Introduction

Hello, and welcome to Story through Sound and Image. This blog will serve to reprise the odd key point from class, and also to provide links for further investigation.

Some key links:

David Bordwell's Observations on Film Art - Of all film's academics, Bordwell strikes closest to the tools we work with as filmmakers. His textbook is a worthy acquisition also, and you'll find sections of it for free on his website.

Tony Zhou's Vimeo Page - Tony Zhou has an editor's eye and a filmmakers' sense of form. If you're not a reader, you'll find his short videos on key aspects of film art a good path into the subject.

Mark Cousins did a series for Channel 4 based on his book The Story of Film: An Odyssey. If you don't know much about the history of cinema, you'll be amazed at what you've been missing. A humbling vision of what has been done with the art form.

Gustavo Mercado's book The Filmmaker's Eye provides a strong visual demonstration of the key types of shots that recur throughout films. The publisher, Focal Press, maintains a blog that features occasional posts.

And if I had only one book on screen studies to keep me company, I'd probably take one of Cherry Potter's books. Particularly Image, Sound and Story.

And one last film link, which isn't so much about Story through Sound and Image. Hollywood screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin have a podcast called Scriptnotes, and it's a valuable compass for aspiring screenwriters.

Lastly, my own, occasionally-tended blog, which largely seems to be comments on films.

Keep in mind that online film resources to arm yourself for your work are close to limitless and largely free.