“FilmCraft: Cinematography” by Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson is one of the best cinema books out there when it comes to featuring famous cinematographers worldwide. Highly recommended!
TITLE: FilmCraft: Cinematography
BY: Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson
PUBLISHER: Focal Press
PAGE COUNT: 194
RELEASED: November 17, 2011
The book covers the complex craft of cinematography (motion picture photography) through interviews with well-known cinematographers, like Vittorio Storaro and Christopher Doyle. With photos and in-depth exploration of contemporary projects, such as Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago, and Nine. Cinematography gives readers access to lauded professionals, providing them with the perspective to think like professionals and create a compelling visual story.
Discussions with the world’s most notable filmmakers, giving insights into professional practice, working relationships, and influences. Sidebars featuring practical advice on topics that filmmakers can apply to their own work. “Legacy Sections” focusing on the work of past filmmaking greats.
As a cinema fan and also a filmmaker, although I graduated from college, I did not major in film or attend a film school.
But despite not having majored in film, I do have a passion for cinema.
In fact, if one was to visit my personal library, you would see a plethora of film books. Books on theory, books on execution and books that focuses on various filmmakers.   And also along with those books is a dedicated cinema shrine of DVD’s and Blu-ray’s featuring the work of the world’s talented filmmakers since the late 1890’s to present-time.
And having reviewed many films on Blu-ray and DVD and also cinema-related books, I tend to gravitate towards liking books from writers who acknowledge other filmmakers. From books such as Francois Truffaut’s “Hitchcock”, “The Parade’s Gone By” by Kevin Brownlow, Sergei Eisenstein’s “Film Form: Essays in Film Theory”, Andre Bazin’s “What is Cinema?”, Peter Bogdanvoich’s “Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors”, to name a few.
And there are many books that focus on the work of these famous directors with in-depth interviews but what about cinematographers? I can think of three wonderful books and now, you can add a fourth.
“FilmCraft: Cinematography” by Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson is a book which focuses on 18 cinematographers from all over the world.
Featuring priceless interviews and article spotlights on the following cinematographers:
- Vilmos Zsigmond (Hungary/US) – Known for his work on “The Deer Hunter”, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “Deliverance”, “Maverick” and more.
- Christopher Doyle (Australia/Hong Kong) – Known for his work on “Chungking Express”, “In the Mood for Love”, “Hero”, “2046” and more.
- Michael Ballhaus (Germany/US) Known for his work on “The Departed”, “Goodfellas”, “Gangs of New York”, “Dracula” and more.
- James Wong Howe (China/US) – Known for his work on “Hud”, “The Thin Man”, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “Sweet Smell of Success” and more.
- Ed Lachman (US) – Known for his work on “Erin Brokovich”, “The Virgin Suicides”, “Far From Heaven”, “I’m Not There” and more.
- Rodrigo Prieto (Mexico) – Known for his work on “Brokeback Mountain”, “Babel”, “21 Grams”, “Amores Perros” and more.
- Caleb Deschanel (US) – Known for his work on “The Passion of the Christ”, “The Patriot”, “National Treasure”, “The Right Stuff”
- Raoul Coutard (France) – Known for his work on “Breathless”, “Jules and Jim”, “Pierrot le Fou”, “Z” and more.
- Vittorio Storaro (Italy) – Known for his work on “Apocalypse Now”, “The Last Emperor”, “Last Tango in Paris”, “Dick Tracy” and more.
- Chris Menges (UK/US) – Known for his work on “The Reader”, “Notes on a Scandal”, “The Killing Fields”, “The Mission” and more.
- Dion Beebe (Australia/US) – Known for his work on “Collateral”, “Chicago”, “Equilibrium”, “Green Lantern” and more.
- Jack Cardiff (UK) – Known for his work on “Rambo”, “The African Queen”, “The Red Shoes”, “Conan the Destroyer” and more.
- Owen Roizman (US) – Known for his work on “Network”, “The French Connection”, “Tootsie”, “The Exorcist” and more.
- Barry Ackroyd (UK) – Known for his work on “The Hurt Locker”, “United 93”, “Green Zone”, “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” and more.
- Ellen Kuras (US) – Known for her work on “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Blow”, “Be Kind Rewind”, “Coffee and Cigarettes” and more.
- Sven Nykvist (Sweden) – Known for his work on “Sleepless in Seattle”, “Chaplin”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and more.
- Peter Suschitzky (UK) – Known for his work on “Star Trek: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”, “A History of Violence”, “Eastern Promises”, “Mars Attacks!” and more.
- Seamus McGarvey (Ireland/US) – Known for his work on “Atonement”, “Along Came Polly”, “High Fidelity”, “The Hours” and more.
- Javier Aguirresarobe (Spain) – Known for his work on “Twilight: New Moon”, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, “The Others” and more.
- Matthew Libatique (US) – Known for his work on “Black Swan”, “Iron Man”, “Iron Man 2”, “Requiem for a Dream” and more.
- Freddie Young (UK) – Known for his work on “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “Ryan’s Daughter”, “You Only Live Twice” and more.
“FilmCraft: Cinematography” by Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson is a book that shows how each of these cinematographers have their own approach to cinema and working on their projects. Featuring their various philosophies, personalities and the differences of these cinematographers but also as the writers wanted to clear up misconceptions about their craft, the types of lenses used and how each of these individuals came from different backgrounds.
But most importantly, while these cinematographers have communicated with many viewers around the world through images, through this book, it gives these individuals a chance to communicate through their own words.
There have been numerous books that have featured interviews with a variety of cinematographers, from those who worked during the golden years of cinema to those who worked in many films within the last century. And while the directors are typically the people who are most vocal and mostly covered in many books on cinema, the major cinematographers is one thing you don’t usually find many books of.
There have been wonderful books such as David Ellis’ “Conversations with Cinematographers”, Peter Prescott Tonguette’s “Orson Welles Remembered: Interviews with his Actors, Cinematographers and Magicians” and Dennis Schaefer’s “Masters of Light: Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers”…but unlike the directors, there really is not many books that focus on a collection of interviews with these cinematographers unless you have tapped into the Criterion Collection or Masters of Cinema collection Blu-ray or DVD’s which contain special features with interviews with these cinematographers for a particular film.
But I have to say that “FilmCraft: Cinematography” by Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson is a wonderful addition to anyone who are upcoming cinematographers or even a curious cineaste.
But before I get into the good, let me talk about any negative aspects…trust me, there are not that many. Interviews and articles on a collective are typically subjective and when it comes to cinema, especially if you watch cinema worldwide, one thing that you want to see is a good representation of interviewees from around the world. There is a good representation of cinematographers from the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Ireland, Spain, etc. But aside from Christopher Doyle, who has worked on many Asian cinema with director Wong Kar-wai, it would have been nice to see Asian cinematographers featured.
It would have been wonderful to have a Russian, Indian, Chinese, Swedish and other wonderful cinematographers featured. But that is probably my own “trying to find a negative when there aren’t really any” with this book.
But I’m sure a lot of cinema fans probably would want more French, Italian, America, British cinematographers featured from the past and present and I suppose that it would definitely make the possibility of “FilmCraft: Cinematography vol. 2” a good idea.
Which leads me to the good news and that “FilmCraft: Cinematography” is wonderful resource featuring interviews and article spotlights with a variety of cinematographers. In fact, it’s a wonderful book and the selections of cinematographers is fantastic!
This book features names that shocked even me, that they got the opportunity to interview them for this book. For example, James Wong Howe. For anyone who has watched classic cinema such as William Powell and Myrna Loy’s “The Thin Man”, James Cagney’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis’ “Sweet Smell of Success”…I don’t know how many times I have watched these films and felt inspired seeing someone of Asian descent working in the film industry in classic Hollywood.
And of course, along with Howe…you have to include Nouvelle Vague’s Raoul Coutard who is known for working on Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut’s memorable French New Wave films. So, it’s great to see Howe, Coutard and a few others have received the “Legacy”spotlight in this book.
I was definitely in glee when I read the interview with Christopher Doyle. I can easily remember watching “Chungking Express” and watching the scene while Cop 663 (played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is standing in his area and Doyle employs the quick movements on this static character. It was a scene that I would remember and he repeats another memorable scene over a decade later in “Hero” with vibrant colors and amazing camerawork. Wong Kar-wai films are beautiful and thanks to the creative freedom that Christopher Doyle has with Kar-wai, these two have made fantastic films together and you get to read about Doyle and his thoughts of working on various films. It’s a wonderful chapter!
And of course, the book doesn’t focus on fantastic cinematographers from decades past, you also have cinematographers who have worked on modern films such as Barry Ackroyd who talks about working on “United 93”, “Land and Freedom”, “The Hurt Locker”. You have Javier Aguirresarobe who worked with Woody Allen on “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” discussing his films, Matthew Libatique who worked on “Black Swan” and the recent “Iron Man” films. And many more!
I can continue to gush about this book about why I loved it but if I had to sum it all up about what I loved about this book into one word, it would be “opportunity”. The writers giving the opportunity to learn about these filmmakers through their book and these cinematographers for giving readers the opportunity to know more about their approach to their craft and their work on various films.
The fact is that unless you spend a lot of money on Blu-ray or DVD’s which you can hope has an audio commentary track or interview with a cinematographer, it really is awesome when you come across a book written by writers who are passionate about cinema and really went out to gather considerable names for their book. And when it comes to interview books with cinematographers, let’s just say that it ranks in my top two! And I can only hope that Goodridge & Grierson continues this book with a vol. 2 in the near future.
Overall, “FilmCraft: Cinematography” by Mike Goodridge & Tim Grierson is one of the best books out there when it comes to featuring famous cinematographers worldwide within the last century. The interviews are absolutely priceless, the book is well-written. and the potential of a continuing series of this book featuring more cinematographers worldwide would be wonderful.
If you are a film student, an observer of cinematography or just a cineaste who are passionate about the films and the people responsible on camera, make no doubt about it… “FilmCraft: Cinematography” is highly recommended!