Directing Book - Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics

Directing Book - Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics
By: Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier
Fifth Edition
Focal Press
2013

This book deals with the entire role of the director in as much detail as you can squeeze into several hundred pages.  It is a book that covers the emotional aspects of a film, how a director is a leader, the duties of the director and a whole host of other important things you don't get told on a film course. 

“The director essentially performs two functions: stage the scene for the camera and assure that the performances are strong, consistent and appropriate.”

What his book taught me:-

A whole lot if I'm honest! There's too much to list on a short blog but to sum it up, it taught me that the director is the leader of a ship who's vision and leadership guides and motivates the crew to do the best they can. I also learned from this book how to coax out and reveal the truth in a story and how fictionalising a true story frees you from the constraints of the reality that happened. It's a good book for thinking about character psychology and thinking about what they want and need. It showed me in more detail what beats are, what moments are, the difference between story and plot and so on. There is simply so much to the book to mention them all here but those are the main ones. 

“The creative storyteller must struggle to thoroughly understand the essence of their own dramatic materials (characters, conflict, actions, sequencing and time considerations, and the ultimate meaning) and then build the structural architecture that best answers the needs of their story.”

Should you buy this book?

Without a shadow of a doubt, yes. It is one of my favourite reads. It is possibly the most comprehensive books on directing I have read and every page is golden. It's beyond invaluable and an absolute diamond of a book. Get it!

“As you design your narrative, make us pass through a succession of perspectives and moods by refreshing the ear and eye with variations and comparisons. You can also do this by varying your film’s dramatic pressure – increasing or relaxing the tension through rhythmic changes.”   

Where to buy it: (Copy&Paste)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Directing-Techniques-Aesthetics-Michael-Rabiger/dp/0240818458/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421173273&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=irecting+film+techniques+and+aesthetics