The Art of Nonfiction Movie Making - Essay Example

The Director and the actors own the set. in order to make good quality successful films, the actors must have the director’s full attention. the producer makes an environment which will allow the director to work to his full potential (Wallenstein pg, 9) Film making is largely composed of the factor of getting people to listen to you and invest in you. to make people believe that your project will be worth it and then proving it (Friedman pg 17). 1980s was the era in which digital movie making had started to make its place in the entertainment world and it revolutionized with the MiniDV feature Sony’s camcorder model DCR-VX100 (Segall pg, 5).

In the 21st century, movie making has been made even easier with more advance technology using simple softwares like Moviemaker and iMoviemaker (Cook pg, 7). Sidney Lumet one of the most amazing filmmakers in the history has a 40 year in the field of motion pictures. His critical analysis and great knowledge makes his book a must read for all amateurs who are learning the art of filmmaking. His book almost covers all aspects required to make a creditable film. He gives detailed knowledge about music, production, direction, props, cameras, editing, cinematography, scripts, actors etc.

 This book provides a vision and a guiding pathway for all those who are entering this field and all those young filmmakers intending to make this vast field as their ongoing profession. In the movie The Verdict director Sidney Lumet according to me does not come up to my level of expectation as a lot more could have been done. After reading the novel I personally think direction was not as strong as it should have been for a person with so much in depth knowledge of the field. The level and the bar raised by Sidney are quite high which he didn’t sustain in this book.

This clearly explains that despite the great effort and techniques involved far more could be done to make the movie a success. Apparently this movie for me was a very entertaining and a top notch courtroom based drama which had elements of tragedy, suspense, fraud, emotions and romance making it a complete story. Sidney holds this view that the script should disturb the conventional balance. Astonish the reader, entertains, intrigues and then when it is about to conclude the reader must develop a feeling that this was meant to happen.

This precisely means that the script is the skeleton for any film and a good script keeps the audience awe struck. Likewise in the movie the script is one of the most complex elements, when Frank goes to meet his mom he is immensely affected by her present state which brilliantly unveiled another side of Frank.  Sidney believes that usually he is not thinking about the viewer might react; there are basically two perspectives when it comes to life that have a great impact, that is precisely life and death.

These aspects are so intense that one cannot predict the audiences reaction. And that’s how well he played with emotions in the previously mentioned scene. He laid great emphasis on the selection of the overall cast as he firmly believed that an artist needs to be very vague and distinguished from his/her actions. Sidney Lumet was very well successful in presenting his ideas in the form of a book as well as a motion picture. He was a very devoted filmmaker whom this world and the fraternity would honor for generation to come.

His experience shows both ways and he is one of those people who has practiced what he has preached in his books.                                                                                                               Works cited Englebert, Patti, and Elin K. Cook. Learn & Use Movie Making in Your Classroom. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education, 2009. Print. Friedman, Jeffrey, Robert P. Epstein, and Sharon Wood. The Art of Nonfiction Movie Making.

Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2012. Print. Segall, Miriam. Career Building Through Digital Moviemaking. New York: Rosen Pub, 2008. Print. Wallenstein, Joseph B. Practical Moviemaking: A Handbook for the Real World. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012. Print.