Which books would you recommend to a filmmaker?

utility and concision, plus very readable.

Sculptures in time u fucking pleb

Poetics by Aristotle

>"People have tried for centuries to use drama to change people's lives, to influence, to comment, to express themselves. It doesn't work. It might be nice if it worked for those things, but it doesn't. The only thing the dramatic form is good for is telling a story." (p.65)

It would depend on what type of films they wanted to make.
Secrets of Harry Bright would make a great ensemble drama
The Thief of Always a great fantasy, or The Stars my Destination for science fiction.

Making Movies Sydney Lumet.
Classical Hollywood lighting By Partick Keating helps understand pretty much all visual aspects of classic cinema
David Bordwell

The Disaster Artist

>The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook
>Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Ignore everything else ITT

It feels more /r9k/ honestly.

Enough is enough

...

I've just finished Save The Cat and now I'm working my way through this

You don't need books. Seriously. Study movies and most importantly MAKE MOVIES.

This is coming from an ex film student who, because he's a social phobic retard, read over 500 technical and other books on cinema before realizing that he wasted a fuckton of time and that didn't get him anywhere. I just ended up working a few years in editing before switching career.

If you do want to read, this is a pretty good book that explains the various types of shots: amazon.com/Grammar-Film-Language-Daniel-Arijon/dp/187950507X and this goes over basic editing theory: amazon.ca/Blink-Eye-Revised-2nd/dp/1879505622.

If you say exactly what you mean by "filmmaker" (i.e. what role, or what kinds of movies interest you) I might be able to recommend a few, but if you want to learn how to make movies, study movies and make movies. Reading on its own won't get you anywhere.

William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade / Which Lie Did I Tell?

Aristotle's Poetics

Joseph Campell's Hero With A Thousand Faces

These two books and this one and you're pretty much set: amazon.com/Secrets-Action-Screenwriting-William-Martell/dp/0970067704/. The "blue books" of this guy are also good in a no-nonsense way. You can laugh at his filmography, but his advice is sound. You don't need to read Joseph Campbell's or Mircea Eliade's whole bibliography or anything like that. If you do, realize that you are doing it for fun and not because it will help you achieve anything.

I'm being serious. There are a fuckload of books about film, but the vast majority of them are a huge waste of time and you would learn more just going and making your own thing.

Apart from that, if there is a particular profession you are shooting for, read a bit about that, but learning by doing is waaay more effective. Offer to be a PA on shoots, work for free at first, try to help however you can. Film your own stuff. Get people to see it, take note of their comments.

If you are intent on wasting time, the David Bordwell books are fun (they're pretty much all more interesting than Film as Art, which they often make students read). The Five C's of cinematography is also a classic, even though since everything turned digital a lot of the information might be out of date, but the basic principles should still stand (been a while since I read it but I remember really liking it). Other than that just learn by doing.

>Save The Cat
JUST

>In the Blink of an Eye
Such a terrible book.

Yeah, went back to check, I thought I remembered it to be more technical. Still, it takes like an hour to read. Anyway, then he should go with The Eye is Quicker or something for editing. OP, for christ's sake, please don't go fucking read Eisenstein, Vertov or Kuleshov. They're all interesting from a historical standpoint, but it won't help you become a better filmmaker in the least.

Pretty much all screenplay books are too simplistic. They're good to learn the format, but apart from that telling a good story is telling a good story. Even William Goldman, who's been recommended higher in this thread, says that's all he ever used a screenplay book for (I think he says that he didn't even know what a script looked like before he got commissioned to write his first one). If you want to sell a screenplay, realize that you a probably better off writing and publishing a book and then trying to sell the rights to that. The odds are not on your side, but they're still better than selling a screenplay outright.

Starbucks training manual

Buñuel by John Baxter

I Lol'd. Terrible advice, but funny nonetheless.

Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time was a very interesting read.

Noel Carroll's Mystifying Movies if you have an interest in film criticism/philosophy and are interested in how to combine the technical and literary aspects of film

This unironically

Mamet gets some understandable flak for his epileptic dialogue, but the man knows his technique

I've seen a couple books on editing recommended in the thread.

Anyone have any others to suggest?

Catch the Fish by David Lynch

came here to post this

everything ive seen that hes directed has been mediocre to shit. should of stuck to theater

Yes, and not a good one.

Good but too rigid.

No steadycams
NO ESTABLISHING SHOTS
There is no such thing as CHARACTER only action.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

WTF is he smoking? Is it because he has a theatrical background he thinks that all that matters in cinema is the story?

Pretty archaic and close minded to be very honest.

only one book

in all fairness /r9k/ and /pol/ are basically identical people. it's the same archetype of like oh i'm a loser how do i blame other people for my own failings instead of meaningfully developing as a person

it's like the most narcissistic embarrassing thing ever

This. Keep notes on the cinematography with you at all times, also when shooting.