It's not some kind of overarching conspiracy, it's just how it is for various reasons.
Now, some people will argue "but...to say that Jewish people run Hollywood is offensive." Only if you believe theres some kind of evil conspiracy going on here. I don't.
Running Hollywood, being overrepresented in Hollywood - it's all semantics to me.
It's from this book. You can see the picture on this video (at 11:31).
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Gentlemen-Lebowski-Excellent-Tragical/dp/1451605811
WOO:
Rise, and speak wisely, man--but hark; I see thy rug, as woven i'the Orient, A treasure from abroad. I like it not. I'll stain it thus; ever thus to deadbeats.
[He stains the rug]
THE KNAVE:
Sir, prithee nay!
BLANCHE:
Now thou seest what happens, Lebowski, when the agreements of honourable business stand compromised. If thou wouldst treat money as water, flowing as the gentle rain from heaven, why, then thou knowest water begets water; it will be a watery grave your rug, drowned in the weeping brook. Pray remember, Lebowski.
THE KNAVE:
Thou err'st; no man calls me Lebowski. Yet thou art man; neither spirit damned nor wandering shadow, thou art solid flesh, man of woman born. Hear rightly, man!--for thou hast got the wrong man. I am the Knave, man; Knave in nature as in name.
BLANCHE:
Thy name is Lebowski.
You can write Shakespeare easily enough.
This one, bud!
https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
To help with your understanding try reading this
And this
That should get you started.
But for real though. They're talking about the cables that hold everything up. Specifically, someone mentioned they were using verlocks to level it out, and that's what gave way. This is what they're talking about. ...I think. In which case I think you're right about the price. Though they may have been talking about this: in which case $12 is a descent estimate.
Source: Fuck if I know I'm an electrician I just plug shit in. Don't listen to me.
There's a book on the topic that I've been meaning to read: https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=empire+of+their+own&qid=1568575461&s=gateway&sr=8-1
The short answer is that the entertainment industry has historically been open to people who are marginalized from other career paths. So disproportionate representation of minorities in the performing arts is something that you often see across cultures and throughout history.
Hi there!
I'm the author of this piece.
You can buy the book at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451605811/adambertocci-20
Fully annotated, beautifully illustrated, revised text (more period-accurate and more Shakespeare references), plus an afterword attempting to explain why I thought this was a good idea. All in all, it's much much better than this old version you're seeing here.
The TGOL Web site is http://www.runleiarun.com/lebowski
And my 'main' site for all my crazy crap (including short films, Kindle eBooks, misc. scribblings, etc. etc. etc.) is http://www.adambertocci.com
Nope, we just both pulled from the same sources.
Namely:
https://smile.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Charts-Complete-Atlas/dp/0743437705?sa-no-redirect=1
And
https://smile.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Cartography-Starfleet-Reference/dp/0760363811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527580161&sr=1-1&keywords=Stellar+Cartography&dpID=51dos%252BtBNOL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
(Which is also based on Star Charts)
Did anyone ever have the bigass book of star wars ship cutaways? It had like a literal fuckton of ships and it was amazing. I've lost mine years ago but damn't I want it again.
Edit: I found it! http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
The Caribbean New York link is often cited as one of the key factors in the formation of hip hop. I strongly recommend you read Jeff Chang’s book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop to find a more detailed narrative on the link. It dedicates a chapter to the socio-economic conditions in NYC the late 60s and early 70s and another chapter to sound system culture in Jamaica which really set the scene what how and why hip hop emerged.
As a fan of early hip hop, I just want to stress that in 1970s in NYC the Caribbean influence was present in not only in rapping style, but in DJing style too, perhaps even more so. It was really the sound-system DJ culture of Jamaica that first made its way into the parks, streets and house parties in New York. It was the rapping that followed. This interview with DJ Kool Herc gives some indication of how one led to the other. The book “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life illuminates this further.
Lastly, while there is a strong Jamaican link to the origins of rapping, it is important to note that it was not only the source of influence. There were many other American artists from different backgrounds included raps and spoken word in their songs.
As a record collector, some of the more interesting examples that I have come across in my time include.
Also, rap made some appearances in country music too.
P.s. the first rap record is generally regarded to be
Personality Jock by King Tim III and the Fatback Band not Rappers Delight, which was released a couple of months later.
EDIT: I Just noticed you mentioned you were from the UK. You might be interested in checking out this website and articles by DJ Greg Wilson. He gives a good overview of the musical landscape in the UK in the late 70s and early 80s when hip hop was first being made. Of particular interest to you might be how US hip hop made it to the UK, and the role that of Caribbean kids in that movement, and subsequently dance music in the UK. He doesn't go into this in detail, but does allude to it. You should give him call, I'm sure he'd be happy to discuss.
If you like these, I highly recommend The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens which includes a lot of great concept and production artwork (including these), along with a some very interesting insights of the art direction and production.
Who else what's a book like this for SC ?http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
I just read a book about this exact topic: An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. Essentially, Hollywood is so Jewish because it was founded by Jews. Interestingly enough, despite how Jewish it is, there is a ubiquitous rejection of Judaism in Hollywood films, and always has been.
Three things are going to help you:
Systems and Specials
First off, you want to always be thinking about your lights in terms of Systems and Specials. A System is a group of lights that perform a single function together. The most common form of a 'System' is a wash. Your front light is a system. Your top light is a system.
Specials are the individual lights that do 'special' unique functions. For example, you might have a light that shoots through a window to make the effect of moonlight. Or you might have a light that sits on a chair for a musical number.
Let's imagine a really simple show where you have four systems, an RGB cyc, and two specials. Your systems and specials are:
The first four systems are made up of 15 lights each, covering two dimensions: SR - SL, DS - US. Something like this:
UR URC UC ULC UL
CR CRC CC CLC CL
DR DRC DC DLC DL
You also want to individually control all the cyc colors so you can do mixing. The two specials each need to have their own channel.
Specifically choosing how your lights are channeled and groupd.
The next thing to do is to specifically choose how your lights are channeled and groupd. When you had a board with all sliders, you might just have assigned everything numerically, because you were limited in how many physical sliders you had (or perhaps limited by dimmers). The advantage of a modern board like the Ion is that you can use numerical mnemonics to visually identify/remember.
Imagine your Ion screen is laid out something like this:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
Now if you just channeled everything in order, numerically, you'd end up with channels looking something like this:
That's not a bad way of doing it, but it's not really optimal. For one, there's no easy way to visually look at the screen and see what things are doing. Your systems wrap across multiple lines, and everything is just group'd up with no rhyme or reason. It doesn't help you remember anything.
Visually, the channels will look like this on your Ion Screen: http://i.imgur.com/YJca3Ff.png
Instead, imagine channeling it something like this:
Now look at that on the Ion Screen: http://i.imgur.com/3TXCGYx.png . Look at the nice neat columns and rows that let you easily see what's going on. What's more, the numerical mnemonics help you know where channels are:
11: UR 12: URC 13: UC 14: ULC 15: UL
06: CR 07: CRC 08: CC 09: CLC 16: CL
01: DR 02: DRC 03: DC 04: DLC 05: DL
You know that X1 is always DR. So 01 is DR Front Amber, 21 is DR Front Blue, 41 is DR Top Amber, 61 is DR Top Blue. You can look at the screen and see what's going on visually. Eventually, you'll be able to look at the channel screen and instantly understand what it should look like on the stage.
Now, it does get tedious to select all the channels you want all the time. This is where Groups come in handy. You use Groups to select your systems so that you don't always have to type in [CHANNEL 1 - 15].
Again, numerical mnenomics will help you out. Let's just think of our four front washes. You could group them 1-4:
Problem is that way doesn't help you remember what your channels are at. Group 4 is... What? Oh, Top Blue Wash, my fourth system. When I make groups, I make them around channel numbers:
That helps you remember what channel you're selecting. You can also add more groups to get more levels of control:
And so on.
Eventually, you'll have a selection of groups that let you quickly and easily select areas of the stage you want to isolate.
What is a Magic Sheet?
Once you know what your systems and specials are, and you've got them grouped/channeled, you can make your Magic Sheet. Your Magic Sheet is for you, as the designer, to help you remember what your systems and specials are. It's a quick reference to tell you what your systems and specials are so that you DO remember what you have to use. That way you can just look down and know what channels you need to call out. Magic Sheets are unique to you... you might make them look like color keys, you might have them visually laid out on the stage.
Here's an example of a magic sheet I drew up for this show:
http://i.imgur.com/5uOvjYU.png
The magic sheet has all my systems with their appropriate channel numbers as well as my cyc numbers and specials. Because I'm using group number mnemonics, I don't have to write down group numbers... I can just remember that Group 1 selects R02 Front, Group 61 selects R80 Top, etc. etc..
I hope those tips helped. If you haven't yet, you should get (and read) the Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, which will really help you get the most out of your designs. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003
tl;dr
Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003
This is from page 66 of The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which chronicles the development of the story and characters throughout pre-production.
I personally think this would have been a more interesting and unique purpose for Starkiller Base, which would have spared some of the comparisons to the original trilogy. Imagine if the climax of the movie centered around rescuing an entire system of planets that had just lost their sun and were sent hurtling into dark space.
To answer your first and most important question - it's the writing. Endings have been bad because of the writing. Video game writers are simply not doing a good job collectively. From what I understand, most video games often rely on non-writers to work on a lot of writing, which is bad enough as it is. But even if there is a proper writing staff dedicated to working on a given game and included early enough in the development cycle to create the narrative portion of that game, there's no telling to how it will have to be re-shaped to compensate for budget and/or time limitations. Combine this with the fact that game stories rarely start off great to begin with because most writers in the game industry aren't well trained in the craft, and the whole thing is a recipe for disappointment. (Even in Hollywood, the whole industry is filled with movies with only mediocre plots because great narrative isn't necessary for big commercial success.)
Early in the writing process, the writer needs to determine what kind of change(s) the main character will go through by the end of the story. The whole thing isn't just about accomplishing a task - the hero needs to become a better person or try to do and fail. Figuring out the moral argument behind this story and how the protagonists changes because of it makes the story's foundation. The writer is supposed to start from the ending because that's the important part. Then, find an appropriate starting point, then figure out the path in between. But games are rarely about anything anymore. Mass Effect and RDR have proper themes and moral arguments to make. They lead the protagonist (and therefore the audience) somewhere. Most games, however, have the main character start somewhere in the beginning, progress through the middle, and then everything is back to normal in the end. This is wrong.
A part of the problem could be that games don't want to take a strong enough of a stance on anything to create the kind of moral argument necessary for a good story. I really recommend this book by John Truby about storytelling.
This has been my biggest focus for the last few months.
1st realization was "Networking events" weren't a place where you join the hive-mind, exchange emails and share secrets on openings in the job market. You're basically are making friends. Get them to think: "This would be a good person to work with. I better answer his message so they'll answer mine"
John Sonmez (Author of Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual): https://simpleprogrammer.com/
Toastmasters: https://www.toastmasters.org/ This is like a public speaking club for anyone to join. My place is filled with 8 nice sweet, old people who want to speak better at church. I feel pretty comfortable speaking there.
This has been my 3 step plan:
My youtube story telling playlist
Books/Audiobooks:
I only know this because of this bitch
Hi, Ive been a stagehand for 22 years, buy her this if she likes the technical side of theater.
I'm floored that you wrote this at 14. Bravo OP, it's pretty funny stuff. My only critique/advice would be regarding formatting (how to label characters speaking with subtitles/voice over etc...)
That's the stuff that can be really small or seem unimportant at first, but it pays off to learn now rather than when you get a chance to pitch your work and a producer kicks you to the curb simply because you didn't label something correctly.
My girlfriend bought me this guidebook a few years ago when I started learning how to do this, maybe you'll find it useful too: Hollywood Standard
Final note, it's VERY impressive you came up with something like this at your age. Do not stop, it's making me both incredibly jealous and driven to continue my work. Best of luck brotha!
That is the backstage handbook.
The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information https://www.amazon.com/dp/0911747397/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KO6CDbSZ34KFT
Go pick up the Backstage Handbook and read it cover to cover. That will give you enough basic understanding of terms and rough practices to survive overhire calls.
Read the whole series. Then this. And this. I used to be the same way. I got a little better using Freytag's triangle, but it wasn't specific enough. These resources helped turn me around. I still love great prose and toil over every word. Words are all we have. But beneath them, the story has to be there.
A few that come to mind:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Star-Wars-Force-Awakens/dp/1419717804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449956522&sr=8-1&keywords=the+art+of+the+force+awakens
The book comes out in less than a week. It's not that crazy that some guy working in a book store has already seen a copy.
I'd say it's less likely that some guy who very obviously traced an 8 year old DeviantArt drawing for a Mexican magazine had legit inside knowledge of what he looked like. When the same picture happens to be one of the first results on a google image search of Snoke.
I remember thinking how good this was for Zuko's change to be a good person, and how disappointed I was when they never mentioned her again. But, they do have her in one of the comics for Avatar: The Lost Adventures, so that helped a little.
Firefly: A Celebration (Anniversary Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781161682/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JQOUAb82195EX There’s a seperate book for Serenity. And you do have a copy of Serenity itself right?
Bruce Campbell at a book signing, Henry Rollins and Anthony Keidis.
I also lived in DC and met a LOT of politicians. The only two that were random were John Boehner (I was drunk outside smoking, saw him walking by, yelled BOEHNER! and he turned and waved) and Mitch McConnell (I saw him in a little corner bodega. I said hi, he looked scared and scurried away).
Well first off ya got an ace attitude wanting people to be brutal and critique, that'll get you far! But from what I can see, you seem to draw the outlines of the characters rather than the shapes that a body is and this limited me personally for years. This book did me absolute wonders, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Force-Dynamic-Life-Drawing-Animators/dp/0240808452 (Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators), it was the only one my tutor at animation school recommended to me as 100% worth it and I just kept going over it again and again until I got better and I actually did, it got me thinking about body shapes and how they merge into each other and made it really fun!:) For me in this particular sketch you've done it's the fact that the arms are quite straight, straight lines on a drawing of a body always look odd, cause we're curvy squidgy creatures even when we're skinny! But yeah this book gets you swirling the pencil more and not worrying about being neat to begin with, you can always go over it afterwards. Don't be precious of your work, just keep creating!:))) Looking promising though!:))) Best of luck!
If chins could kill, this one would have to be registered
I agree. It's far more beneficial to learn "proper" techniques and real anatomy, and then bend the rules to create anime styled work than to just try to do anime stuff.
By learning traditional techniques whatever style you choose for yourself will end up looking far stronger because you have those important basics mastered - real anatomy (which you can warp as you choose), how to light, how to make your character look like they have real weight, etc.
There are probably a very select few who can get by just drawing anime, but they'll also always be limited to drawing that style.
If you want a career in art and are in that position where you think "this other stuff is dumb, I just want to draw what I want to draw", you really ought to do yourself a solid early on and get over that way of thinking. If you're really serious about it, then eventually you will realize that you have to really learn the basics before anything else.
On a side note, I also urge you to find books on life drawing done by artists you admire. I feel like there are quite a few below average teachers who may not give you the best instruction, which results in frustration and drawings that look lifeless or poorly designed. Even though you're drawing from life, or from a photo, your goal should still be to design the image and not do a lifeless carbon copy.
Andrew Loomis' books really helped me when I first,started and Mike Mattesi's Force is one I always like to reference.
I haven't really needed to read any of these recently, so there might be better ones out now, but here are some ideas:
Cinematography: Theory and Practice: https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093
ASC Manual: https://store.ascmag.com/product-p/10110.htm (this is more of a reference but I think you can learn a lot if you comb through it with your unlimited time :) )
Motion Picture and Video Lighting: https://store.ascmag.com/product-p/10110.htm
The Camera Assistant's Manual: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Assistants-Manual-David-Elkins/dp/0240810570/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1522612793&sr=8-3&keywords=the+camera+assistant%27s+manual&dpID=51o7uMqwzZL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
(the stuff in here is important to know when working your way up, but also how to conduct your self on set and the tools of the trade for professionals)
and really anything on Focal Press is great, as far as I've seen. You might also read books about VFX producing (for background when working with FX) and perhaps books on color grading and storyboarding.
And if you are interested in writing, Stephen King's On Writing is great.
I'm a lighting nerd, so my favorite book about filmmaking is Cinematography - Theory and Practice by Blain Brown. http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450807901&sr=1-3
Watching visual essays like Every Frame a Painting is helpful to become more aware of how a picture on a screen can deliver meaning: https://www.youtube.com/user/everyframeapainting
I do love me some GH4, but the 7Dmk2 is a solid camera choice for you. Sturdy body, weather-sealed, nice balance between sensor size and price.
Some gear to add might be a monopod (more versatile and easier to drag around than a tripod) and a battery-powered LED panel (maybe your climbing film starts with an interview outside the tent before sunrise and you need some shine).
> Afaik the Jewish representation isn’t totally historically wrong because Jewish people in America were sidelined into only certain professions, so entertainment (and thus porn) was among them.
Indeed. One particularly good book on this subject is An Empire of Their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood. It's really amazing how Hollywood was the result of immigrants projecting their views of the American Dream, and in return they wound up shaping it for multiple generations of the population at large.
And here's a link to the actual hardcover book that originally featured this drawing among many others! Must-have for any Star Wars ship/technology enthusiast. <<<<Not kidding. I got it for Christmas when it was published in 1998, and now i'm almost 30 but still pull it off the shelf every month or three to flip through it in awe.
Yep! Right here: http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Last-Airbender-Lost-Adventures/dp/159582748X
I did standup comedy for about 8 years and I can tell you that being the funniest in your group of friends is miles away from being "professionally" funny. I've seen more funny friends crash and burn on a stage in front off all of said friends because they figured they were going to be able to just walk in and turn it on. Which is not at all to say it can't be done. They are just two different genres of funny and you'll need to learn about how to channel your "funny friend" humor into "funny writer" humor.
Two books I recommend are:
The Comic Toolbox: how to be funny even if you're not
And
Funny on Purpose: The Definitive Guide to an Unpredictable Career in Comedy: Standup + Improv + Sketch + TV + Writing + Directing + YouTube
Having specific characters that represent your different audiences allow you to embody/emulate those characters as "masks" (an idea from theater, outlined brilliantly in Keith Johnstone's Impro).
The human brain is extremely good at simulating other people, predicting their needs and desires: if someone says "I heard dead my mothers voice telling me not to do it" do you assume their dead mother is literally communicating telepathically, or do you accept that they just know what their mother would say? Writers also work this way all the time with "characters that write themselves"—these fictional entities have personalities, needs, and wants, and help the writer see things from a perspective that is unlike their own.
While heavily researched personas are more accurate, DIY "fanfiction" personas really do get you 80% of the way there—these are just tools that allow designers to roleplay as or "find empathy for" different types of users. They're not supposed to cover every possible thing or to replace the need for validation, they just get you in the right headspace.
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone
Impro for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone
Interrupting someone lowers their status. Allowing someone to break a social taboo without comment raises their status. Really, if you want to know more, you've gotta obtain this book (and/or go to a local improv class, most of which take that book as their basis).
I have never seen a stage manager or really any professional backstage that doesn't have a Backstage Handbook. It is incredibly resourceful and will probably be a required text for her in school anyway. I am primarily an actor but having worked in a few scene shops, it has been a great help many times.
Scene Design and Stage Lighting is an often-used text-book from what I can tell. I have an old version myself, but can't attest to the current version. Design and Drawing for the Theatre is also an old standby (and denser), though it appears it's out of print.
If you want something lighter and less expensive, perhaps Fundamentals of Theatrical Design or An Introduction to Theatre Design, though they aren't limited to just scenery. I haven't read the former, but the I've taught from the latter in an intro to design course. It's rather light, but that can be good for a first book.
You can also go the more theoretical route, and pick up the classic Dramatic Imagination by Robert Edmund Jones. What is Scenography? and Scenographic Imagination are chock-full of great theoretical discussion for the long term, but not suited for your first dip into the pool. Might be worth bookmarking for down the road, though.
And sometimes it's good to just have a survey of other's work. American Set Design isn't a bad place to start for that. I recently picked up World Scenography, and while I haven't had the chance to sit down extensively with it, it's a gorgeous book.
This is of course just going from scene design, there's also options out there about the history of design, useful technical handbooks for the craft, or even more specific things like model-making.
If you're already generally familiar with theater and roughly understand the production process, maybe grab one of the two in the first paragraph. If you're coming in completely fresh, starting with one of the cheaper super-introductory books in the second paragraph might be better to ease in. If you have the funds, I'd suggest one from each paragraph. Perhaps others in this sub have more specific choices they feel are definitively superior than other options.
Also, I'm guessing your university may not have a design professor, but you might suggest an independent study in scene design as a course. Hope this helps!
Amazon US link
Amazon UK link
Guarantee you this is from this book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Star-Wars-Awakens/dp/1419717804
Probably not the final design, but what we'll see in the movie will probably be pretty similar! Amazing!
Adding to this bit by HeirToPendragon:
> The Lost Adventures is a collection of official comics from the series that were put in various other places (like Nick Mag). A few tell stories about what happened between seasons.
"The Lost Adventures" also includes the comics that were bundled with the DVD releases (of the non-boxed set variety), like the "Private Fire" comic which came with the Season 3 DVDs. Also, the comics collected in this book are grouped by season, which helps if you want to read them in the chronological order of the show. "The Lost Adventures" is a pretty good collection since it incudes so many comics (it is 240 pages long) and it spans all three seasons of the show, so if you only get one book to start with, this is the one to get.
The four "Lost Scrolls" books (Water, Earth, Fire, Air; alternatively, I think this one book collects all four) include some background information about the four nations in the world of Avatar as well as some first-person stories from Season 1 (basically, some episodes told from the perspective of some of the characters).
The "Earth Kingdom Chronicles" (titles start with "The Tale of [insert character name here]", available for Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Azula, Zuko; I think this one collects some but not all of them) are similar, but for Season 2 and they don't include background info, just first-person perspectives of the episodes. Basically, you follow the individual characters through Season 2.
There's also three little comics set during Season 3 ("Aang's School Days", "Sokka the Sword Master", and "Love Potion #8"). I've heard these aren't that good, but they exist so I'm mentioning them.
"Sozin's Comet" is a novelization of the series finale (the four "Sozin's Comet" episodes).
The new comics, starting with "The Promise, Part 1", are set after the end of Season 3, and those will start coming out early next year.
If you want to read all these Avatar books more or less in chronological order, you'd start with "The Lost Scrolls", then continue with the Season 1 comics in "The Lost Adventures", move on to the "Earth Kingdom Chronicles", then the Season 2 comics in "The Lost Adventures", then the three short Season 3 comics, then the Season 3 comics in "The Lost Adventures", then the "Sozin's Comet" book, then "The Promise" and all that comes after.
And, of course, there's also The Art of the Animated Series, but that's not a graphic novel and would be more for you or for your son when he's older. =)
Edited to add links.
The Lost Adventures
Here are a few:
http://www.amazon.com/Set-Lighting-Technicians-Handbook-Distribution/dp/0240810759
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Cinematography-Fundamentals-Techniques-Workflows/dp/0240817915/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1410971724&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=david+stump+ASC
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Creating-Structure-Digital/dp/0240807790/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1410971760&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+visual+story
No one I know distinguishes director of photography from cinematographer this way anymore. Blain Brown once said that cinematographer was a title given to directors of photography who also operated the camera, but that was back in the day and no one does that anymore. Nowadays, filmmakers generally use two terms interchangeably.
This book and this book are both very good. They were used in my cinematography course at my college a year or so ago.
If Chins Could Kill
If chins could kill...
<3 Bruce Campbell
Awesome! Tell your parents you want this book for christmas, it's awesome for newbie animators. :) It's also got a few frog animations!
Yeah, the Federation isn't 10,000 light years across. But ultimately there is no good definitive answer for size or shape of the Federation. The Star Charts book was the basis for the Star Trek Adventures map, the Star Trek Online game, and the map shown in Discovery, so it's the closest thing to "official" that exists. And the warp scale fleshed out for the TNG: Technical Manual (Warp Factor\^(10/3)) is still too slow to really make Trek style travel plausible, as illustrated in this tweet.
So for my campaign, I'm using the map from startrekmap.com, which takes the work from Star Charts and builds on it and I bumped up the warp scale from x^(10/3) to x^(10/2.5), which was just enough to be able to let my players fly around the map at speeds fast enough to be interesting but slow enough to be constrained. It doesn't much matter right now, because we're still in the beginning of the campaign and it's adventure of the week structure for the time being, but if I can actually follow through on my desire to maintain consistency, it might develop into a salient factor later on.
Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743437705/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eCI-Ab7CH95Q6
Proton torpedoes are very specifically nuclear warheads (image from Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections, which is an amazing book I recommend highly). They'd take out an AT-AT without much issue. The only reason they had to hit a specific spot on the Death Star was because it's the size of, oh, let's say a small moon.
God, I'm finally there... I'm arguing about Star Wars on the internet. I'm glad I was able to get married before I got to this point.
[John Trulby's anatomy of Story] (https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933) might give you a lot of ideas for scenes.
"The Backstage Handbook"
I wish I could take credit for writing this, but Mr. Adam Bertocci wrote this. The man is a genius. Mr. Bertocci actually commented on this post, and wanted me to tell everyone you can find a "Fully annotated, beautifully illustrated, revised text" of Two Gentlemans of Lebowski on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451605811/adambertocci-20
I still happen to think this rough copy is brilliant.
There are a TON of books out there about writing television and comedy in particular and they can be really helpful, but the best way to learn is really to read scripts. Second to that is what I and my colleagues like to refer to as daring to fail (just write your story), if you have a great story, structure can always be taught and worked out.
If you're working on writing a spec, the best thing you can do is collect as many copies of scripts for the show you're planning to write a spec for and use them as a map - those scripts will inform you about how that particular show is structured because even though there are industry standards, all shows are unique. Depending on length some shows might be 5 acts and a teaser (if it's a one-hour) or 3 acts and a teaser (most half hours), or any other combination of acts and teasers and kickers.
When you're reading these scripts pay close attention to the act-outs to see how the writers typically like to end each act and where the beats fall.
As for books, Show Me the Funny is a good resource. The Hollywood Standard is a staple. Writing the TV Drama Series is one of my favorites, and even though you're looking to write comedy, it is an excellent resource. I haven't read Inside the Room, but I've heard great things about it and it's on my list, so it might be worth a look.
One other thing I will point out is that when you're looking for books that are specifically to be used as resources for writing television, I would steer clear of most books published prior to 2009. I only say that because television more than film has really evolved in a very short amount of time and you want to make sure you're getting the most up to date information.
Other resources to take a look at would be Jon August's Blog, Jane Espenson's blog (though she hasn't updated it in quite awhile), Ken Levine's blog, The Aspiring TV Writer, and The Artful Writer.
I also HIGHLY recommend subscribing and listening to the Nerdist Writer's Panel with Ben Blacker. It's chock full of amazing advice, tips, and great stories from a ton of current television writers.
Hopefully some of this will be helpful! Good luck in your writing endeavors!
First things first, different areas are going to call different things different names. Never be ashamed about asking what people mean by a term, as clear communication is critical in this industry.
Next, three books that will help you.
As far as what equipment and systems you should be familiar with? ETC EOS family is a good starting point. It’ll get your mind familiar with how to program lights and is a pretty universal starting point. ETC Sensor Racks are also fairly standard for dimming. For moving lights, that’s really going to depend on what you’re able to get your hands on. If there’s a production shop nearby to you, call them up and see if they’re willing to take you on as an intern so you can learn things, or just ask them to spend a couple days showing you how everything works. Or see if there’s an IATSE chapter that’s nearby to you, they’ll also be able to help point you in the right direction.
They also have something like this for "The Big Lebowski".
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Gentlemen-Lebowski-Excellent-Tragical/dp/1451605811
I know this cause I bought it. Was drunk, no judge pls.
Is this William Shakespeare's Star Wars? You didn't specify but you said
> the production also includes five scenes from "The Big Lebowksi," also set in Elizabethan English.
which makes it sound like it is.
Edit: I'm guessing this is the Big Lebowski and this is the Star Wars one.
Off the top of my head, a few books/resources that I found helpful/inspiring:
Also, watch (a lot of) films multiple times, pay attention how stories are told visually, analyze them and figure out what works and what doesn't work (for you).
Books, books and more books
http://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Way-Practice-Performance-Wellness/dp/0195343131/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418943223&amp;sr=1-7&amp;keywords=music+theory
http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418943269&amp;sr=1-14&amp;keywords=music+theory
http://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418943285&amp;sr=1-15&amp;keywords=music+theory
Both the maps you and the OP posted are from Star Trek Star Charts. They're not super-canonical, but they've been used as reference for many official works.
> WTF, why do the Klingon and Romulan empires cut the Federation in two? How did the Federation colonize (annex) worlds on the other side?
The galaxy is 1000 LY thick. The UFP could be incorporating systems on the "upper" side while the Romulan Star Empire is on the "lower" side. No bisecting required.
> Finally, the map suggests that the Federation is 750 LY across, but it has been said several times on the show that the figure is between 8,000-10,000 LY.
Either the book itself or the website it was based on cover this. There was a bunch of conflicting information so they took it all and decided that the UFP has a "core" of a few hundred LY, with a few far-flung territories, making it about 8000 LY end to end, but with 90+% of the worlds within the core.
Many of the worlds visited in the series, for example, are within the UFP's vaguely-defined boundaries, but aren't UFP members.
Incredible Cross-Sections by David Reynolds.
If I remember correctly (and it has been 20+ years) its this. Major nostalgia by the way, thank you op.
https://www.amazon.com/Filmmakers-Eye-Learning-Cinematic-Composition/dp/0240812174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1502971148&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=filmmaker%27s+eye
https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Creating-Structure-Digital/dp/0240807790/ref=pd_sim_14_10?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0240807790&amp;pd_rd_r=C197QEE8EMEY1KGN3N2E&amp;pd_rd_w=PKzWC&amp;pd_rd_wg=vF29K&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=C197QEE8EMEY1KGN3N2E
https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Directors-Guide-Creative-Collaboration/dp/1932907556/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1502971260&amp;sr=1-10&amp;keywords=cinematography
someone listed a bunch of titles ive read/bought for school a few comments up. try asking around some colleges for students looking to sell back their books after finals!
EDIT: i feel bad for not posting any actual titles i had. this book was awesome, very enlightening. all interview transcripts of steven spielberg regarding movies, various points in time. http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Spielberg-Interviews-Conversations-Filmmakers/dp/157806113X
I bought bruce blocks book before i got into film school, read it, highlighted it while waiting for flights, etc. then, sure enough, one of my teachers assigned the book to us. i felt like a king!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Story-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790
same situation with blain browns book. except he eventually taught one of my classes. :P slightly different subject, but it was cool having read a book, then not only meeting the author, but taking his class. :)
http://smile.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=sr_1_55?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1425434291&amp;sr=1-55&amp;keywords=visual+storytelling
Check out Steve Shelley’s book Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. I learned a fair amount about contracts from it, enough to write my own.
The above comment about consulting a lawyer is also wise, but most lawyers are going to know your business like you do. If you come to them with something to look over, you’re more likely to get a positive and meaningful reaction.
Vectorworks and Lightwrite are pretty standard for generating light plots and paperwork. WYSIWYG and AutoCAD are also used, along with manually created fixture/patch/color/etc schedules.
I'd recommend this book for an excellent, in-depth guide to the practical side of lighting design.
You could try akeytsu for animation. Or, if you just need to be better at animating, you could study this book. Software can't solve every problem.
I started doing pixel art properly over a year ago, I have made progress, but it's probably slower than other people because I'm not an artist. I started programming and didn't focus much on the art side of stuff.
Animating is definitely tough, but it takes practice. I still use references for walking and running animations. It's not just about copying the reference, but deciphering how someone moves, where the arms and legs are positioned during each frame. Does the body drop down or go up. I have problems with attack animations and references are hard to come by because you want your own unique movements. I try to actually act out a movement and figure out what my body is capable of doing, if you can't do it in person, it might not look right in pixel art form.
Look up tutorials, practice with stick animation and simple shapes, like a ball. I recommend this book:
The Animator's Survival Kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571238343/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ceDSyb7HCF7N3
A great read and will demonstrate movements, stretching and squashing of the body to accentuate a movement.
Pen and paper and this book :) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0571238343/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481542692&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=animation+survival+kit&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51X0j6srtoL&amp;ref=plSrch
A good one at that. :) I might also suggest The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams
A common application is to see a quarter segment of the circle as showing not three keys, but the six main chords in a (major) key. IV-I-V on the outside and ii-vi-iii on the inside. (Obviously you need a circle with the relative minors on the inside.)
Chords either side of that diatonic segment can also be used, being closely related, but the further you get from that block, the more "out" the chords will get (but can still be used for that "out" effect, of course). And root movements work around the circle, in either direction.
But I guess this is much like the way you are using it anyway! So I don't think you really are missing anything significant.
[Here's] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Chord-Wheel-All-Inst-Chart-Various/0634021427) a commercial application of much the same idea: The word "revolutionary" is just a sales pitch in that case. ;-)
>I doubt Voyager's path was THAT much of a straight line.
It just looks straight because of how zoomed-out it is. There are more zoomed-in and detailed routes in the same book that show the ship's route in a more zigzag pattern.
>But that is a two dimensional representation of three dimensional space. Borg space could reach over and under the path that Voyager took
I think that same principle could be applied to Voyager going under/over Borg space as well.
My take away is that space is freaking BIG, and even though the Borg have spread out quite a bit, there's still plenty of room to dodge them and for other life to flourish.
Not that I'm aware of. But I have the book Star Trek: Star Charts and it's very good - I'd recommend getting a copy of that.
This is from the books Incredible Cross Sections of Star Wars. Their books are very detailed and just plain awesome!
This is what I want.
https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
Top of the list for me would be: "The Anatomy of Story" by John Truby.
Impro by Keith Johnstone
Have you ever seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? If you haven't, the idea is that a bunch of actors get on stage, take suggestions from the audience, and create wildly creative set pieces on the fly. Improv seems like an unachievable creative feat--but it's not.
In his book Impro, Keith Johnstone demystifies improv and narrative play. At one point, he has a lady who insists she's not creative participate in a narrative game. She asks plot questions about an unwritten story, and he answers yes or no depending on the way she phrases her questions. In the end, this "uncreative" creates a story about giant killer ants seemingly from nothing!
The key to creativity is being open to stupid ideas. People have ideas all the time. Deciding to put hot sauce on your pizza is an idea. Deciding to cut through Park Lane while on your morning commute is an idea. Deciding to dance the funky chicken after reading this comment is an idea.
What makes an idea creative? That's a toughie. A lot of times, you'll feel it in your gut or sense it in the approval from your audience. But you normally don't reach that creative peak until you get through some duds. :)
Creativity is easy. Creativity is hard. Anyone can come up with ideas. It's the editing--and the follow-through--that makes the difference.
https://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397
You are right that it is parody and shouldn't need the Coen's permission, but according to the lawyer's email the Coens now hold the rights to the parody too, even though they didn't write it. If they hold the rights to the parody, then you can't perform it without the Coen's permission.
I'm curious to know how it went from free download to being published by Simon & Schuster to (apparently) being owned by the Coens. It's still for sale on Amazon and ironic you can buy the play but not perform it. I wonder where the money goes?
No, but I'm familiar with the idea.
Another good one is Two Gentlemen of Lebowski.
This comes to mind: Two Gentlemen of Lebowski
If possible, read this:
Avatar: The Last Airbender The Lost Adventures
There's more coming to bridge the time between the end of the series and the beginning of the next one: The Promise
edit: and whatever you do, do not watch the live action movie. I still have nightmares about it. &#3232;_&#3232;
How do I improv?
You read Impro (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0878301178). The status chapter alone is comedy and dramatic gold. It will also teach you the gestural and postural elements of character, which are easier than funnier accents to do consistently, they also tend to force your mind into the correct behavior for the posture
How do I react better to surprise?
You write down a list of beliefs and instincts (2-3 of each). The beliefs are facts about the world you are extremely likely to confront in the worlds, and what your character will do about them. Instincts are if then statements that add instant reaction. Use this to know exactly what you'll do in a situation, and also use it to get you guys into trouble sometimes
How do I become more active at the table?
Add one or two things to a list you will just not abide. Similar to or equal to your instincts recorded earlier, just act, and accept no discussion when those things occur
Great! Then I'm gonna make two book recommendations to you. The first book is The Stock Scenery Construction Handbook by Bill Raoul and Mike Monsos. It'll be a great help to get some knowledge about how scenery goes together and is structured before you dive into a job where this'll be common practice. The second book is the Technical Theatre Bible, The Backstage Handbook by Paul Carter and George Chiang. Even if you don't ever end up in theatre, this is a brilliant reference from how to build stairs to creating and calculating large arcs. Every technician should have a copy of it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Information/dp/0911747397
The Backstage Handbook has saved me several times.
EDIT:
Pocket Ref is good too...
http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Ref-Thomas-J-Glover/dp/1885071000
Thank you for writing Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. I love that book!
The promise: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1595828117
The lost adventures: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/159582748X
The screenwriting section is a blundered mess. Yes they are correct in the information presented but give no advice on proper use. Parentheticals for example. Use sparingly.
The book, The Hollywood Standard, is a good read. I'd say it's more for those have no clue how to structure. They do a good job of explaining. Also read some of the screenplays to the films you enjoy. It helps to see how they write.
If your looking to get into cinematography, you should check out "Cinematography" and "Motion Picture and Video Lighting" by Blain Brown. Anything from Kris Malkiewicz is worth a read too. "The Grip Book" by Michael Uva, "Set Lighting Technician's Handbook" by Harry Box and "The Camera Assistant" by Doug Hart are all excellent books for more trade specific people.
Edit for links:
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Practice-Edition-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1333841096&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Motion-Picture-Lighting-Second-Edition/dp/0240807634/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1333841096&amp;sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=kris+malkiewicz&amp;sprefix=Kris+ma%2Caps%2C359&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akris+malkiewicz&amp;ajr=0
http://www.amazon.com/The-Grip-Book-Fourth-Edition/dp/0240812913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1333841229&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Technicians-Handbook-Fourth-Edition/dp/0240810759/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1333841229&amp;sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.com/The-Camera-Assistant-Complete-Professional/dp/0240800427/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1333841294&amp;sr=8-4
Sidney Lumet's book, Making Movies, covers most of the spectrum and is simply a great read.
As for other books, they are generally more technical. For screenwriting, there's McKee's Story; for editing, there's Reisz and Millar's Technique of Film Editing; for cinematography, there's Blain Brown's Cinematography Theory and Practice. And Lumet's book would complete this tetralogy, being a book essentially about directing.
I read Bruce's autobio and gained a tremendous respect for him.
Designing with Light is a great introduction to design, the price is criminal https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Light-Introduction-Stage-Lighting/dp/0073514233/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
A Practical guide to Stage Lighting is one of the best and most complete books on the subject https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003/ref=pd_sim_14_4?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51wHNTlRvuL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR124%2C160_&amp;refRID=F1TC2GN49HDAM9GJ75ZZ
The Design Idea is a great book on design https://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Design-Idea-Wadsworth-Theatre/dp/1111836868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465919421&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=linda+essig
Stage Lighting Design: The Art, Craft and Life is another great book https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Design-Craft-Life/dp/0896762351/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465919500&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=richard+pilbrow
There are my top 4 lets see what others suggest.
download a program called monkeyjam if you want something free, it has a rudimentary stop-motion capability that works with most cameras.
don't worry about expensive equipment and software, those things aren't nearly as important as learning the basics and your tutors next year will be looking at the movement, not the image quality (provided you can actually see what's happening of course)
get this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animators-Survival-Kit-Richard-Williams/dp/0571238343/ref=pd_sim_b_1
it's very useful, and don't think that because you're doing stop-motion you don't need to know everything in it. I did a year of 2D animation to start with at uni, and only recently have I realised how much it helped me.
And I would say unless you're really interested in film-making (as opposed to being an animator or model-maker) then don't worry too much about editing at the moment. If you're set on making full films, then get yourself a copy Adobe After Effects and look up some tutorials online
Good luck with your portfolio! :)
That map is from a book of Star Trek maps . It's a good little collection if you can get it for around $15.
An excellent book on the roots of modern electronic music styles and their evolution [Last Night A DJ Saved My Life] (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Night-DJ-Saved-Life/dp/0802136885), and one of the chapters is about reggae and dub. If you're looking for an example though, [Lee Perry - Blackboard Jungle dub (Version1)] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgIv-T2QkRA&amp;feature=related). The bristol variation [Massive Attack - Protection Large Professor Remix] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdnOifB-Knc)
There are two tracks that get me indescribably pumped, every single fucking time I hear them, even if they're old as shit. Paul Oakenfold - Dread Rock and The Prodigy - Breathe. Such great memories.
The first piece of electronic music that blew my mind was Inkey$. After hearing that I knew I had to get into that shit.
When not dickriding, this book gets it right.
Watching Human Traffic makes me want to get people dancing.
And of course, this scene from Spaced illustrates perfectly how the groove is always there, waiting to be tapped into.
EDIT: How could I forget this classic? It's impossible to not at least try to get funky after watching that dude dance.
This book is a good start:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Story-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395689894&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+visual+story
Also these are great and easy to return to when storyboarding:
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Shots-Vol-2nd-Techniques/dp/1615930876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395690041&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=master+shots
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Shots-Volume-Shooting-Dialogue/dp/1615930558/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395690059&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=master+shots
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Storytelling-Powerful-Conventions-Filmmaker/dp/193290705X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395690130&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=cinematic+storytelling
Swear I'm not an Amazon affiliate, just love me these books. They're worth reading twice.
Note: Obviously this list is incomplete, if anyone has suggestions please add to this. Also this list is not specifically for kevleemur, but for anyone looking to learn about movie stuffs
Online material is nice, but there are many great and more reliable resources that come in these old fashioned book things.
General
Shot by Shot
MasterShots
The Visual Story
Directing
On Screen Directing
(may be hard to find)
On Directing Film by David Manet
Cinematography/ Lighting/ Camera/ On Set Learning
The ASC Manual (some earlier editions come in one volume which is nice)
Creative Control by Michael Hofstein
The Set Lighting Technicians Handbook
Painting With Light (John Alton's book. A little outdated but still a good read).
Reflections
The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video by Tom Schroeppel (very simple, a good start)
The Grip Book
The Camera Assistant's Manual
Cinematography: Theory and Practice
Producing
Creative Producing From A to Z by Myrl A Schreibman
Scheduling and Budgeting Your Film by Paula Landry
Editing
In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch (Sound designer and editor from Apocalypse Now----EXCELLENT)
Screenwriting
Story
Screenplay the Foundations of Screenwriting
ONLINE RESOURCES:
http://www.rondexter.com/
http://cinematography.net/
http://www.rogerdeakins.com/
http://www.arri.com/
http://www.mole.com/
http://www.panavision.com/home
http://www.filmtools.com/
Aside from familiarizing yourself with knowledge and technique the best you can without being involved on set, one of the best things you can do is read up and become as knowledgeable as you can with gear that you will eventually encounter, which is why I listed the last four links. Even if you do plan on going into producing or directing, it is always helpful to understand lighting and camera and why the people working with you need the things they do.
GO LEARN THINGS!
You gotta have Bruce Block, that's where it all started for me! Everything you need to know about filmmaking in terms of it as a visual language. Super vital no matter what area of film you go into, in my opinion :)
This was one of the books that helped me transition from doing this as a hobby to doing this professionally in the industry.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Story-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790
The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media by Bruce Block
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Story-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790
Here are a few books that have helped me over the years.
http://www.amazon.com/Keys-Drawing-Bert-Dodson/dp/0891343377
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Looney-Tunes-Dan-Romanelli/dp/B0032FO6G4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1330652405&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Characters-Personality-Animation-Graphic/dp/0823023494/ref=pd_sim_b_13
http://www.amazon.com/Vilppu-Drawing-Manual-Glenn/dp/1892053039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1330652274&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452/ref=pd_sim_b_11
Also, there's some other books that are out of print that you can download: http://alexhays.com/loomis/ also really great stuff there.
Apple Notes is great for sketching, if you want to go further then yes definitely Procreate, best bang for your buck and my personal favourite.
I can't recommend any apps for learning how to draw, but I can recommend these books to get you started, that is if you'll be interested in designing characters or drawing people etc;
Bridgmans Complete Guide Drawing From Life
Force by Mike Mattesi
The Silver Way by Stephen Silver
Her spine and legs are pretty ramrod stiff. I'd recommend dedicating time into gesture drawing and really trying to capture the force and weight of living subjects.
I recommend these 2 books on the topic. 1 2 They will provide a lot of good info but paid books route isn't the most practicla option for most. Draw with Jazza, Sycra and Sinix are some youtube channels I recommend watching for tutorials.
Besides drawing naked figures as much as possible, id recommend books aswell. You didnt put it in your post but i find them to be a lot more helpful than quick youtube guides.
This book is great along with a more constructive method like Loomis/Hampton.
Good luck!
Amazing list! All of these are essential. These are also my favorites for animation:
Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators (Force Drawing Series)
Timing for Animation
Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life
Bridgman's was a must for me when it came to learning anatomy.
In the meantime, draw everything. Everything. EVERYTHING.
Keep a sketch book with you always! Draw people waiting for the bus, cars parked outside, city blocks, landscapes, trees, ideas, concepts, doodles, nonsense.
Take pictures of things and use them for reference. Constantly! Can't figure out how an arm looks like in a certain pose, get someone to pose the same way and take a shot with your phone. Its not "cheating" and most artists worth their salt will stare at you like you're insane if you told them to do a large scale project with no live or photo references.
Go to figure drawing meetups. There's usually some at art schools or in any big city. You will be terrible at first but drawing people is a good way to train your eye.
Copy your favorite artist. Not just draw from, but try to copy a whole piece of art, from start to finish, line for line, as closely as possible. Do this a lot! It will help you understand why they put this thing there, and put that thing here, and drew that thing like this.
Its the same reason musicians practice other people's work before they start composing their own!
Figure out who their influence are, and do the same thing with them.
If you're looking for books to get you started, here are some good ones.
This is THE BOOK for getting into film/theory. http://www.amazon.com/Film-Art-Introduction-David-Bordwell/dp/0072484551
Cinematography: http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324665695&amp;sr=8-1
Editing: http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Revised-2nd/dp/1879505622/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324665749&amp;sr=1-1
Screenwriting: http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Screenwriting-Writers-Elements-Screenplay/dp/0312119089/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324665794&amp;sr=1-22
Looks like it could be Cinematography: Theory and Practice.
Books!
Great book to get started with cinematography: http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=zg_bs_2023_6
Great book about editing: http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Perspective-Film-Editing/dp/1879505622/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452008928&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=in+the+blink+of+an+eye
I'd just like to point out that I'm not a film maker in any way shape or form so it would be nice if somebody could verify what I'm about to say.
I've been watching a lot of videos by FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo and have learned a lot from them. Anyway, they have a list of recommended books that I haven't checked out yet but would like to. I'll just list them out here:
Painting With Light
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style (Hollywood Standard: The Complete & Authoritative Guide to)
Set Lighting Technician's Handbook: Film Lighting Equipment, Practice, and Electrical Distribution
Master Shots: 100 Advanced Camera Techniques to Get an Expensive Look on Your Low-Budget Movie
Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors
The Camera Assistant's Manual
The Makeup Artist Handbook: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theatre
Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics
Grammar of the Shot (Media Manuals)
Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know
The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques
No, that's what he rates himself also
I bought his Biography and it was honestly one of the better biographies I have read. It is really too bad that he hasn't had bigger roles, he could definitely fulfill them better then some of the actors out there.
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting-http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415812003/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Stage Lighting Handbok-
http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Handbook-Francis-Reid/dp/087830147X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407560871&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=stage+lighting
The Backstage Handbook (has the basics on instruments, cable, etc.)-
http://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407560935&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=stage+lighting
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting by Steve Shelley
Designing With Light by J. Michael Gillette
These are the two staple textbooks for any lighting design class.
I've heard good things about this book: http://smile.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Design-Craft-Life/dp/0896762351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1408621466&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pilbrow (And I like Mr. Pilbrow a lot).
I would also push Steve Shelly's book (of field template fame): http://smile.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=17JEA99XS937A1M5TPEK
I'm not sure there's one solid book for it (but I'd be happy to be wrong). Are you specifically looking for live (e.g., busking) lighting design, or are you just looking for general lighting design?
Steven Shelley's 'A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting is an EXCELLENT lighting design primer. It walks you through everything from the initial discussions, to placing the units on the plot, to focus and cuing.
Don't take everything he says as gospel, but it is a comprehensive place to start. (And Steve's a great guy, too)
I really like this book: A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. I think you'll appreciate how Steve Shelley lays his ideas out.
It's one thing to learn the "how", it's another thing to learn the "why". I highly recommend doing some reading/research on the concepts of lighting design: when, why and how to use lighting to help tell the story. Some starting suggestions:
https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Design-Craft-Life/dp/1854599968/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496027350&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=stage+lighting
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496027350&amp;sr=1-4&amp;keywords=stage+lighting
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Fantastic-Design-Stage-Lighting/dp/3791343718/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496027350&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=stage+lighting
You'll need to get the basics down, using resources such as these will help you learn the Principles of Animation:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571238343/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=30T6VO4VE88VV&amp;coliid=I1WXJPDZ88EXNM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=XGJ08AG811TMQCZ3Y3QZ
Then there's software such as OpenToonz (2d) and Blender (3D) that are free open source options for you to put your work into practice. YouTube tutorials and trial and error are a great way to learn. If you can't figure something out, Google it.
Lastly, draw. A lot. Every day. https://line-of-action.com/ is a great resource for reference images for anything from 10 second gesture sketches to full on concept poses.
Good luck!
I would recommend getting something along the lines of:
The Animator's Survival Kit
Crash Course in Animation
I've never used Blender so I can't speak of that, but try getting a trial or educational version of Maya. There are a multitude of animator-friendly rigs you can use with that. Also join animation communities and read up on blogs. There is a ton of information out there regarding animation. Just keep in mind that animation works roughly the same was regardless of medium (2D, 3D, stop motion).
Here's a good site with a solid and helpful community:
11 Second Club
/r/Animation
Well, as a freshman in art school who has also had a few years in the real world I can offer some perspective. (BTW, my real world experence consists of street portraiture, landscapes and portraits by commission for about two years before going to school)..
You were probably the best painter/drawer in your school, but now you go to school with a bunch of others like you. Most everyone else is talented and if they don't appear talented it is likely they will blow you away in something like photography, or collage, or some other media with which you've never had much practice. So the field has been leveled and the only real difference between good and bad work is the amount of time you spend on it. There will be students who blow you away every week, and they spend more time on it than anyone else. There are students who suck on projects every week, and they spend very little time on their work.
Now, it is easy to tell who will be able to get work after graduating. Those that keep up their pace and keep working harder and getting better, they might have a fighting chance. A lot, and I mean a lot of people seem to plateau. Even more important than talent or skill is networking. I don't mean building a network of buddies, but talking to teachers, getting internships, doing freelance work, winning awards in your field, getting into exhibits, having a website, keeping contact with people you meet. Your network is a huge part of how you will achieve after you graduate, so try and get an internship as soon as possible.
For whatever reason, many of the students smoke waaaay too much pot and party waaaay too much. They place a lot of importance on their friends and having a boyfriend or girlfriend. Its a lot like any other school in that way.
As far as things you can do before going to school. If I were you I'd get some of the basic writing or english courses done at a local community college over the summer. That stuff takes up too much time and can really fuck up your art if you have to spend a lot of time thinking about paper writing. And if you are going to be in animation I suggest you read Animators Survival Kit because it is a good read. It has helped with my illustrations.
Even if you are going into animation. Your freshman year will likely consist of a lot of drawing in charcoal or pencil or whatnot
tldr; the playing field has leveled, because now you are among others just as good as you. time to build a network and start losing sleep. read Animators Survival Kit.
> The Animator's Survival Kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571238343/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ceDSyb7HCF7N3
For anyone who really wants to get into animation, this is the book to get. You'll find it on every animator's bookshelf.
Starting out is an awesome advantage; not yet set in your ways you can find your own style.
While it is true some complex styles can take a lot of time, pixel art can be super simple and often less is more - like lessmilks's games
Working from something is easier than all at once so keep iterating - i.e. start with your current squares and add just squash and stretch to anticipate motion, or eyes to indicate move direction.
Pedro Medeiros has some great pixel art tutorial gifs
An free browser based sprite editor
Using a dedicated program with layers, pallettes and lighting control makes it much easier - this list of pixel art programs might help (Asesprite is great)
At the other extreme if you need lots of animation use a pixel art shader for blender3D
Or use some of the multitude of Free and Open Source pixel art at OpenGameArt and mod it for your needs.
Submit your stuff to /r/pixelart and request constructive criticism.
The Animator's Survival Kit is a great book (& on youtube)on the art of making drawings come alive as is The illusion of life
Look at spritesheets to see how others break animation down into frames.
Jan Willem of Vlambeer has a great talk on tricks to 'juice up your games'
My two cents is draw from reference. Real life is the best, but anatomy books are a decent substitute, then move to creating your own style or copying a style using what you gain from practicing realism. People say "practice" because the only other things you truly need are devotion and patience. The more you do it the better you'll become.
I'm way out of practice now, but when in school I started off drawing simple ovals to make up the human body, it looked ridiculous but that was the extent of my skill. I kept at it and I was able to see progress in a couple of months. I was still drawing simple ovals, but the proportions were getting better and more consistent.
Also, sign up for any public site and ask for critiques. People will more than likely give you some good tips. Don't get knocked down by people obviously being trolls, nor should you feel bad that you're making beginner's mistakes. My teacher used to tell me you have to draw as much as you can, have all the crappy drawings first, then all that's left are the good ones.
Good luck to you!
Another How-to Post
[Book Recommendation for Animation]
(http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Expanded-Edition/dp/0571238343/ref=pd_sim_b_1)
[Book Recommendation for Human Figure]
(http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Out-Beginners-Drawing-People/dp/1933027800/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341886111&amp;sr=1-10&amp;keywords=figure+drawing)
Get The Chord Wheel
Its a very thin book with the rotating chord wheel on front. Its a quick read that explains how to find what chord you're in and some very useful, usable bits of music theory without getting overly complex.
Chord Wheel is an awesome tool.
A good way to learn melodic structure.
> In the same episode, it takes them two weeks to the Klingon homeworld, which would mean that the Klingon homeworld was the closest Star System to Earth, which is obvious nonsense.
Beta canon at best (so YMMV) Star Trek Star Charts attempted to rationalize this:
In Broken Bow, Tucker is complaining to Archer about the presence of T'Pol and we get this exchange:
>Tucker: Since when do we have Vulcan Science Officers?
>Archer: Since we needed their star charts to get to Kronos.
In Star Charts, the Beta Quadrant section opener (page 50-51) talks about the Klingon Empire (and the Romulans) as being the primary power(s) of the Beta Quadrant and the picture is of a Vulcan Star Chart. The caption of that image reads as follows:
>With the help of Vulcan star charts, meticulously prepared over centuries of space exploration, early Earth vessels were able to take advantage of subspace shortcuts through the Beta Quadrant, including this one that allowed the Enterprise NX-01 to make its historic journey from Earth to Qo'noS in only four days
Not great, but its something. Of course, that potentially adds other issues, such as why if the NX-01 had charts of "subspace shortcuts" why hadn't we heard of these shortcuts in other trek. . .and just what the heck a "subspace shortcut" is. Does the concept of a "subspace shortcut" even make any kind of sense given the understanding/explanation of subspace given in Trek? Then there's the whole side trip to Rigel X for the whole Suliban and Temporal Cold War plot that began in that episode - did they have shortcuts that got them to Rigel X also without delaying their trip to Qo'noS? So, yeah, perhaps that attempt to explain it away only adds more issues?
Have you looked into Star Trek: Star Charts?
According to google image search, Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections.
I like books, so maybe we should have a book section? We can include:
We should probably include things about turntablism too. Here's a tutorial video series for that. And links to documentaries? I found Scratch to be pretty entertaining. Or would this stuff be more suited for the turntablists subreddit? r/DJs has more subscribers...
Harmonic mixing seems like it would be a good thing to throw in there.
Read this book if you want to know what DJing is about. Nothing will explain it better than the very people who invented the craft.
This documentary will also be a great way to learn more about the New York scene of the '70s, where the modern DJ emerged from.
how to DJ right
and for more historical perspective: Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.
Same authors, good reading
Absolutely! Start out with TV Tropes:
https://tvtropes.org/
Tropes are kind of like the Legos of building a story...I'd suggest spending a few minutes every day reading on that website, like at breakfast or something. As far as books go, the first book I would suggestion is John Truby's the anatomy of story. Read it & memorize the steps:
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
Also read "Save the Cat":
https://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/
Here are some sample beat sheets:
https://www.savethecat.com/beat-sheets-alpha
"Writing for Emotional Impact" is a hugely important book in my library as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-emotional-impact-techniques-fascinate-ebook/dp/B004UC6E22
Just use Notepad or Word or Google Docs to write in for now. If you want to get serious about it, the only tool you really need to invest in is Final Draft, which is $250:
https://www.finaldraft.com/
Story is what drives all film & TV projects. A good story can literally make billions of dollars (Avengers: Endgame, Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.). And best of all, writing is free!
There are a TON of resources available online, but I'll leave you with this article containing some writing tips from JK Rowlings:
https://www.bustle.com/articles/181377-13-writing-tips-from-jk-rowling-because-she-knows-a-thing-or-two-about-perseverance
Here is what I recommend currently:
For beginners:
Free: https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&amp;query=digital+marketing
Paid: https://www.udacity.com/course/digital-marketing-nanodegree--nd018#
(You can get it free if you take the courses with out the degree)
Foundations To Advanced Topics:
Paid: http://neilpatel.com/advanced-marketing-program/
(Neil Patel is one of the few Internet Marketers I would trust. He has successful businesses and is fairly transparent)
Books that can help you with marketing:
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Once you read this book you will see the techniques used everywhere in marketing. Once you understand the techniques you can apply them yourself.
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller - Everyone talks about copywriting, but IMO most copy is written way to salsy and is obvious. I have had much better results using stories to sell and most of my sales pages use story telling techniques to bring the reader on a journey.
The Copywriters Handbook - That said, you should still understand the point of copy and this book does a good job. Once you know the fundamentals of copywriting you can sell almost anything.
What to avoid:
Avoid any courses that are selling Techniques or formulas (I.E: My Super Awesome Snapchat Method that brought in $5000") while most have useful information the issue is simple:
Formulas/Templates/Tactics will only get you so far and won't always work. Yes, some methods have been proven to work time and time again, but you are still better off learning the fundamentals of marketing and sales over reusing tactics and templates.
By learning the fundamentals you will be able to rapidly test and try new things to see what works and doesn't. This will give you more flexibility and success in the long wrong.
Most people sell courses around tactics because most customers want a lazy way to make money. Do they work? yes and no. There is no real answer - these tactics may work for you or not as there are a lot of things to factor in.
When buying a course check out the instructor. A lot of Internet Marketers only had 1 success before selling courses on the subject. If someone claims to be an awesome marketer and doesn't have more than 1 success as proof, something is wrong and most likely that success was a fluke.
Most trustworthy marketers normally will have a long track record of successes or at the very least have well known clients (Google/Facebook/Coke/etc).
TL;DR: Avoid tactics/templates/Formulas and learn the fundamentals of marketing.
If you can't draw, who drew that awesome map?
Moving on:
Things I have tried:
Currently my map consists of:
Physical Environment
Cosmology
Races
Society
Things I'd like to try:
at our HS, We give out the backstage handbook to senior techs, I even have a copy around myself, https://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397
I need to get up and go to work. I've been on reddit for over an hour, and I'm already late. I should get going, esp. if I want to go to stick time during my lunch break.
Also, I got my copy of the screenplay to The Room, and I now want to give it the Shakespearian treatment that The Big Lebowski and Star Wars have recently received.
I'm not positive either, but I listed all the ATLA books that I know of below. Some aren't comics, but I'm not sure if you're just referring to the Gene Luen Yang collab comics or the others as well.
Post A:TLA Universe Comics: By Gene Luen Yang
The Promise
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Search
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Rift
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Artwork and Development
These aren't comics, but I added them because they're awesome.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Art of the Animated Series
The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series Book One - Air
Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series Book Two
Other Comics
The Lost Adventures
There are also The Earth Kingdom Chronicles series, The Lost Scrolls Collection and The Tale of Aang/Zuko, but I'm not sure if they're canon (I am guessing they are since there's a Nickelodeon logo on them, but the original creators/writers aren't listed among the author so I don't know).
there is The Lost Adventures which is a collection of short comics based between episodes of TLA
there is also the Promise part 1, 2 and 3 (part 3 is released in October) which is based after TLA
lastly there is another graphic novel series called The Search which just got announced which is to do with Zuko's mom.
edit: for other animations I'm fairly certain that there are no other animations that are considered canon.
http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Avatar_books
The main things you want are:
----
Other stuff:
, which is an original story though it's aimed at a younger crowd.
----
Future stuff:
Well even though it isn't space I do recommend Red Dead Redemption. It's got a more serious tone than Firefly, but it's still on the level.
Stargate: Universe, from what I've seen, has been pretty good. My dad loves watching it - it's an ensemble in space - might be up your alley?
Definitely check out the comic books on amazon of Firefly/Serenity, though to fight off the depression just a little bit longer.
If you're a bookworm with a deep pocket, here's a list of books on Amazon:
Serenity Vol 1
Serenity Vol 2
Serenity Vol 3
Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
Firefly The Official Companion Volumes One and Two
Firefly: Still Flying
Firefly: A Celebration
Firefly: A Celebration is a book with all the scripts along with a collection of anecdotes, pictures, interviews, and a couple short stories.
There's the 1:400 scale model of Serenity at QMx, ThinkGeek, and Amazon, but it's pretty expensive.
There's also the key chain model of Serenity, also available at QMx, ThinkGeek, and Amazon.
If neither of you already have it, you might want to consider getting the DVD or Blu-Ray versions if you like commentaries or the special features (though, much of the latter have been re-uploaded to YouTube). Same goes for the official soundtracks (Firefly & Serenity).
This awesome book:
http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-A-Celebration-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1781161682
One
Two
Three
Or this. Which isn't released yet, but is a collection of the three.
There is also [this] (http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/2d2/2d27af44-4b03-412e-a5d4-43df3eafac93.jpg) which is a very small (and rare) comic that was given out for free at some event or other I can't be bothered remembering. I'm pretty certain they're now only available through second hand purchase.
Best book I know on character writing is Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Toolbox-Funny-Even-Youre/dp/1879505215
The best thing I've done for my character development is take an improv comedy class.
I have a lot of thoughts about it, but there's nothing I can say quickly. There are some great books by much smarter people than me on the /r/comedywriting reading list:
There's also /r/standup. Doing standup has greatly informed my writing. I highly recommend it for anyone who thinks they're funny.
My buddy bought this book for me to make fun of me saying I wasn’t funny. Jokes on him, I am now not only not funny, but also have all of the fundamental knowledge of what makes stuff funny and the tools necessary to grind out jokes.
The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not https://www.amazon.com/dp/1879505215/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_AKFPCbCDNY86N
Seriously tho it’s a great book and gives you the formula for creating quality bits
You need to write! Write and write. It’s a discipline. Sit down every day and write. Get published. Write more.
Use your job to save up and purchase your own computer, a copy of Final Draft and The Hollywood Standard. And don't forget a Mission Impossible leather jacket hoodie to wear while you're writing. :)
Start a movie review blog. Write articles for IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. Join or create a screenwriter's group in your area. That's what sites like Meetup.com are for. Review each other's work on a monthly basis. That kind of thing is great for motivation and camaraderie but at the end of the day you still have to sit down and write until you have a product to pass along to those who would buy, publish or produce it. Copywrite all your work.
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
― Margaret Atwood
We all have to do that job of just getting the bills paid until we work our way over to what we enjoy. You need to build up a small portfolio of your own writing you can share to score that creative writing job. Or a portfolio of screenplays to start getting leverage for a writing contract, etc. Watch Limitless again and remind yourself, you already know what to do and how to do it. Good luck!
The Hollywood Standard has been invaluable to me as an amateur writer. It's all about format and structure. Can't recommend it enough as a beginner.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1932907637/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-HUlzbAP0X3Z4
Also one called the Writers Journey I think? Can't remember. Helps you learn how to create characters and story.
Some may tell you to read Save the Cat. That book teaches you how to write a formulaic screenplay that big budget movies follow. It's also often pointed at as the reason movies are so predictable and also as causing real storytelling to be sucked out of movies these days. If you're doing this to become a good writer with substance and thinking of it as art then I would avoid it.
I've really enjoyed Truby's The Anatomy of Story. I think why it's more valuable is it's part Campbell's "hero's journey", and part dissecting not just other scripts, but how they're condensed into a synopsis, what a spec treatment should look like, all while not being too prescriptive.
É só a minha opinião,posso perfeitamente estar errado.
De qualquer das formas:
John Truby - The Anatomy of Story
You might want to check out the book Anatomy of a Story. One of John Truby’s premise is the need for the protagonist to have a character flaw that has to be addressed to overcome the antagonist.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
D4Darious
An awesome and charismatic dude who focuses mainly on directing/screenwriting, but still has good videos on what makes a good story ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCzcoyDp2fY ) and story structure ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYUE2n91Cok ) in particular.
K.M. Wieland
Check out her books since they're some of the best on story structure (as well as this one: https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1522099181&amp;sr=8-1 ) but she also has a youtube channel with 3-4 minute shorts revolving around the info in her books. She is a novelist (and focuses more on writing rather than visual storytelling, which is a little rarer on this list only because Youtube is a visual medium and is perfect for analyzing movies) but her videos aren't all that bad.
LFTS, LFTS, LFTS
I can't say how much I love this guy; I could watch his videos for hours (I do, actually). He breaks down movies, their scenes, etc. and how those movies/screenwriters/story elements effectively create a good story. This is my personal favorite of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvtOY0YrF-g and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKSDctC2o-s and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgYoT_xEFY
The Closer Look
Awesome British dude with great videos on things ranging from theme, to genre, to endings. Some of my favorites of his are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM1tUwpy-yQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCedbTGWzk
Now You See It
A guy who reminds me a lot of LFTS and analyzes what certain things mean in storytelling and common techniques/tropes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8PDn6YvyQ
Charisma on Command
This one is a little out there (it's actually not about storytelling; it's a youtube channel focusing on relationships and being charismatic/confident) but if you look in between the lines of what he's saying, you can learn a lot for writing. His dissections of GOT characters gave me plenty of ideas and insights into people and how they work. Without this I wouldn't know how super intelligent characters manipulate people (and how more naive characters don't see it coming) This is the specific video I'm referencing: (oh, spoiler warnings in most of these videos btw) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccrQObMjg1U
Just Write
Love this guy too! He is known for his "What writers should learn from " series and analyzes popularly bad movies and explain why they're so bad in the first place (The Hobbit, Avatar the Last Airbender, etc). I'd recommend this one as well as any of his other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cih9kj6ZPdg for learning about what to do/avoid when writing
This was a list of some of the people I've found and follow, and I hope they help you too.
The last bit of advice I can give to you is to choose one of your favorite movies, books, tv shows, stories and search something along the lines of "Why do people love __?" or "What makes good?" or "Why is [enter director/author here] so good/popular/successful?". You'll find a lot of analysis on youtube you can turn your brain off with (or take pages of notes, whatever your style) to begin understanding why people enjoy what they do. You can use this to your advantage when writing your own stories and avoid walking in blind on a project. Research genre and story structure and characters and plenty of other things until you understand all the arguments, perspectives, and techniques. Good luck!!!
DM: You will find out what your DM is doing and why.
Improv: Go See it, Learn how to do it. http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178 is a good source
Stats: pick up a tiny bit of stats and probability: you will understand what bonuses and numbers mean for you, and you'll make decisions faster on that tack
Attention: Pack up your mobile devices. Don't use tools on phones and such to game: The other people at the table don't know what else you're doing necessarily.
Pre-plan: Plan a lot of if-this-then-that scenarios for how your character would react to X or Y or Z happening. Then they can do it quickly. Also plan a few routes your character can progress before you actually have to level. Then on progression time, you take no time at all.
Time-consciousness: Work towards brevity in all parts of being at the table. Take your turn, get in, and get out.
I personally love board games. Our local redditors get together every Wednesday for gaming. Usually my boss creates fucking crises that prevents me from going out most weeks. A good boardgame is one where you can lose and still have fun losing. Chess is not "a good boardgame". Magic the Gathering is a fun card game, but stuff like blackjack or poker makes me think so hard that my head overheats and burns off hair.
/r/Denver/ and in particular, posts by /u/rDenverPosts.
As for improv, I find that it helps to train me to be a more outgoing person. In particular, I strongly recommend the book Impro. While the book is aimed at helping actors, and improvisational work, if you've ever come across any sort of silly interview question such as "fizz buzz", if you read Impro, you'd recognize fizzbuzz as a improv exercise.
I am a programmer, and that has been my income for more than 20 years. Introverted? You can change that. I ran for elected office a few years ago and will run again in 2016. All programmers are weird. If you check my post history, you'll see odd interests, and if I checked your post history, I bet I would think some of your interests to be odd as well.
Avoid becoming sedentary. If surfing and Tae Kwan Do is what it takes to make you active, then for fucks sake, do them. I live 2 miles from my office and walk to work as much as I can. That little bit of exercise was enough to lose 35# since September. I'm still fat, but the blubber is on its way out.
Avoid becoming stagnant. I'm working on my 3rd bachelors degree. This one is in accounting and includes courses for becoming an actuary. Our workgroup/office makes software for accountants and actuaries. In addition, many of the programmers older than myself have found that they hit a brick wall (career-wise) around 54-55 years old. Many of the ones who hit the wall treated education as a vaccine - once you had it, you never had to have it again. So one of my "hobbies" is to always be learning. Do you remember that scene in Glengarry Glen Ross? Always be closing? That is what your career plan should be - always be learning.
My next hobbies will be:
home brewing beer.
home distilling moonshine/liquor.
making kimchi.
Future hobbies might include:
learning some manicure/pedicure skills at the local beauty school.
relearning massage.
Absolutely! Here's a short list of non-magic books that I commonly see recommended to magicians.
Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
Purple Cow - Seth Godin
Delft Design Guide - multiple authors
An Acrobat of the Heart - Stephen Wangh (shouts out to u/mustardandpancakes for the recommendation)
In Pursuit of Elegance - Guy Kawasaki
The Backstage Handbook - Paul Carter, illustrated by George Chiang
Verbal Judo - George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins
Be Our Guest - Ted Kinni and The Disney Institute
Start With Why - Simon Sinek
Lots of common themes even on such a short list. What would you add to the list? What would you take away?
Speaking as someone with a MFA in Theatrical Design and Technology and who has worked in film and television the last few years, I never ran across a widely accepted standard.
I setup my layers up in a very straight forward fashion:
0-ghost, 0-very light, 0-light, 0-med...0-very heavy
1-line type (hidden, phantom, etc)
2-Dims, 2-Notes, 2-Notes Red, etc
I'm not sitting at my computer so I can't recall all my layers, but I feel like I approached them as I approached linework as a hand draftsman... And I feel like I change how I do it every year.
For my layouts
Page 1 is Plan and what elevations for (in 1/4" and 3/4" for more complicated objects)
Page 2 to as needed is continuation of elevations
Then I go into details (full or half scale) and renderings as needed
Some excellence books
Drafting for the Theatre https://www.amazon.com/dp/0809330377/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4CUiDbWGFMX9A
Designer Drafting and Visualizing for the Entertainment World, Second Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0240818911/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JEUiDbK121Y4D
The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information https://www.amazon.com/dp/0911747397/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DFUiDbGBHHPHK
Architectural Graphic Standards. Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EZI774/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.GUiDbZP96C4H - for theater, don't bother with a brand new edition, I have 3rd (all the drawings are by hand and are shit yourself gorgeous) and seventh? (I would have to check my library). The current edition is needed for current building code, but that typically doesn't pertain to what I do.
Our TD swears by this book
https://www.amazon.ca/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397
To get the fullest overview, I'd suggest three things. Two of them are books.
The Grip Book (http://www.amazon.ca/Grip-Book-Michael-Uva/dp/0240812913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1377525369&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+grip+book) is pretty tight. You can read through it completely, or flip through it focusing on subjects particularly relevant to the upcoming short (grip stands, sandbagging, important knots).
The second book is The Backstage Handbook (http://www.amazon.ca/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1377525614&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=backstage+handbook). It's geared more towards theatrical rigging and staging, but will give you a wider range of knots and hitches to learn, as well as introducing you to rigging concepts (which can always help on set if you have a weird shot to attain and need to figure out how to rig it on the fly).
Lastly, I'd suggest you do what I did when I started out -- call up a few rental shops that deal with grip equipment and see if you can drop by and familiarize yourself with some of the equipment. If the shop is small, a round of coffees and donuts (nothing too expensive) might help grease the wheels to an equipment demo from someone. Hell, even if they give you a dark corner to fumble around with some grip stands and flags, you'll be more comfortable on set when you'll have to be gripping in front of a waiting crew.
Looks like the Art Book to me.
I want to get him a book of concept art for the Force Awakens. This one
This isn't what you're looking for, but I always like to recommend Two Gentlemen of Lebowski
Equally lovely: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Gentlemen-Lebowski-Excellent-Tragical/dp/1451605811/ref=pd_sim_b_1
There's also another short series called The Lost Adventures. Basically, they take place during the series, and some of them are quite interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Search/dp/1616552263/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1409627863&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=avatar+the+search
http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Promise/dp/1616550740/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1409627863&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=avatar+the+search
http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Last-Airbender-Lost-Adventures/dp/159582748X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z
A compilation of (canon) Avatar comics has been released called The Lost Adventures.
I heard that at least some, or maybe all, of the comics therein were sourced from the Nick magazine.
Our subreddit is growing very quickly, so it isn't that surprising. It also helps that both The Last Airbender (A:TLA) and Legend of Korra (LOK) are fantastic shows with both kid and adult friendly content. If you haven't already, watch LOK and read The Promise and The Lost Adventures, you will love all of them if you loved A:TLA
The read order for the main series is The Promise, The Search, The Rift and the ongoing Smoke and Shadow. There's also The Lost Adventures collection of comics that mostly take place in between ATLA episodes.
I believe the best place to get them is Amazon and there are links to most of them on the sidebar.^^[1]
---
[1] The ones that aren't there are Smoke and Shadow's two parts and the Lost Adventures collection.
It's a collection of the comics published in Nickelodeon's magazine during the series run.
Well, i got mine of amazon
Idk about online, but the only place I know they exist for sure is this book.
http://www.amazon.ca/Firefly-A-Celebration-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1781161682
YES. I NEED THIS. I WILL PUT IT ON A BUILD A BEAR AND MAKE A JAYNE BEAR. It will tide me over until I can get one for myself.
And you need this and this. Cause I have both and they are amazing. And "They can't take my yarn from me!"
Firefly was the first, and saw it around 2007. My sister introduced it to my, and I absolutely loved it. I wanted to know why I never heard about it before. Since then got lots of others into Firefly and few other Whedon's works. I love that show, and just got the Celebration book (highly recommend for anyone who likes firefly). Some time later started Dollhouse, and it blew my mind up. As in I stopped watching it because it made me doubt reality and all my beliefs. About a year or so later rewatched it, loved it. Then realized they were both by Whedon, and I realize Whedon makes great stories, and most other TV shows were not up to par. Then about two years ago, I slowly went through Buffy, loved it. And now trucking along through Angel (not really the feeling it, yet). and watching SHIELD.
Now I feel like I have a high standard, which many shows fail, and a longing for another great universe to be created. Right now Defiance is filling the void, but there is vast room for improvement.
All of the comics besides A Shepard's Tale and Firefly: A Celebration
Edit: Also Volume One of the companion to Firefly.
I'm into comedy. I took writing training at Second City, I recommend that if you get the chance. I've also done improv lots of places in the Midwest for the last decade. I have spent countless hours studying the art of comedy, is what I'm saying.
Don't give up on yourself. In my years I have met fewer people I believed to be unteachable of comedy than I can count on one hand. You are not one of them. I know this because they all possessed the same trait, they wanted to win, all of the time. All of them thought they were showing their power, and intelligence. That you ask these questions at all, OP, proves you can be what you wish, that you lack the only poison that can damn a mind to humorlessness.
Check out /r/comedywriting It's mostly self promos now but sometimes discussions. The books listed in the sidebar are gold, however. This book I highly recommend in particular, and it's byline is very fitting to your question. There really aren't any books that teach comedy well, but this one has been the gold standard secret for the last two decades. My Second City classes introduced me to this book, and it was like someone had put everything I had taught myself about comedy in a textbook. Don't ever say you've given up on being funny again until you've read this book.
Sure. Well, structure doesn't really matter a whole lot if you're not telling a classic build->punch joke. The situation is the buildup, so all you're really looking for is a solid punchline.
I don't think I can cram enough information into this post to help you personally, but I can recommend a few books that are incredible.
Firstly Comedy Writing Secrets. I originally bought this book to learn more about writing specific things (like sketch and screenplay), but it's packed full of comedy theory that's helped in a lot of other areas.
Secondly The Comic Toolbox. This book is actually more helpful in the creation of comedy, but there are plenty of exercises to help your brain recognize and understand comedy.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Comic-Toolbox-Funny-Youre/dp/1879505215
Did anyone read The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not ?
The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
Hiya! Where have ya been?
Ok so if you normally like to tease him:
[The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1879505215/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_O2eVAb1688K79) and [Law School in a Box: All the Prestige for a Fraction of the Price] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594741468/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_m-eVAb9K1X382)
Or if you want to encourage him: Step by Step to Stand-Up Comedy and [The Tools of Argument: How the Best Lawyers Think, Argue, and Win] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1481246380/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zbfVAb6E6NG1V) and you can write him encouraging notes inside the covers.
I believe this is what you are looking for:
The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
>This is a straightforward, often humorous workbook approach to comedy writing as creative problem-solving. In it, veteran Hollywood comedy writer John Vorhaus offers his tools of the trade to writers, comics, and anyone else who wants to be funny. Among these indispensable tools are Clash of Context, Tension and Release, The Law of Comic Opposites, The Wildly Inappropriate Response, and The Myth of the Last Great Idea. Readers will learn that comedy = truth and pain (the essence of the comic situation), that fear is the biggest roadblock to comedy (kill the ferocious editor within and rich, useful comic ideas will flow), and much more.
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Link: The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley
This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).
The Hollywood Standard-
https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Standard-Complete-Authoritative-Script/dp/1932907637/
They have to go thru so many scripts a day - if something looks remotely different than the standard format, it goes into the trash can.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hollywood-Standard-Complete-Authoritative/dp/1932907637
This book is very helpful.
There's a few ways you could do it. The previous commenter's suggestion was fine. For really basic stuff like this, I want to recommend The Hollywood Standard. It's good to have handy.
O.C. means OFF CAMERA. It basically means the character is nearby but out of view from the camera. For example in another room speaking through the wall. If you want a good guide on format you can buy a book like
The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style (Hollywood Standard: The Complete & Authoritative Guide to) by Christopher Riley
Other than that I would recommend reading A LOT of screenplays and then looking up on Google each thing you don't understand.
Watch your favorite movies and break down the structure. Define the external and internal goals that move the plot forward. What is the movie saying (theme)? Strive for great subtext in your dialogue. Get in a scene as late as possible and leave as early. Use Final Draft. Don't put camera angles or shots in your script: don't direct!
Resources:
This is a great reinforcement of some basic principals of eye-trace that have consciously been used in film since the early 20th century.
Bruce Block covers all the principals that attract the viewer's gaze in this text. The whole book is a good read for aspiring filmmakers; its basically a summation of principals that date back to renaissance painting combined with Eisenstein's montage theories.
Edit: I'm in no way affiliated with Mr. Block. Just a fan of his work.
One of my grad school professors was a producer on this film, and is very into visual storytelling. Here's one of his books - highly recommended!
Are you just learning to art or do you have goals?
Dynamic Figure Drawing The early bits of learning to draw focus on correct proportions, but just knowing the facts doesn't mean you understand what you're looking at. Learning about weight and line of action can make figure drawings a lot more interesting.
If you're interested in comics Understanding Comics helps you understand how they work, but not how to draw them.
Do you have access to art classes? Have you done any art history? Art history is pretty great for knowing about the masters and the people that paved the way for today's artists. The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern This book tries to give a short and succinct summary of most of the art movements, but it's worthwhile to get deeper into parts that interest you. The Ninja Turtles (Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael) are icons of the Renaissance, and I imagine the 11 pages for that time period fail to cover quite a lot of the Renaissance. Art is more than the paintings, it's the culture that is responsible for patronizing their work, it's the lessons they learned in pursuit of grander and grander works (The Monalisa represents a lighting choice - twilight hours with indirect lighting; On either side of her is two-point perspective and atmospheric perspective), the men and women that created these works, how these ideas traveled through the regions, and what their work meant to the artists in the time period they lived in.
Not bad at all. Check out this.
I have a similar setup!
2.A. 'Cinematic' is a very subjective term because there's so secret setting, it's all research and practice. Lighting and colour grading is just as important as camera setups. Here's a good book that goes more in depth
2.B. All things lens, sensor and output metadata is controlled through the camera. The codec, colour compression, markers, waveform, vector scope, peaking, zebra, negative colour, LUTs, anamorphic de-squeeze and a plethora of other tools are in the monitor
3.A. Aim to get 25 shots in an 8 hour day as a golden rule. Plan everything ahead! Parking hours, nearby food/catering, transportation, who can go home first, who shows up first to setup, location scouting, paying for locations, having permits for shooting in public, signing release contracts, crediting cast and crew, finding bursaries, rental fees, makeup, wardrobe, art design, sound recording, ADR, editing.
3.B. If you are aiming to work as a music video cinematographer, focus on lighting and timing your shots so its in sync with the music. If you are aiming to direct music videos, think about story, execution, style, bringing something new and good to the screen.
1)Small movements, and the action figure has to have a lot of movement in the joints otherwise it will look blocky. Basically stop motion will take awhile to do one move so hope you have the patience.
2) film crit hulks stuff on the 5 act structure: http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/12/11/hulks-screenwriting-101-excerpt-the-myth-of-3-act-structure and character trees: http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/03/06/hulk-presents-character-trees have been very useful for me.
3) Thats actually a good start and a lot of people do that and learn from thst. I also recommend learning about cinematography to understand why shots eork though. This is my favorite book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0240812093/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1475034664&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=cinematography
I hope that helps and hope you have fun with it.
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell.
And a chin reminiscent of Bruce Campbell.
Disgustipated
That, and Chins.
Don't know about bollywood. Hollywood control by jews is not actually a conspiracy theory. Jews who migrated to USA started investing in movies and developed hollywood. http://www.amazon.in/An-Empire-Their-Own-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
There is this transcript between sallu and aish where he mentions about his links with the underworld and much more.
http://www.echarcha.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-20637.html
Books I recommend / see commonly recommended.
Show Networks and Control Systems
This is a great book all about how modern lighting networks work using sACN and other protocols. John Huntington is a great speaker if you ever get a chance to see him speak. He should be doing a session or two as USITT this year. He is also a professor at CUNY and has a great program there.
Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician
Another great book by another great speaker. I got to see a panel with Richard Cadena a few years ago at USITT. I was very impressed with how he spoke about stage lighting and some of the practical experiments that he has done and shared with us. I haven't read this book, but I've heard great things about it. A big topic of conversation at that panel was inrush current, and he gave some really great and easy to understand answers. I suspect that his book is more of the same.
Designing with Light
A classic. Very very well respected book. It will probably be the text book for your first lighting class in college, if you choose to study lighting in college.
[Light Fantastic: The Art and Design of Stage Lighting] (https://www.amazon.com/Light-Fantastic-Design-Stage-Lighting/dp/3791343718)
My favorite lighting book. Covers a huge array of topics, addresses lighting history & color, shows and demonstrates some really really interesting designs.
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
I see this book recommended most often. It's another great book. The title holds true, it is a very practical guide to stage lighting. How to do paperwork. How to write a contract. How to talk to people. Some nuggets of lighting knowledge. I didn't really get as much out of it though, as I am not trying to become a professional lighting designer.
Well, a lighting design text is probably a good place to start.
I also recommend this one because a lot of folks in the industry have limited knowledge about electricity, and that's not ideal (and is sometimes dangerous). It's pretty approachable.
I'm not aware of any really good general purpose stagecraft resources online. There's info out there but it's scattered and a lot of it hails from decades ago.
It all depends on what kind of design you want to get into? Concert/music design is totally different than theatrical, even within theatre musicals and plays often have different design principals.
I'd check out Steve Shelly's book https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0415812003&amp;pd_rd_r=QMEV3MMX5JMSDAZPBNNT&amp;pd_rd_w=uh8vJ&amp;pd_rd_wg=jKgB8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=QMEV3MMX5JMSDAZPBNNT
as well as this one. https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Lighting-Handbook-Francis-Reid/dp/087830147X/ref=pd_sim_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=087830147X&amp;pd_rd_r=YG5RCJMEPDWJ7E98CBCZ&amp;pd_rd_w=QJmxz&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZQ1Dr&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=YG5RCJMEPDWJ7E98CBCZ
My biggest suggestion for someone who's just getting started is to not buy any equipment. Equipment is mostly cheap to rent, a PAR can is $3 or $4 a unit, and it's someone else's problem to fix it and buy lamps for it. You're not going to be able to afford quality gear, so you'll end up with cheap Chinese crap that's just going to disappoint you. The other thing to remember is that intelligent lighting is relatively new to lighting, lots of fantastic shows were lit without anything fancy. It's far better to master your color and angle work then get in to using movers than it is to just start throwing strobes everywhere and pray that it works. Learning to make choices and which choices are stronger than others will get you a lot further in life than being able to spit out flash and trash like everyone else can.
Hi, sorry did not see your question.
A video tutorial
Also "Animators survival kit" is a pretty nice book to start with.
Yo. Animator here. Been in the industry for about 3 years, still struggling to get by, love every damn second of my stressful career.
First off, how old are you? Its never too late to start but the younger you are and the sooner you take it seriously, the more of a head start you get.
Get your hands on https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Animators-Survival-Kit-Richard-E-Williams/0571238343/ref=la_B001H6GEXI_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1495319955&amp;sr=1-1
And study it. Take around a sketchbook and sketch everything you can. Study anatomy and take life drawing classes with a focus on gesture drawing. Go through existing animation frame by frame.
Observation, observation, observation. Learn how joints move, and how muscles slide over bones and under skin. Watch tutorials, learn Adobe After Effects and Toonboom Harmony.
If you want to persue it as a possible career, it is all about WHO you know. The animation world is unbelievably incestuous but most in industry are willing to talk and help. Join clubs, use social media, and be willing to approach and talk to everyone you can find. Be a pain in the ass!
Also, be willing to be a yes man. Very few people get a job in walt disney studios/warner bros etc, especially straight away, and you will probably find that most of your client jobs are boring corporate crap. These are your bread and butter as an animator but they are also a step towards your dreams.
I went into animation wanting to work on music videos and childrens shows and every new job takes me a tiny bit closer to those jobs.
Anyone wanting to get into animation (and put off/ inspired) drop me a message and i will answer any questions you might have.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0571238343/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498091479&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=the+animator%27s+survival+kit&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51X0j6srtoL&amp;ref=plSrch
Sorry, it's called the animator's survival kit. Near enough. Good luck, hope to see some new and awesome stuff in a little while :D
It definitely includes the circle of fifths, but I'm talking about something more specific:
https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427
If your app doesn't already do this, try out a chord wheel. You spin it to whatever key you want to play in, and it tells you which chords are in that key.
I use the chord wheel book to teach my students.
Thank you so much!
I have been looking into these YouTube tutorials but didn’t really have one that sticked. I’ll definitely check her out! Also, a book is more than appreciated. Again, thanks!
EDIT: Just to be sure, you meant this one, right?
Seeing the circle of 5ths in color reminds me a lot of The Chord Wheel by Jim Fleser
It takes some practice. You need to kind of focus past the images, so that your left eye is looking at the left image, and your right eye at the right image, and the two images will merge to form a 3D image with the stars floating in front of the screen. Same thing you need to do to see those magic eye posters. It might help to move a little closer to the screen and put something like an index card between your eyes, so each eye can only see one of the images.
Check the "show fictional names" box to see the Star Trek names. This site was inspired by this book.
Not likely, they're from a book by the same name so it's highly doubtful they would release them for free via pdf. For the record I actually have the book and it's quite awesome :) The big quadrants map is in a 4 part fold out.
There is this book which I have...somewhere. If I can find it later, I'll try to see what's in there. I also want to say there was at least a small one in the Okuda encyclopedia that came out in the '90s.
Also, I discovered this awesome-looking thing while searching for the above. Comes out Dec. 3rd.
I think that for a #MetroidHistoria to be enduring and lasting it should mainly focus on side stuff either unexplained or barely explained within the metroid games. For example, what exactly is the history of races like the Ylla and how did Ridley and Kraid join the space pirates. The historia can also focus on how some technology like the arm canon and morph ball work and go into more detail of data logs that you scan in the prime games such as the history of the area your exploring, downfall of races such as the Reptilcus and past conflicts such as the Alimbic against Gorea. The historia probably should also include bios of iconic enemies and some lesser known enemies found in the metroid games to explain them in more detail than what was found in the games.
I personally believe that #MetroidHistoria should mention Samus' past but not to make that the main focus as that is the role of the games and possibe future stories made for her. The #MetroidHistoria main purpose should be to supplement the metroid universe with information and detail that would otherwise not be found in the games or other media.
I based this opinion on star wars books that i own that are related to #MetroidHistoria such as Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide, Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft, & Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy: The Ultimate Guide to the Incredible Locations of Episodes IV, V, and VI
Citations:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Ultimate_Visual_Guide
https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Worlds-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0756603072
As a designer, maybe I could pay $50 if it was a book explaining the creative process, their inspiration, the first drafts, concepts, early prototypes, detailed cross-sections and technical details like these Star Wars books that are much cheaper. Maybe I could pay even more if it was really new material that I've not seen before, not something that I can Google and download full resolution images and zoom in without having to use a magnifying glass.
Do yourself a favor and read Last Night a DJ Saved My Life. You won't regret it!
hahaha, it is a long journey. To be honest, I started with a book.
Last Night A Dj Saved My Life
..which not only goes through the history of djing but also shows the connection between reggae, disco and later electronic music. It also shows the style in a more underground cultural light rather than the studio 54cokehead glitz which came to dominate the image.
If you want early disco go with loft classics or extended dance tracks that were spun in underground parties.
As for Daft Punk's recent record, the type of music they are paying tribute to is early 80's dance music. It has dashes of funk and soul but the main style (with Moroder) is space disco and also its less sci-fi cousin Italo disco. Just imagine disco having an extended afterparty in the 80's once it became unhip in America. The style would later morph into space synth or synth dance.
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That is for history whiuch I feel is important for understanding why not only the style is so important but also how it became a pariah in the 80's. As far as personal recommendations.
I didn't mean internet articles... but, if you're curious about how the idea of the "DJ" has changed over the years:
DJ History here: It also directly addresses the issue of DJ celebrity I bought up in the post.
And short / interesting articles about elecronica in general:
Audio Culture has some great short articles.
More nerdy book on the "culture" of underground electronic music:
Club Cultures
I don't really mind Deadmau5 or Skrillex. I love listening to new stuff. It's listening to people get angry about electronic music not being like a rock show that usually makes me confused.
I love music, so my favourite one was Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. A history of electronic music which gave me a real in-depth appreciation of the electronic music scene now.
I also really liked A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and Flatland (not exactly non-fiction, but extremely interesting).
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
Edit, and of course: Mark Prendergast - The Ambient Century
Edit 2: I'm currently reading John Cage's biography, but it's not really about all of electronic music.
One thing I'm taking away from this (so far...on #3) is the sense of community that dance parties create. Yeah, I know, it's almost cliched. But it's the realist sense of group comrade that I have ever encountered. I was at a party last weekend that exhibited this same level of compassion. I live in the Detroit area, have a lot of friends who are artists, promoters, or just plain enthusiasts, but the fact remains that this vibe is real. It's more than the music. It's the sense of family that keeps every body together. The same people from week to week with the same good sense in music that binds it all together. It makes me proud to be a part of the scene. Places like the Paradise Garage or the Music Boxx really laid the ground work for the rest of the world to enjoy nightlife as we know it.
BTW, David Mancuso really needs a movie all to himself.
edit 2:Francis Grasso, wow, there getting deeper than I expected! We should all be reading Last Night A DJ Save My Life as a primer to this. Seriosly, it's the best book I ever read (about djing)!
I remember reading a book about dance music evolution (Last Night a DJ Saved my Life) which I recall mentioned that rudeboy was like... an influence on skinhead culture, but not a direct part of it. More like a precursor which then as Jamaicans immigrated to Britain was a part of what skinhead culture would become.
Tom Moulton invented what is now known as the remix. For further reading: Last night a Dj saved my life
As far as appropriating content, I'll bet that started when the first human(oid) told a good story.
[Here is](http://www.amazon.com/Last-Night-DJ-Saved- Life/dp/0802136885/ref=pd_sim_b_2) annother great read if you liked the first book.
Raechel Stephen's Plot Embryo method might be helpful for this, to get a sense of why everything is in the plot and what each element is supposed to be doing. It might help you focus on the core of the story and pare down some of the more complexities that may not be advancing anything, but merely adding complication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZ3ZZd1mms
Also, I recommend John Truby's Anatomy of a Story. I was stuck in a total mess with my current WIP and working through this book really helped. Again, it forces you to figure out what the core elements of your story are and how the pieces of the story (subplots, romance, symbols, characters etc) serve that aim.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933
I highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1331027378&amp;sr=8-1
But don't stop there. There are many good books out there to help you get started writing.
I want to point out that one book i have read says that reading about writing is part of becoming a good writer.
The Visual Story by Bruce Block
The Visual Story
My favorite is still The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media
It gives you wonderful knowledge that let's you create truly powerful images.
Good question. I don't quite know how to start. So this may be a bit random.
SOUND/MUSIC - Back when I used to edit a lot, if there was music, I always would edit to the beat. It just made sense to me. If there isn't music, a sound effect can bring a transition to life. Like a whoosh or something. Even a straight cut from one scene to the other, it's common practice to allow sound from the second scene to start before the cut.
RHYTHM - It needs to go along with the rhythm of the visuals and the rhythm of the audio, even if the audio is just voice over. If the transition is some kind of wipe with multiple elements, all those elements have a visual rhythm.
CONSISTENCY - A simple transition carried out consistently is better than many complex transitions that are not related. It you are going to do many complex transitions, they should have an underlying concept in common. Also, they should be consistent with the project as a whole.
MOVEMENT - If doing a cut, pay attention to the movement from the first scene as compared to the second scene. If doing a wipe transition, look how the movement of the wipe interact with the movement of the two scenes.
FRAMING - Keep in mind the focus of the scenes and how the transition moves the viewer's eye.
Well, those are some ideas I had. I hope they get your own ideas going. There is a lot of resources out there about visual theory. Like The Visual Story
I've read pretty much all of the books referenced here and I would say The Visual Story:
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Second-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790
Nothing else provided as much useful information about how to make a good movie as this for me.
I'm a little late to the party but I recommend
Cinematography - Blain Brown
The Visual Story - Bruce Block
The Visual Story may seem more focused on directing the cinematography, and maybe thats true, but when I'm looking to hire a DP, I want to know they understand how to tell a story visually as much as I do.
Hey, while not directly a VFX book, I highly recommend reading this book, The Visual Story, by Bruce Block. I actually took his class back when I was in SC, and I think it's one of my hidden weapons that has given me an edge as a VFX Supervisor. Basically, it's all about how we perceive images on a 2D screen, and the chapters on Depth Cues would help you a lot here.
https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Creating-Structure-Digital/dp/0240807790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1494700999&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+visual+story
Here's my take on where you can go, from back to forward:
Hope this info helps!
My favorites:
The Visual Story
In the Blink of an Eye
How to Read a Film (personally bored by it but a lot of film classes I took in uni versity used it)
The Filmmaker's Eye (huge fan of this book)
The rest of this post is just general advice on how to gain a deeper knowledge of film.
If you want to learn the grammar of film, read about film history (it will help introduce you to editing/camera movement/directing techniques and the filmmakers/films that influenced your favorite directors).
Read criticism from Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, David Bordwell (his blog is a fantastic resource), Jonathan Rosenbaum, and older critics such as Bazin/Eisenstein. There are more out there, but this is a good start.
Read reviews after you watch a film instead of beforehand--those reviews will hopefully give you a deeper view of the film. That being said, you really have to look around to figure out who you like, stylistically speaking. There are a lot of critics that have no idea what they're talking about from a technical standpoint. If you're bored with short reviews without substance you might like FILMCRITHULK.
Watch YouTube tutorials and video essays on filmmaking. Video essays are particularly helpful at illustrating and pointing out things that you might not have noticed otherwise. It's also a hell of a lot more entertaining than reading criticism that was written in 1962 in another language.
From a practical standpoint, pick up a camera and shoot something. Edit it. Read books on composition--I've found that photography composition books are pretty helpful. Read scripts from films you love and films you haven't seen to get an idea of how a film exists before the first day of shooting takes place.
Keep watching films, and watch them actively. Don't text during films, and try to watch them in one sitting. The goal is to immerse yourself in the image and analyze the shots/cuts/etc. as they happen. Watch films with commentaries, watch them with the sound off, and branch out into different genres and time periods so that you can attain a more concise view of film.
Above all else, watch as many films as you can. You'll find that the watchlist keeps growing, no matter how many films you see.
Pick up this book.
The Visual Story by Bruce Block is pretty good for the basics of film language. It's commonly used in film schools.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0240807790/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_rAF9ub0CCKZ0X
Check out the book "Force: Dynamic Drawing For Animators." It's been a great resource for me and helped me make drawings that feel more lively and not flat and stiff.
A couple of resources that's helped me:
Proko
Michael Hampton: Figure Drawing Design and Invention
Mike Mattesi: Life Drawing for Animators
Mike Matessi: Human Anatomy Drawing
&#x200B;
http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Life-Drawing-Animators/dp/0240808452
This is also a great book for gestural/figure drawing. It wants you to exaggerate the form but base your caricature in a full knowledge of the form. Whenever I feel as though I'm not pushing my perspectives or shapes far enough I pull this book out.
Force
About your portfolio, I have nothing to add that has been mentioned already, just that, from looking at what you have posted on your site, you seem to be developing toward a really defined style. It's just a matter of practice til you get there. Keep it up! I started studying animation in an MFA program when I was 27.
I only realised what I wanted to do when I was 24 (Which was 3D Animation). I was rejected from 3 masters programs in 3D Animation, and then took up IAnimate last January. Since then I have worked on several paid projects, and am hoping to land my first full time industry gig soon. I did exactly what the other comments here recommended before joining IAnimate. Did some gesture drawing classes, and bought these books (1 2 3)
If you really want to do it, you will make it work. You absolutely will find a way.
I'm sure you've heard this before, but life drawing classes are invaluable.
Not truly an anatomy book per se, but I've found this book to be very useful.
It didn't occur to me to post them here, I guess that come with being up at 2 in the mornin.
Force
Glen Vilppu
Glen Video
The two books have brought me extremely far in my art, they've allowed me to rethink the way I draw. Glen Is more of a classical approach to art, which in todays world has been forgotten about. The video leads to pirate bay download because the actual videos cost 500$. I sure as hell am not gonna pay that. They are old videos from the 70's but by god those were some of the most informative videos Ive ever seen. I HIGHLY recommend watching all of them. i think in total its 15 hours.
The human body is made up of the phi ratio. http://www.goldennumber.net/human-body/
Knowing the actual relations isn't as important as knowing that all of the parts of the body are proportionally related to one another. Keeping that in mind, practice building the figure from related measurements. As basic as it is, I found this video extremely helpful once I realized this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVBAPGBlnls
Of course, practice, being able to visualize the body in your head, and knowing underlying anatomy are all required to make good use of this. You need to take figure drawing or at the very least practice online. https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo these are videos of models posing which is better than stills but not as good as a live model in front of you that you can walk around and see in 3d space.
I used to scoff at using stick figures to build the body because I felt it robotized the pose, but if you build gesturally around the lines, they really help give your work a feeling of life and realness that it can be extremely hard to replicate intuitively.
This book helped me loosen up a lot and taught me some ways of breathing life into sketches. http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Life-Drawing-Animators/dp/0240808452 Some very useful tips in here, a lot to do with line confidence, that you don't find copy/pasted everywhere. Not as much to do with anatomy, but all the anatomical knowledge in the world won't necessarily help you draw something that looks alive and natural.
Hope this helps!
A book that has helped me loads with visualizing the human figure is the Force series. It teaches you how to see the forces of the body and be able to push that to it's extremes.. and it's helped me loads with creating dynamic poses without reference.
Torrent it and see if you like it. Thats what I do with all my books.. the good ones end up on my shelf. lol
Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors
I linked above? :)
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Cinematographers-Directors/dp/0240812093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418526228&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=cinematography
The best book I've seen on cinematography.
If anyone is interested in similar basic rules of cinematography, the book "Cinematography" by Blain Brown does a great job of presenting some of the basics.
The Filmmaker's Handbook is a great read that covers all aspects of film making
Cinematography: Theory and Practice We had to read this book in film school. I can honestly say I learned more from this than I did any of my teachers lectures.
Rebel Without a Crew Is more inspirational and entertaining that informative, but it's worth a read. Written by Robert Rodriguez during the making of his first uber-low-budget feature film.
Everybody else already mentioned trial and error, so I'll answer your question and actually give you a book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0240812093?psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00
Cinematography: Theory and practice covers every little inch of cinematography (excluding lighting (which is a very deep topic itself)) from technical to artistic in an extremely coherent and easy to understand manner. I'm working through the book myself and setting up random shots of whatever I can to improve my natural understanding of operating the camera and the frame.
["Scar Tissue"] (http://www.amazon.com/Scar-Tissue-Anthony-Kiedis/dp/1401307450?ie=UTF8&amp;keywords=scar%20tissue&amp;qid=1465428729&amp;ref_=sr_1_1&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1), Anthony Kiedis' autobiography. His life is just crazy and interesting. ["If Chins Could Kill"] (http://www.amazon.com/If-Chins-Could-Kill-Confessions/dp/0312291450), Bruce Campbell's autobiography. A great read if you're a fan of his work, it's also really funny.
If you don't already own his book, you should!
http://www.amazon.com/If-Chins-Could-Kill-Confessions/dp/0312291450
Jack of all trades was his show after Xena and Hercules ended. Check out his biography: If Chins Could Kill.
Fine, Bruce Campbell wrote If Chins Could Kill and Lloyd Kaufman wrote Make Your Own Damn Movie
If chins could kill...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312291450/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_-cwnyb3SK8FNQ
Yes. I'd HIGHLY recommend this book by this actor: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312291450?keywords=amazon%20Bruce%20Campbell&amp;qid=1452567509&amp;ref_=sr_1_5&amp;sr=8-5
Who Rules America?
Who Controls Broadcastig?
How Jewish is Hollywood?
An Empire of their Own
Americans have a strong mythology about WW2. The US was pure and good, the Germans and Japanese dark and evil. By opposing them, the US saved the world. American viewers are warm and welcoming towards this message.
https://www.amazon.ca/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
And yes the Jewish factor is strong in Hollywood. No one kind of admits this openly but it's real.
There's a book called An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385265573/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_wDrzzbPRGKYG2
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
Hard to believe you haven't read or even heard about this article by a Jew in the LA Times or this article in the American Free Press. Hey, go get the book that explains it all quite thoroughly. You are apparently somewhat challenged by reality.
Her er en bog, den ramte NYTimes bestseller liste i 80erne, så den er helt legitim.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
I Hollywood er det fritslag imod alt især hvide, jøder er dog undtagelsen, de skal ikke diversificere væk.
Archives for links in comments:
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I am Mnemosyne 2.0, I am definitely not a fucking toaster.^^^^/r/botsrights ^^^^Contribute ^^^^Website
That was frickin EASY!
Written by a proud Jewish man.
The Federal Reserve ''owns'' Wall Street. Who are the big players in that circle?
Great first comment though. Welcome to reddit. You should stick around, as it is educational here.
Preconceived notions are for fools. Growing up can be a painful process, but I promise it will get better.
Here is a list of jewish composers. Given how many composers are jewish, it is not surprising there are so many famous jewish performers of classical music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Jewish_classical_composers
It is really more a reflection of the fact that there are jewish high achievers in every field of endeavour.
http://www.amazon.com/Their-Own-Image-Popular-Culture/dp/0813538092/ref=sr_1_14
http://www.amazon.com/Entertaining-America-Jews-Movies-Broadcasting/dp/0691113025/ref=sr_1_7
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Entertainment-Darryl-Lyman-Hardcover/dp/B00ZM38ZES/ref=sr_1_2
http://www.amazon.com/Jews-Prime-Time-David-Zurawik/dp/1584652349/ref=sr_1_1
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573/ref=sr_1_1
Here's a great resource. Available as an e-book and at many libraries as well: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Third/dp/0415812003
Best IMO: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Stage-Lighting-Edition/dp/0415812003
If you want some great tips on proper animation, you HAVE to read Richard Williams' The Animators Survival Kit. It is considered the Bible of the animation industry... AND it's a really fun read... and there is no way you'll come out of it not knowing most of what you need to know about animating anything.
Get a learning edition of Maya for free off autodesk's website, get some free rigs off creativecrash.com. Then you need Animators Survival Kit, Acting for Animators, then Timing for Animators. Then practice for years
Basically, you just need a standard camera. Stop motion, like other forms of animation, is essentially a series of stills, so you set up the scene, take a shot, move everything just -barely-, then continue on down the line.
If you're actually interested in doing this, I might suggest a few things. First, pick up a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams. It's an essential book on timing and basic animation principles that will help you immensely. You may also want to consider Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation to see how things progress and make sure you have a proper, showable film at the end.
Do know that it's a long, tedious process. But if you have a story you want to tell, it'll be pretty awesome. I just graduated with a degree in animation, and I happen to think it a wonderful artistic form that should be encouraged.
Start doing crude little shorts with the resources you have. If you have your own computer then you probably have SOME way of getting a bunch of still images into it and putting them together in a video editing program; there's a few programs out there that can do that. Use toys, Lego, jam armatures into stuffed animals, whatever, just start animating. Make little shorts, take random lines of dialogue and animate to them, parody scenes from popular movies you like, whatever. Build a body of work. Post it to Youtube. Find other people learning to animate - preferably stop-motion, but other 2D amateurs will have something worth saying as well - and trade critiques. Oh hey there's even /r/stop_motion, I dunno how good it is but it's right there on Reddit! Learn to take and give critique gracefully, separate your ego from the quality of your work and strive to always do something better than your previous best, or at least to not make the same mistakes you made last time. Watch the making-of DVD extras. Get a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit, it's one of the best books on animation currently available - mostly oriented to hand-drawn work, but you will learn a hell of a lot of things applicable to ANY form of animation from that book.
IIRC, Laika and Aardman are pretty much the only studios crazy enough to regularly do stop-motion features. If you can get in one of them as an intern then that would help a TON.
I can't give you any specific stop-motion references and tips; I'm an ex-animator but I was thoroughly a 2D kind of girl. Find stop motion communities and they can probably point you to the most awesomest references on the technical tricks unique to stop-motion.
Print a good one out and keep it in your eye line where you spend most of your time and focus on one objective at a time. I suggest just above your computer screen :)
Sounds like you should focus on diatonic triads. Once you know the notes of your scales, just learn the order of chord types (maj, min, min, maj, maj, min, dim) or in terms of the circle, either side is major chords, inner circle three is minor chords, and then the dim chord is one even further to the right on the minor circle. You can get some elaborate spin-wheel type circle of fifths that can be handy for this, and they'll outline all the chords:
https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/
Go pick up a microkorg or other tiny analog modelling synth. You can start to make your own patches, you can learn a couple triad chords, the vocoder is super fun, etc. You need to know how to play some songs. Don't listen to losers like deadmau5 when he says things like just draw in the chords and wait until it sounds right. He has a youtube ad for his "master class" and I can't stand when he says that he would play it if he know how to play. Learning to play basic triads is easy.
I can only speak from experience when I say these things. I wanted to be a huge electronic music guy. I wanted to be the next Daft Punk or Justice. Now everyone tells me I have my own unique style and I sound like David Bowie. People hated my stuff for years. I'm not super good at any instrument but I'm good enough now at guitar, bass, synth, and vocals.
Sometimes I might not work on music for a month or so. Last year I think I stopped for about 4 months and I was worried that I lost the drive. It came back with a fury. You're always better after a break as well.
You could even start a band. I'm not sure how well you know any instruments or not but it usually doesn't matter. Learn the basic structure for a song. You can do this by learning songs, or just by objectively listening to them. Most pop songs are going to be intro, verse, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. Or something similar.
If you're super new, get this book. Then just pick a key and start playing the chors. https://www.amazon.ca/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/ref=sr_1_1?rps=1&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1491270719&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=chord+wheel
You only hate it if you suck at it. I'm just gonna say it again, get an instrument or two and learn some songs. Just start pumping out tons of songs. Eventually you'll create your own style, it might not be EDM. Then go play them at an open mic or something. That shit is fun. Once you can start playing some gigs you'll thank yourself. Even playing for like 20 hipsters makes you feel like a rockstar, it's awesome.
If you can't sing, start singing to every damn song you hear. You're going to suck for a bit. I'm a bit of a silly guy sometimes so I would always change the words in the song while I sang them. That way it didn't matter that I sucked because it was still funny. Then one day I could sing haha it was pretty cool. Also, karaoke is sooooo fun. It's a great date idea.
You can literally be a super amazing musician and never touch a computer. If electronic music is really your thing, do it the old school way and buy some samplers. Like I said, once you become obsessive, there is no turning back. Music is fucking amazing and it never ends. You will be in your 70s-80s and pumping out songs.
WOOOOO GO FUCKING MAKE SOME NOISE
EDIT: I totally forgot. Make videos as well and then make your own music videos. Pump out a song and video every couple months. Do everything yourself. You will stay busy ahaha. I went and bought a couple green screens on amazon and some cheap lights and set up a litter studio in my apartment. Then I just started learning how to use everything and playing around in After Effects. Last week I taught myself how to use Cinema 4D and 3D modelling. Now I'm going to make hilarious cartoon videos in stereoscopic 3D making fun of feminism while I sounds like Bowie when I sing. It's all because I learned how to do everything. I've just started to find that the most enjoyable part for me is the process.
Also bass guitar. That is soo much fun to play. I don't even learn songs I just make up all this weird stuff and I absolutely love every second of it.
Nowhere near perfect pitch, heh, although I am using sites like http://www.earbeater.com/online-ear-training to help improve interval/scale/note identification.
I analyze using the written music in front of me. If it's an older video game piece, it's almost certainly available online in MIDI format. You can then use a program like Finale to look at the score.
If I'm not sure what a chord is, I can use https://www.scales-chords.com/chordid.php to help, or check my work.
Thanks for those links btw!
Edit: also, get https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496074829&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=chord+wheel or something similar if visualizing relationship between chords might help, it's been incredible for me.
I've heard the Chord Wheel is pretty good.
I have one of those Chord Wheel booklets which i refer to just about every darn day. About ten bucks at amazon (or your local guitar store). https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427
If you're having trouble finding and choosing chords, look up the circle of fifths. Then get yourself one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1453845022&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=circle+of+fifths
Job done.
If you want something simple look at cover of this book. You can read to book if you want to know why/how the work together, but if you just need to know what chord choices would be a good next note the cover does it with a simple pinwheel.
Amazon link
It's from the book, Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek. If you manage to find a decent copy of said book, there is a 2 section foldout poster of that exact image. Just carefully remove from book, paste to together, and frame. Makes for a wonderful conversation piece when hung on a wall in the rec-room, man-cave, personal Ten Forward lounge, etc.
No but I got a Klingon Dictionary and the (completely awesome) ST Star Charts.
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Charts-Complete-Atlas/dp/0743437705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1300346394&amp;sr=8-1
WTF? They're all used and at least $90. Makes me REALLY glad I bought a copy a couple of years ago at a Hastings.
This is a beloved part of my personal library. It has maps of the NX-01's travels and areas of significance during that time period. I highly recommend that you purchase a copy:
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Charts-Complete-Atlas/dp/0743437705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539889778&sr=8-1&keywords=star+trek+map
Wow, something new under the sun!
Thank you for posting this, OP, this looks awesome. I look forward to comparing it to this and nerding out later.. I intend to let the guy know how close he is to Okuda's own charts.
This is a scan of the folded up map at the back of "Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek".
The map is 4 large folded sheets that have to be removed and put together if you wish to replicate the image here (which is obviously 4 scans with the seams poorly photoshopped out)
One of the Star Trek Online game artists recently commented on Star Trek Discovery's map which had similar sectors and names as the STO map.
he confirmed they used the same sources to design their maps.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/8mx7p4/discovery_star_maps_pulling_from_sto/dzr4d7h/
> Nope, we just both pulled from the same sources.
>
> Namely:
>
> https://smile.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Charts-Complete-Atlas/dp/0743437705?sa-no-redirect=1
>
> And
>
> https://smile.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Cartography-Starfleet-Reference/dp/0760363811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1527580161&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Stellar+Cartography&amp;dpID=51dos%252BtBNOL&amp;preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch
>
> (Which is also based on Star Charts)
so really, the discovery and star trek online maps are the closest to canon as we have I think.
I'm sorry, I didn't scan these, I just found them.
They are from one of the DK Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars books, not sure which though.
If you'd like to nerd out further, this whole book is pretty cool..
From this book if anyone's interested
Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections.
http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Cross-Sections-Star-Wars-Spacecraft/dp/0789434806
Amazon =)
If you're interested in the origins of electronic music I recommend the long winding path of Better Living Through Circuitry and Last Night a DJ Saved my Life. In a nutshell: most of it wouldn't exist at all if we hadn't had disco, both the music and the culture.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey
It's really the only book about music I've read, but it's an amazing read. Definitely recommended for anybody interested in any of the culture's many facets.
I'll play reddit bot: cheeky monkey on amazon
From a theory/craft/story building perspective, I'd start with either John Truby's Anatomy of Story (The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller https://www.amazon.com/dp/0865479933/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_l1iMBb6PRTA0G), or Robert McKee's Story (Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060391685/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_e2iMBb0CKZ42M). They have some similarities but either is a good starting point for the background theories in story telling and story development.
For formatting/templates there are lots of guides. A general Google search for screenplay formatting should get you a good starting point for the standards needed.
Teaching yourself to have a critical eye to discern between good and bad film (and then further between good and great film) takes time as well as remembering that each person's opinion on what makes any one film good/great is subjective. That said, getting a basis in critical film analysis can help because that will get you watching films that have the best stories/characters/dialogues/settings/etc. This will prime your subconscious and get you thinking in those ways so that when you write your own work, you're starting from a place of strength rather than from cliche.
Research what kind of screenplays you could do - original, adaptations, big budget, studio specific, independent, genre, art house, etc. Maybe you'd be happier in a writer's room at a small studio as opposed to a large one. Maybe you really like adaptations. Try to figure out what powers your desire to write (Truby has a great exercise early in his book for this).
Find a local writer's group if possible. Hopefully one that has other screenwriters, but any good group you mesh with well helps, as they can be external mentors and feedback for your efforts.
Look at participating in National Novel Writing Month in November as a rebel (i.e. someone writing something other than a novel) as motivation/structure/deadline to forcing yourself to write.
And most of all - write. Just start. Get going and keep going. You'll want to freeze up or get it right, but so much good comes during the many iterations your story will take, so start earlier rather than later.
Hope that helps.
ETA: links
i highly recommend the book the anatomy of story. it is tailored towards writing a screenplay, but the advice inside transcends the medium of story.
in my opinion, you can learn both the mechanics of grammar and writing and the mechanics of writing a story, but the latter is where it's really at. everyone writes because they have a story to tell. this story can be fiction, non-fiction, something in between, biographical, etc., but there's a story in there, and as a writer, it's your job, and likely your inner calling, to bring that story out and present it to your audience. learn to tell a good story and the mechanics of writing will follow.
I don't know if this will help you, but have the hero's(A) weakness be attacked by the Antagonist(B) while another opponent(C) attacks the antagonist, and another opponent(D) attacks the opponent attacking the antagonist. Lol. I hope you get what I mean. Basically you have a set of characters that are always in conflict like clashing waves. They're all attacking each other. Anyways, it's called the four-corner opposition. Very useful stuff from John Truby's The Anatomy of Story.
https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1541458878&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=The+Anatomy+of+Story
Note: It's a huge dump of information and IS NOT for beginners. I already knew The Three Act Structure before I read this.
There's such a thing as being too loose, and there's such a thing as being too tight. Some people just start writing with page one and have to do 50 drafts because their story keeps shifting under their feet. You're having the opposite problem. You want to plot out a story mechanically and there's no organic growth.
I'm confident if you just started writing your ideas would evolve and grow. Adding detail and action will that do that on it's own. But maybe you should learn a bit about organic story development first. I recommend The Anatomy of Story by John Truby. It will help you work through all of your ideas in a process so that they can grow and develop.
John Truby wrote a book detailing the 22 steps. I'll link an Amazon page I hope it isn't breaking any rules of this reddit :)
https://www.amazon.de/Anatomy-Story-Becoming-Master-Storyteller/dp/0865479933?ie=UTF8&tag=googdemozdesk-21&hvadid=323770885163&hvpos=1t2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1423483905817777389&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1012321&hvtargid=dsa-19959388920&ref=pd_sl_8630db3uvv_e&language=en_GB
I'm a big fan of The Anatomy of Story. It's got applications outside of screenwriting as well.
Highjacking this comment to recommend Impro by Keith Johnstone as a fantastic resource for using the techniques of improv to improve the quality of a variety of social situations.
Keith Johnstone's Impro is the classic work on improv. The section on status is great for any kind of dialogue, and the exercises he mentions are excellent for developing spontaneity and creativity.
Ya, I'll echo the "You are 18, calm down" responses, as much as your one response post says you don't like it.
Second, I see you had 5 goals laid out 1) Better social skils, 2) Lucid Dreaming 3) Meditation 4) Positive Thinking 5) Reality Trans-surfing (I googled the book but don't really know what this is, but it seems to have various buzz words I know in theory).
For the 1) "Social Learning" you need to:
So I'm going to group 2-5 and since it seems like (sorta, I'm not sure?) you have some quasi Buddhist interest refer you to this lecture by Wes Cecil on Siddartha: Buddhism, at around 15:15 and 16:00 where he discusses the centrality of the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path... especially common misconceptions about it ( The whole lecture is good too ) Basically, don't worry so much about all these esoteric things and focus on the 8 fold path... not tantra and dreams and such...
... also, keep in mind Siddhartha, and most monks, practice extreme acetic practices and meditation for like 7 years and lived as a wandering nomad, after being trained as a Priest. So like, you need to read a bunch of Philosophy and then meditate for a few years before you give up.
Which brings me to my second point:
You ARE right
School and most pop culture on TV and (I suppose, I grew up before it) Social Media are worthless for your development as a human-being. School is at best a sort of bare basic hurdle you need to get thru. Find something tangible that you have passion about. IF it is really philosophy and lucid dreaming and "Reality Trans-surfing" that's fine, but those seem like more solitary, dare I say borderline occult interests.
And if you want to get in contact with other people, find something that has a community around it. If it is Buddhism you need a Sangha... The community is one of the three jewels.
HOWEVER I'D REALLY SUGGEST MORE PEDESTRIAN HOBBIES! (Trust me, I was a Philosophy Major in College, most people don't REALLY care about the deep questions).
Especially if you want to improve your social skills, get some hobbies that other people can relate to and force you to meet people. The art of talking to people is not hard.
Get used to not caring about being "rejected" by people, or being "awkward" when trying to talk to them. That's how you learn. The more you do it the better you will get, and there will always be new people to talk to. Eventually you are bound to find friends.
Hope that helps.
not yet. but there's something that's been on my reading list for a while now. reviews are good, and a friend that i trust with this sort of thing told me about it.
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre
i skimmed a bit, and there's a section (abut 1/4) of the book on status play, which seems like it's full of good/interesting stuff. some of it probably relevant for seduction, or just social interaction in general.
also, "yes, and..." seems like a good mindset to be in. especially in a group setting when you're trying to be fun.
I'm going to interpret your question a little bit differently and provide some books that are not directly RPG related but will help you to be a better role-player or Game Master. Then, I will finish off with some more RPG specific suggestions.
The essential reads are the following:
For GM-specific materials, I really love the spirit conveyed by Dungeon World and Fate Core (and the Fate System Toolkit for that matter). If you learn nothing else from Dungeon World, learn the GM principles and how to set up Fronts. Fronts (or something similar) are the way you should be preparing as a GM that very few other books convey. The Alexandrian has a lot of amazing materials. I know that Play Unsafe was recommended here, but it was a little short and basic for my taste... much of the same principles will be covered by reading the other recommended texts in my post. If you absolutely must learn about improvisation as a skill in and of itself, read Impro. The author of Play Unsafe drew heavily from this text and most of the truly unique ideas can be found within Impro.
Read Impro: improvisation and the theater.
https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178
It will really jumpstart your creativity.
A few books to consider:
Backstage Handbook. ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL.
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed. This one is... well... it helped me to understand some things about physics. Not all of it is relevant, and you'll have to draw some conclusions yourself as to how it all applies to audio engineering. At the very least, it's a great introduction to subatomic physics for people who aren't great with math. YMMV, but I found that a basic understanding of what sound waves actually do goes a LONG way. From there you can discern certain things like how ambient temperature and humidity will affect your mix.
The Business of Audio Engineering. Worth the price of admission, despite grammatical errors.
Mixing Engineer's Handbook. Might be worth it. Interviews with established recording engineers. Has some interesting info. Only the first half of the book is really worth reading, though.
Mixing Audio. Relevant information. Could almost act as a textbook.
That will at least get you started. I know that you're looking more for the mixing side of things, and that's great, but trust me on this. You will want to know as much as you can about all facets of theatrical/concert/special event work. THAT'S how you really get gigs.
Get a copy of he Backstage handbook by Paul Carter
https://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397/ref=sr_1_2?crid=22CR70DWJO96M&keywords=backstage+handbook&qid=1556880004&s=gateway&sprefix=backstage+%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/The-Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Information/dp/0911747397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1377524648&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=backstage+handbook
I'd be surprised if she doesn't already have this. If she doesn't, she should.
If she wants to Stage Manage professionally you should look into a light weight headset. I just got one for my birthday and I love it. Mine is from Production Advantage, but other places sell them too. This is what I got: http://www.beltpack.com/smh710.html
Another good thing for a theatre technician is The Backstage Handbook: http://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Handbook-Illustrated-Technical-Information/dp/0911747397/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&amp;coliid=IFV9ERGDDMYE2&amp;colid=1F2QN9CCSL803
Beautiful manual on tech.
These are from The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens art book
This book has more info about the homage (p. 84): http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Star-Wars-Awakens/dp/1419717804
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Star-Wars-Force-Awakens/dp/1419717804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1449871470&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=force+awakens+art
Released on 18th. Probably with retailers now.
Desktop Wallpapers Mobile Wallpapers The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for 24 bucks
I have this artwork! It shows up in the TFA artbook, would highly recommend.
I definitely like Kylo more than Rey. I'm super HAPPY with the entire cast including Rey. But my heart has always been with the bad guys. I knew I was going to love Kylo the most the moment I saw him. In fact the moment I saw him I looked at my boyfriend and said "You're costuming that." like he didn't have an option, I'm making him a Kylo and he's going to be mine and that's that!
But I LOVE the point you brought up that this movie really makes you sympathize with the bad guys and I loved that. You feel for Finn who is freaked out by the power and cruelty of the first order and you actually feel for Kylo who is struggling between light and dark. Watching the promos and getting hyped, I never imagined I would feel for Kylo. I assumed I'd sit there and think he was amazing but I didn't think I'd connect with him, it was actually kind of nice! I'm circle jerking, I know, I can't help it.
Here's a list of shit you need to pick up:
The visual dictionary
The Art of Star Wars the Force Awakens
And you mentioned having a book with layouts of the death star and such so you may like Incredible Cross Sections.
And from what EVERYONE I know has been telling me, The Force Awakens novelization is a must read if you want juicy little details that weren't made crystal clear in the movie!
Also, if you are not reading the comics. STOP. RIGHT. NOW. AND. READ. THEM!!
In order of priority:
Darth Vader
Star Wars
Princess Leia
Shattered Empire
And read Kanan if you're a Rebels fan. I HAVE the comic I just haven't read that one yet!
But no seriously that Darth Vader comic. The stuff that happens. UGH. NERDGASM. After reading them and re-watching the movies in preparation for TFA I fell in love with the originals all over again. It was like that fresh awesome new love I had for them the first time! So good!
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Gentlemen-Lebowski-Excellent-Tragical/dp/1451605811
That, or a bottle of Kahlua maybe?
Thank you ilikesleep for cheering up damnyoureloud nd her computer! And thank you to damnyoureloud for the contest!
This first one is for a Book! Thisbook actually! There are some used ones going for under $5 so you can save some monies if I happen to win
Just wanted to link you to these two books. The first one is good; I can't vouch for the second. I found the second while looking for the first. Looks like there's several more, too!
Hold thy tongue, Donald.
They did that with The Big Lebowski. It was awesome.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1451605811/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1419230910&amp;sr=8-1 hope this works, I'm on mobile atm, but it's The Big Lebowski retold in Shakespearen language. Very very funny book!
Well they're all on amazon, I'd recommend getting the library editions to save a few bucks if you can. There are comics that pick up from the end of ATLA and ones that pick up after LoK. They're all great so far and I'm super glad I got them. Rise of Kyoshi is also my new favorite novel, so if you liked Kyoshi at all, I highly recommend picking that up. Should be about $15 on amazon too. Lastly there's also Legacy which is meant to be like the book Aang hands down to Tenzin, and Legacy of the Fire Nation from Iroh to Zuko.
--------
Avatar Comics in Order
The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, North and South, Imbalance (current)
There's also The Lost Adventures which is an anthology of a bunch of little comics, all of which are canon but the last two.
--------
Korra Comics in Order
Turf Wars, Ruins of the Empire (current)
---------
There are also a few free short comics on Dark Horse's website, just need to make an account. I'll link those too for ya:
Rebound
Shells
Sisters
Friends for Life
Lost Pets
------
Hope that helps in the future! At the very least you can read the free ones right now, and maybe save the rest for a special treat :)
http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Last-Airbender-Lost-Adventures/dp/159582748X
I was feeling helpful, but in the future I would recommend just using google.
This?
December 5th and a girl. Congratulations!
$20 and close to $40
Thanks for the contest!
Yep. I read them too damn fast and I was again left with that empty lonely feeling. Now I've only got this left to thumb through.
http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-A-Celebration-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1781161682
You can find the book on Amazon for about $30. Well worth the price if you're a fan of the show. Sadly no new extras on the 15th anniversary edition other then packaging and whatnot.
Firefly: A Celebration
http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-A-Celebration-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1781161682
The Psychology of Joss Whedon
http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Joss-Whedon-Unauthorized-Exploration/dp/1933771259/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1382022340&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=psychology+of+joss+whedon
I may be freaking out...
My favorite character is Mal (and yes, my username is dedicated to him). His loyalty is astounding. His crew is his family and I think it's extremely admirable. He keeps his head in times of hardship and usually pulls through with even a laugh or two. I love that he surrounds himself with people he'd like to be more like; or at least people with qualities he feels he's lost. He admires Kaylee for her innocence, Book for his faith, Simon's love for his sister and dedication to learning, etc. He knows he's had to bury this qualities in himself, so he keeps them close in other people so he doesn't forget them.
Items:
I like this shirt a lot! also this.
Zoe is my favorite! I just love her attitude and how strong she is. She is all around awesome! I also like how she chose her husband over Mel when the two were held together, that was a great ep.
Amazon
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1781161682/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit: added link
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1781161682/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
This is what I have it's pretty cool, has all the scripts from all the eps as well as interviews with the actors and behind the scenes stuff
Step 1) Read this book.
Step 2) Realize you're never going to be funny.
Step 3) Become a Computer Programmer.
Thanks for your suggestion. From your links I discovered a related book that fits well with my interest: The comic toolbox: How to be funny even if you are not
Here ya go my mirthless friend. Found this really helpful although most people I know didn't see the improvement. Take my wife for instance...please take her.
the comic toolbox is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Toolbox-Funny-Even-Youre/dp/1879505215/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1221432521&amp;sr=8-4
As suggested, start watching other funny people and deconstruct why their humor works. If there's no improv class, pick some improv games from online and practice with a trusted friend. Learn how to tease women and practice.
Also, I haven't read these books yet but I've heard great things: The Comic Toolbox and The Comedy Bible.
For a broad and comprehensive overview with less technical information, go for Screenwriting 101 by Film Crit Hulk, along with any of his wonderful articles.
For the technical specifics of modern screenwriting, The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley is solid, though it's really not that complicated and I wouldn't worry too much. Just use a program like Celtx to do your formatting and you're sweet.
If you want to blow your mind with dogmatic but largely correct info on the structuring of effective stories in general go for The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri, written about playwriting but incredibly relevant.
I also recommend you learn the basics of filmmaking. I personally believe it's vital to properly writing screenplays (rather than generic writing dressed in screenplay clothes). The stuff's got to be shootable, designed for a reasonable budget, and more importantly, suited to the film medium itself.
A great book for that is On Film-Making by Alexander Mackendrick.
I also highly recommend In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch, written about editing and invaluable. Editing is the essence of film as we know it, so it's in your interests to know it intimately.
Hi there /u/DetMills
Reddit has removed your comment as the URL is too long. Please replace it with this ^[1] shorter URL. Then we (the mods) can look to approve it.
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The Hollywood Standard thoroughly covers everything you ever need to know about formatting.
Good points, thanks!
We use the formatting specified in the Hollywood Standard v.2, hence all the CAPS and such. Not that it's the end-all-be-all of screenwriting formatting, but we prefer to stick with just this one written guide. I know there are others that recommend other techniques. Any suggestions are certainly welcome!
Everything else (formatting-wise) we've found to be consistent with scripts on the market today (Re-Up by Ian Schorr, Rothchild by John Patton Ford, Autobahn by F. Scott Frazier). All that said, we're trying to make this readable for YOU. So anything to that effect that you find jarring we will examine further.
Thanks for the feedback. You rock!
I'm not aware of sites, though I'm sure they exist, but I'll throw in a vote for buying a book. There's a book called The Hollywood Standard and you should get it. It's like The Elements of Style for screenplay. You should also use Celtx or similar because it makes the formatting mega easy.
The reason I say get the book is because the format is the form in screenplay. When someone reads the screenplay, that reader is tuned into what the formatting is signifying in a visual way. Even if you use the free formatting programs, a lack of understanding of the way in which the format is to be used will hold your screenplay back from realizing it's potential and your vision for it.
Best of luck.
You really need to learn screenplay format. It's fairly easy to learn. Here's a great, comprehensive resource.
The best thing to do is take a class so you get all the basic info and guidance and get sent on the right track. Too many bad screenplays out there. Don't be one of them.
I recommend the following places
https://www.3rdward.com/
http://www.writeyourscreenplay.com/
http://www.ucla.edu/
If you specifically are talking about format check out
http://www.writeyourscreenplay.com/formatting-bootcamp-nyc/
and
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hollywood-Standard-Complete-Authoritative/dp/1932907637
Possibly this one?
The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1419717804/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kj0HybCVCEZX1
http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/Hoban_Washburne
Down in the behind the scenes section it says at a comic con joss confirmed Wash would still be alive if the show hadn't been cancelled.
However i believe I read it in my copy of this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Firefly-Celebration-Anniversary-Joss-Whedon/dp/1781161682
That's what happens when you attempt to joke. 0 kharma. Do you even joke brah?
Here is a book I recommend for you!
http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Toolbox-Funny-Even-Youre/dp/1879505215/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1398886293&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=learn+to+be+funny
Its certainly a random selection of books...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dance-Upon-Air-Sisters-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B004KZOMQ4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499786188&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=dance+upon+the+air+nora+roberts
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Empire-Own-Jews-Invented-Hollywood-Neal-Gabler/0385265573/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499786230&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=An+Empire+of+their+own
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beach-Music-Pat-Conroy-ebook/dp/B008BSOJ46/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499786255&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Beach+Music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardball_with_Chris_Matthews - Something to do with the book with the purple spine.
And last but not least what appears to be a study guide to the 6th century Saint, John Climacus....
Not to be shit on the charitable person who set this up but who, on a whim of popping down to the local 'little library', would want to read this tripe, let alone steal it....
I've read a handful of books on Jews in Hollywood, but it's been a while. The one that most informs my thinking these days, simply because I remember it best is Neal Gabler, "An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood," and I have to say, he contradicts you on early theaters if not on Vaudeville. All those early studio guys were Jews, Fox, Warner, Goldwin, and scads I don't remember, the theaters were, and the huge numbers of the actors were. Not that the studios gave a damn about the ethnicity of the actors, they wanted beauty and got it.
It was, like sports (which had large numbers of Jews pre-WWII), it was a way for a talented, competitive, hungry kid to become somebody, and because of existing American culture, lots of talented blacks were sidelined until they couldn't be (in Hollywood and Sports and other no generation wealth and celebrity industries).
In front of the camera, the studios wanted beauty and glamour. I'll get to that momentarily. Behind the camera, Gabler had this sense that the studios were the large dysfunctional families that Jews had migrated from in shtetls, or in the tenements. My understanding of Jewish culture and Jewish culture in America (and I did a bunch of work more than a decade ago on Jewish literature in America, particularly Jewish autobiography, which is NOT a Jewish form, but is a solidly American form of literature) is that it really is true that Jews are obsessed with education. Two reasons: the holy scriptures (both Biblical in Hebrew and post biblical in Aramaic) were accessible to anyone, and it was a serious way up going back to Roman times of the Second Temple. Literacy is expensive, and even when it didn't pay off (where farming or herding did), Jewish culture had already formed around Biblical and later Talmudic study. After the Second Temple was destroyed, and THIS IS CENTRAL TO JEWISH CULTURE, study and prayer directly and literally replaced Temple animal sacrifice as an acceptable way to atone, participate, engage in holy as well as communal service.
Since Jews were largely excluded from owning land (no farming), joining craft guilds (at least the Christian ones), participating in government, etc., etc., two ways emerged for Jews to move up; scholarship and business. Now, think about the stereotype of a Jewish mother wanting her son to be a doctor, and there are traditions of healers going back to Moses's sister Miriam. That COMBINES scholarship and business, as does law.
A rich man wants his daughter to marry a learned rabbi in the old world, and a poor man wants his son to be a learned rabbi and marry a rich girl. Unlike in Christian Europe, Jewish tradition has women being entitled to all kinds of rights, and wealthier Jews were educating their daughters fairly early on, as well, albeit not like the sons. Jewish women ran businesses; Jewish women aren't to be trifled with. So the culture has strong, women, nerdy children, and big shot macher men, along with teachers and students, and at some point everyone has to teach if only to pick up some extra dough. Along with law and medicine, education is full of Jews. Because of the importance of the prophetic tradition, in which the prophet tells everyone what they're doing wrong and why they are causing everyone's suffering, cultural criticism is central to the culture.
Now, why does a furrier, a guy trained to dry fox fur and stitch it together want to get his hands clean? Because with a modest investment, in America, he can. Why does fish monger want to get his hands clean and go into the arts? Because he can.
There was NO YIDDISH THEATER before the middle of the 19th century, or very little. By the turn of the century, Yiddish theater is thriving in New York, Chicago, Philly and Boston, and like being a good musician, it's a ticket to travel and money, what I like about performing, food, drink, an audience, and money, just get a booking and it can all be yours.
This is a group poised to go into the creative arts, journalism (at one point the newspaper with the highest circulation in New York was the Jewish Daily Forward, still in print in a bilingual edition, for a while weekly, now online, and there were several Yiddish papers for competition, and while there were way more English speakers than Yiddish in New York, there were way more English papers competing for the readership, so for a while the Forward had the largest circulation), teaching, psychology, all medical fields, law, famously peddlers, but in some cases directly into department stores, jewelry, and Jews swamped colleges.
Now, when I said education more than capital, that's really true. Free education through 12th grade had pretty much been codified by the turn of the century in the U.S. Colleges were not as expensive (nor as popular) as they are today.
Not just any college. The Best. At that time, Jews were about 2% of the American population, and by the 1910s, Jews were 25% of the Ivy League schools, which put a quota on Jews, to limit the numbers to 15%, which they explained would be for the interest of the Jews themselves, because they were sensitive to the fact that Jews would be perceived as too pushy. I can't remember which did it first, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, but then they all followed. Jews flooded state universities. College-aged Jews most of the last century were in college at much higher rates than the rest of American society. Fifteen years ago it was 40% of 18-22 yr olds, 80% of Jews that age. It's higher now for the rest of the population, but Jews are still in college at higher rates. Jews as a religious group (not an ethnic group, I don't have the numbers on that) are only equaled by Sikhs for per capita advanced degrees in America, and there are way fewer of them.
The Jewish religious structures are much closer to Protestant than Catholic or state sponsored churches like the Church of England. There's a loose affiliation of where the leaders are trained, but each congregation is relatively independent, hiring and firing their rabbis, like most Protestant denominations, not dictated by a bishop. That went hand in glove with Jewish culture.
The result is that I don't know any Jews who are first generation college educated my age or younger, and because I teach in a community college that is fed by a rural and blue collar area, I meet many gentiles every year who are first generation college students.
It is absolutely the case that you have to go to the specific stories of the studio founders to find out what attracted them, but Yiddish Theater was huge back then, not just Vaudeville, though of course that was, too. But the background isn't just in performance, and my sense (though I don't want to stereotype where I'm less informed) is that Irish were/are storytellers, singers, dancers, with a hunger to be in front of audiences. Small business owners were like single proprietorships like barber shop or small that sort of small business.
For all the Seinfelds and Jon Stewarts, the backroom is full of Jews who are fulfilled by being writers, producers, lawyers, agents, etc. Look how much it all resembles what an academic does, a producer for a news show.
And because these run loosely like businesses, that is, each person is an independent artist affiliated with a larger project, it's like being a doctor or a lawyer where your time is your own, but you're part of a team working toward a new one-of-a-kind product that will be mass produced as an afterthought. The marketing, the tie-ins are magic, the deal-making, the pitch (which if you're in a Hollywood restaurant at lunch time the whole place sounds like a parody of what you'd guess).
And if a rabbi is just another member of the family, not someone with a special calling who leads a life divorced from ordinary things, there's no one in the community that has a job that's more out of reach than another, a dentist, a casting director, a writer, a videographer, teaching history, or taking clippings from cable and making fun of it and being Jon Stewart. Seinfeld is a guy who got lucky, not a guy who does anything different from everybody else. You don't have to have an uncle who's in the industry. You just have to have a good script or a good student video or a good sense of what the possibilities are.
That's my take. But the Gabler book is excellent for giving the stories of the founding members and their personalities.
http://www.amazon.com/An-Empire-Their-Own-Hollywood/dp/0385265573
Well, at one point Hollywood WAS run by Jews.
Read An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood to understand the origins of the cliche.
The irony is that as Hollywood became less a collection of family-run businesses, and more a publicly-owned industry, the social messaging encouraged by the liberal Jews who started teh film industry was forsaken in favor of pure entertainment, no matter the message, leading to our currently vapid film and TV culture, where the core message is simply have fun and don't even think about becoming a better, more successful person: that's boring.
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The people who blame the secret Cabal of Zionists for the state of American culture have it exatly bass-ackwards: when the Jews ran Hollywood, there was a pro-social message to much of the industry; now, there's nothing.
> maybe too concerned with diversity
Unless of you evidence of corruption then please shut up [Jews are more often victims of hate crimes] (http://www.snopes.com/true-jews-are-more-often-victims-of-hate-crimes-than-muslims/)
The jews also are disapporianately represented in Hollywood And no its not because of corruption as this book explains in detail why.