My First Real Cinema Books
In praise of Larry Edmunds Cinema Bookshop, my first real film books, and why don't most young filmmakers read anymore?
This is the very first film book I ever purchased that was not assigned. It’s also the first book that wasn’t about “movies” it’s about making films.
I found it at Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood right after I had moved to LA in 1977. Larry Edmunds Bookshop became my go to bookstore for film books that were not assigned for a specific class. The selection was and still is amazing.
After I read the Pudovkin book I went back and bought more. I learned in film school that the Russian filmmakers came up with many of the filmmaking and editing techniques we now take for granted. And even if they didn’t invent them, they were the first to write about them.
These books became the foundation of my filmmaking education.
Yes, they are old but the information contained in them is still valuable and useful to me when I’m writing, shooting, and especially in the editing room.
They don’t just sit on my bookshelves, I pull them down from time to time and go through them, like my own little filmmaking refresher course. And every time I re-read something it makes me think of a dozen other things I thought I had forgotten.
On one visit to Larry Edmunds I found an old yellowed typed outline of a class that Sergei Eisenstein taught stapled together in a file folder in one of the many file cabinets that were in the store. It said, $1.00 in the upper right hand corner. I don’t believe it’s a copy, I think it might be an original as you can feel the typing marks on the paper. But who knows?
What I do know is, it’s become a valued possession and I have the original safely stored away. One day I will write about it.
On those rare occasions when I do teach (and they’re getting rarer) I find myself disappointed. Not only do most young filmmakers not read, they seem to have no interest in the history of film and especially the writings of the early Russian Filmmakers.
I’m one of those people who enjoys learning history (especially the history of my art form/craft) and I have a tough time relating to those who don’t.
When I was in film school it seemed like we were all there for a reason. To learn everything we could about filmmaking and to make films. Films that said something. It’s where I was exposed to the work of the early pioneers of filmmaking. In addition to studying the early filmmakers we watched a ton of foreign films as well.
Leaving film school I felt my education was just beginning. I still feel that way. I would much rather watch an old German Expressionist film, or a French New Wave film, than anything being put out through Marvel. I’m going to learn more about storytelling and filmmaking from the earlier films than I will from recent Marvel spectacles.
**Side note – I subscribed to various Marvel comics in high school and college so it’s not like I don’t like the genre or I think I’m too smart for it. I enjoyed reading those comics immensely. They no longer show me anything new in the way of storytelling.
Filmmaking is about storytelling, not about equipment or special effects. All of those things should be used to help tell the story but they should never stick out on their own. To this day I feel that when someone walks out of a film at the end they should be discussing the story. If they’re talking about cameras, the cinematography, sound, art design, special effects, or whatever, then the filmmakers have failed.
The only people who’ve ever asked what kind of camera I used on any of my films have been film students or young filmmakers. Most audiences don’t give a shit about the gear. They either liked the story or they didn’t.
Story is always number one in my book. Everything else needs to work together in service to the story.
Just my opinion.
If you can’t visit Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood I wholeheartedly recommend checking out their website – www.larryedmunds.com There’s still a lot of great stuff there. Which reminds me, I think I need to take another trip to LA soon.
If you have a minute please head on over to my website, www.angryfilmmaker.com and check it out. While you’re there please sign up for my email list. Thank you.
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Now that looks like a bookstore I need to visit one day!