On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director

Behind the many actors, producers, and cinematographers within the motion picture industry, there are the film directors: masterful storytellers, skilled visionaries, the glue holding the basis of production together. Among such examples are the Martin Scorseses, Alfred Hitchcocks, and Quentin Tarantinos of Hollywood, well respected icons who are appreciated and studied by those interested in the craft of filmmaking. I, a hopeful amateur currently studying film, do not (and should not) expect to easily reach the ranks of such idols, let alone be lucky enough to have myself compared to them down the road. Hoping to be able to, one day, take my storytelling aptitude into the world of cinema, I often find my humble self asking, “Where would an aspiring filmmaker take his or her first steps into the field?” I have read a number of filmmaking books before, such as Lloyd Kaufman’s Make Your Own Damn Movie guide, or a few How-To books on certain genres, but I still find myself asking, “Where do I start?” Looking for something that could help answer this question, something that would encompass the study of the Director, and wouldn’t cater so much to that “fame hungry” crowd, I found this book - a much more thorough step-by-step examination than anything I had read on the subject before.

Alexander Mackendrick’s On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director is quite an interesting read. Director of such films as The Ladykillers and The Man in the White Suit, Mackendrick left Hollywood to pursue instructing at the California Institute of the Arts, where he would teach until his death in 1993. Published in 2004 by Faber & Faber, edited by Paul Cronin, this book showcases the committed, prestigious teachings of Mackendrick,...

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...r understanding of the director’s craft - the creative process in putting together these cinematic masterpieces. In addition to our textbook, for instance - a basic overview on the overall terms and ideas used to analyze a film - Mackendrick’s On Film-Making would make a fitting companion text to use when analyzing films from different perspectives. For example, Mackendrick uses examples to break down a monologue from On the Waterfront; we could either analyze this from the viewer’s perspective, what we think this example means or relates to in terms of a certain theme, or we could look at this from the director’s perspective, how much was put into this example for the audience to form a theme for an analysis.

Works Cited

Mackendrick, Alexander, and Paul Cronin. On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the

Director. New York: Faber and Faber, 2004. Print.