Frame by Frame: A Handbook for Creative Filmmaking

Customer Reviews:

A Course in the Basics of Filmmaking.......2000-05-18

I have a bit of special insight on this book, as I was fortunate enough to take the author's private filmmaking course, upon which this book is based. Many filmmaking manuals dwell on the technical aspects of filmmaking without covering the key concepts and basics that one needs to truly understand the film medium and how one goes about communicating in it. This book does that. In class, Eric would tell us how Hollywood film professionals -- people who had been involved in the business for years -- would take his course and exclaim that they had come to understood film for the first time! This slim but punchy book covers those basic and includes the exercises from Eric Sherman's course, so that anyone can begin to make films after going through and doing the exercises. I did, and I had never even shot a video before the class! This book is standing the test of time because it contains information that will never become dated. I highly recommend it.

'Frame-by-Frame' is an essential book for any filmmaker.......1999-08-27

Starting with the history of filmmaking and ending with directing itself, Eric Sherman covers every aspect of making a movie in between. This is the first book I've found that actually tells you step-by-step how to create a film. The information is invaluable for anyone, from the amateur home video maker to the experienced film director. The chapters on Shots and Editing are especially useful. If you want to refine your filmmaking skills or if you only want to gain a better understanding of the movies you watch, this book will help tremendously.

Book Description

A Chinese Bestiary presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China. The Guideways through Mountains and Seas, compiled between the fourth and first centuries b.c.e., contains descriptions of hundreds of fantastic denizens of mountains, rivers, islands, and seas, along with minerals, flora, and medicine. The text also represents a wide range of beliefs held by the ancient Chinese. Richard Strassberg brings the Guideways to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts and recent archaeological finds to create a lavishly illustrated guide to the imaginative world of early China.
Unlike the bestiaries of the late medieval period in Europe, the Guideways was not interpreted allegorically; the strange creatures described in it were regarded as actual entities found throughout the landscape. The work was originally used as a sacred geography, as a guidebook for travelers, and as a book of omens. Today, it is regarded as the richest repository of ancient Chinese mythology and shamanistic wisdom. The Guideways may have been illustrated from the start, but the earliest surviving illustrations are woodblock engravings from a rare 1597 edition. Seventy-six of those plates are reproduced here for the first time, and they provide a fine example of the Chinese engraver's art during the late Ming dynasty.
This beautiful volume, compiled by a well-known specialist in the field, provides a fascinating window on the thoughts and beliefs of an ancient people, and will delight specialists and general readers alike.

Customer Reviews:

A Scholarly Read Not to Be Missed.......2004-01-02

Geoffrey E.R. Lloyd and Nathan Sivin in, The Way of the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece, raise the following questions: "In what circumstances did inquiries about the world outside human society begin? and What paths [my own italics] did those inquiries open up?" One such "path" or "guideway" is found in the Shan hai jing , or "The Scripture, Classic, Canon, Warp-text [and now Guideways]--however one wants to render jing--Mountains and Seas," as Robert Ford Campany puts it in his review of Riccardo Fracasso and Anne Birrell's earlier translations. He goes on to say, "The list is the trope of plenitude, and an overwhelming plenitude of anomaly is what this book conveys." The Shan hai jing is one of the earliest Chinese works that attempted to provide a description of what was then believed to be "the world outside human society." It sought to provide an embodiment of taxonomic reckoning of its landscape and all of its natural and supernatural fauna and flora, especially to those who ventured into it. There gradually arose amongst the ancient Chinese intelligentsia a weltanschauung, or "world concept" of their biophysical and socioanthropological environment in which they conceived of themselves as being an integral part of the cosmos and intrinsically interjoined with its spiritual, physical, and moral "influences."

To explore the Shan hai jing is to undertake an odyssey in search of its mysteries. This literary venture can easily boggle the mind, especially when it comes to accomplishing a creditable translation with a plausible exegesis of its contents. Many of the traditional commentaries are, for the most part, useless, since the commentators were themselves ignorant of the folklore and palæozoology that underlies this venerable and probably composite text. It requires a whole critical apparatus built around it before an even reasonably full interpretation can be achieved, especially by the philological unwary. Richard Eric Strassberg, Professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California at Los Angeles, offers us an exceptionally fine work of scholarship in his thorough editing, excellent translation, and extensive commentary of this ancient work. He provides his readers with a new and invigorating approach to wandering through this arcane world. He leds us along this jing, or "guideway" and familiarizes us with its passages as a jing, or a "classic." As our guide, he points out in his introductory remarks (p. 5), as a daybook to guide the reader in "choosing auspicious days for travel and avoiding danger from gods and demons." As its expounder, he penetrates its "sacred geography filled with strikingly unusual denizens" (p. xiv) and acquaints us with its mysteries.

Strassberg reminds us that he has "undertaken the risky venture of providing translations whenever possible of the names of creatures, places, and things. Though well aware of the risks involved in the more polysemous case, I offer these translations as reasonable significations that would have occurred to traditional Chinese readers both to facilitate the readers contact with this difficult text and to stimulate further consideration among specialists of what these names might have meant." (p. xviii) One can never be too exacting when it comes to translating ancient Chinese words, nor should such exactitude be so constrained as to preclude the full rein they must be given in order to convey the splendor of their exquisite implicitness. And, again, one can never be too careful when it comes to avoiding renderings which are vitiated by the bland assumption that they meant then what they mean in later dynastic periods; accordingly, such assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. The author has adroitly avoided such pitfalls and he does not misguide his readers.

The contents of A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas (hereafter cited as A Chinese Bestiary) consists of eight parts: List of Illustrations; a Preface; Editorial Notes; a meticulous introduction, followed by 76 plates of the rare illustrations found in the 1597 Yaoshantang reprint of the earlier Wang Chongqing edition as well as 345 descriptions of its demoniac/theriomorphic denizens; extensive Notes; an inclusive Selected Bibliography; and a thorough Glossary Index to Plates. Strassberg has gone to considerable effort to cull through resources in order to provide his readers with what is regarded as being the earliest surviving illustrations of woodblock engravings from the above rare work, making the illustrations available perhaps for the first time in any foreign publication, thereby, providing his readers with an artistic tour de force into the realm of a Chinese bestiary.

In discussing the origins of A Chinese Bestiary, the author refers to how "the yi-physicians credited Divine Farmer (Shennong) and the Yellow Thearch...with having written important medical and pharmacological treatises." (p. 4) One is reminded of Angus Graham's remarks that "legends of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor develop in interaction as representatives of rival tendencies to political centralization and decentralization...." This political dichotomy within medicine also reflects a gradual division within Chinese society between the illiterati (the bearers of oral traditions, including folk medicine) and the literati (the bearers of written traditions, including what would later become known as traditional Chinese medicine). Consequently, one can with caution suggest that materia medica may have been later more closely associated with folk traditions even though it is referenced in the Huang di nei jing su wen, or "The Inner Canon of the Yellow Thearch, Basic Questions" which forms in part the literary foundation of Chinese medicine.

As for minor suggestions, I would offer the following remarks: It would be more convenient for the reader to have the ideograms side by side with their Romanized counterparts, not to mention having the footnotes at the foot of each page for immediate and convenient referencing; there are a few entries, such as guai, yi, xi, and qiu whose ideograms are missing in the Glossary Index; there is some question to rendering of yu and jin as "jade" and "gold,"or zhen as "minister," since in most texts as early as this they mean "precious stones," "precious metals," and "magnate." Similarly, jing bi shi probably means "azure pi stones" (bi is an unidentified stone in early texts, used for making arrowheads; its use as a color word is much later); and, even given all of Strassberg's extensive footnotes, the undaunting quest for more appears to be an insatiable need (e.g., the guanxiong min, or "the people with perforated chests" (pp. 163-164) may refer to those people who were carried on planks of simple construction before the advent of sedan chairs).

The contents of A Chinese Bestiary are not vitiated by bland assumptions of contextual meanings misplaced in dynastic disorder or by a "highly imaginative rendition" (p. xvii) in which assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. Strassberg's literary astuteness and refined linguistic sensitivity provide his readers with an encompassing grasp of its numerous subtleties and variegated shades of meaning. He has not failed to afford his readers, specialists and nonspecialists alike, with an exceptional opportunity of improving our appreciation and understanding of this fascinating ancient Chinese text. It joins the ranks of Yuan Ke's Shan hai jing jiaoyi, Rémi Mathieu's Étude sur la Mythologie et L'ethnologie de la Chine Ancienne and Riccardo Fracasso's Libro dei monti e dei mari (Shanhai jing): Cosmografia e mitologia nella Cina Antica, as being the best translation in its language--English--as well as a must read for those whose penchant is ancient Chinese studies.

hungry for zhiguai ^__^.......2003-03-26

Dr. Strassberg has done some intensive researches on the zhiguai genre as well as the Chinese Travelogue tradition (the two in fact has a germane connection). This book is to provide you with a collection of pictographs of the strange creatures from Shan Hai Jin, an eerie...no, no, no sacred book about the landscape of si-hai (four seas) and jiu-zhou (nine provinces) of the middle kingdom (ancient China). I have both of his two books (this & Inscribed Landscape) and will be more than happy to recommend them to anyone who either has an interest in the study of ancient mythology, Chinese literature, or the so called "sacred geography" of eastern mysticism.:)

Supernatural Buchan - Stories of ancient spirits uncanny places and strange creatures

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Supernatural Buchan - Stories of ancient spirits uncanny places and strange creatures
John Buchan
Manufacturer: Leonaur Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 184677151X

Book Description

Supernatural Buchan - Stories of Ancient Spirits uncanny places and strange creatures. Buchan's stories of solid characters clad in tweeds and braving all odds armed only with a stout walking stick have become popular classics. Perhaps it is therefore no surprise that the same character types populate his highly entertaining tales of the strange and weird - here collected into a feast of supernatural delights. In a Buchan story the hauntings and other manifestations are far more subtle than the usual blood-curdling phantoms. The author brings finely crafted detail and a profound sense of the spirit of landscape (specially that of his native Scotland) and place to locales that are as disparate as the stories themselves. Whether they are acknowledged or not, ancient other-worldly creatures, deities and people intrude into Buchan's settings to influence and effect the lives of "modern" man. These wonderful tales of hidden threat and menace make dealing with the mundane concerns of our own world seem like child's play.

The Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (Seven Sleepers: The Lost Chronicles #3)

Average customer rating:

er...... ok then..........
Very Exciting
Wonderful fantasy book
Great Sci-Fi For All Ages!

The Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (Seven Sleepers: The Lost Chronicles #3)
Gilbert Morris
Manufacturer: Moody Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0802436692

Book Description

The Seven Sleepers have seen their share of strange animals in Nuworld. But Josh and his friends have never seen anything like the animals in Dr. Korbo's country. Where did squirrels the size of elephants come from, anyway? Is the evil doctor somehow responsible? God knows how to put his people in the right place at the right time. So when the Sleepers hear what Dr. Korbo plans to do next, they decide to stop him. Follow Josh and company into danger and see what happens.

Customer Reviews:

er...... ok then.................2004-08-05

alright, if you like books where everyone gets along great and the bad guys never have any feelings or a bit of a chance, then this book is just for you. i only read the first book (i couldn't find it here online), however, but that bored me out of my mind. sure, it had SOME action, but in my oppinion it is really dull, or i just cant see the goodness of this series.
i liked the plot line- seven kids encased while the world blows up- but they were just like power rangers- 'ooh look theres an enemy' 'lets go fight it' *pow* 'oooh im so tired' 'oh no we need back up' *backup comes* *blam pow crash* *enemys die* etc. (im kind of overreacting, but thats the jist of it.)
in my oppinion, morris could have REALLY jazzed up the description and characters to make it a bit interesting. but this is just my oppinion- you can read it for yourself if you like.

Very Exciting.......2003-09-05

This is book 3 in the Seven Sleepers the Lost Chronicles Series. It is about 7 kids that were put in a sleep capsule, while the world was being destroyed. They were awakened by Goel, the master. The kids are helping him fight the Dark Lord. This mission was the hardest because they fought a lot of monsters. Dr. Korbo takes nice animals and makes them mean. The sleepers job is to stop him. Read this book!!!!

Wonderful fantasy book.......2003-07-29

I am a 13-year-old who loves to read. This has to be my favorite 7 sleeper book. It keeps you reading. The 7 sleepers end up on this island with strange mutated creatures. They meet up with a young lady who is trying to take care of these babies for they wre going to be mutilated to. They go on a jounry to get the babies to saftey but along the way the have to fight some evil wierd creatures. It i a wonderful book worth reading and buying. <> <

Great Sci-Fi For All Ages!.......2001-07-02

Another great book by Guilbert Morris. Josh Adams and his friends are again sent on a mission by their leader Goel to help the people of Nuworld. But when they start meeting up with giant, mutated animals in the forest and the evil Dr. Korbo, they aren't so sure Goel knows what he is doing.A thrilling adventure about the Seven Sleepers and how they learn to have faith and trust, even when things aren't going well. I would highly reccommend this book

Average customer rating:

3-1/2 yr old's favorite

Dinosaurs!: Strange and Wonderful
Laurence P. Pringle
Manufacturer: Boyds Mills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1878093169

Customer Reviews:

3-1/2 yr old's favorite.......2002-03-12

A perfect mix of illustrations and simple text. We've read it again and again and again. It's much better than the complex encyclopedia type books that have too much info for our 3 yr old.

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Strange Creatures
David Peters
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Now You Can Read About Strange Creatures (Large Print for First Readers)

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Now You Can Read About Strange Creatures (Large Print for First Readers)
Rita Grainge
Manufacturer: BRIMAX BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JC686Y

Weird Georgia: Close Encounters, Strange Creatures, and Unexplained Phenomena

Average customer rating:

WOW
Not so great...
This is a great read for Georgians!
You ain't just whistlin'Dixie!
Oops......spilled my beer

Weird Georgia: Close Encounters, Strange Creatures, and Unexplained Phenomena
Jim Miles
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

UFOs | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1581821387

Customer Reviews:

WOW .......2005-02-01

WOW!!! I never knew all the super amazing paranormal stuff that has happened in Georgia. I love this book i could read it all day. This summer im gonna visit some sites. How did the author ever find all the information that is gathered in this great book.

Not so great..........2004-02-10

While there is some good information in this book, I found the author's style disjointed and a little odd, making much of the book difficult to wade through. Also, there's a strong emphasis on UFO sightings, so unless you've got a keen interest in that subject you might find yourself skipping quite a bit of the book.

This is a great read for Georgians!.......2002-03-24

I've read this book through and through and loved it! I live about 15 miles from the Georgia Guidestones and know all the people surrounded there mysterious nature! I found it very enjoyable to read about them and other strange happenings in my area. Even my tiny little town was in the book! And I thought nothing ever happend here! GET THIS BOOK! It's funny and imformative!

You ain't just whistlin'Dixie!.......2001-03-26

I've lived in Georgia all my life and I always thought the most mysterious thing about the state was why we keep supporting the Atlanta Falcons. Jim Miles book details more amazing oddities.

This is a great guidebook for those who want to see the biggest state east of the Mississippi in a different light. Miles' well researched book not only tells about such odd things as the Georgia Guide Stones, but it also tells how to find them. I couldn't put this book down. This summer I am going to go on a mystery excursion right here in the old Peach State using Jim Miles' book as a road map.

Oops......spilled my beer.......2001-03-03

Ummmmmm......lets see.......It was nothing like "Moby Dick". But its still a classic. At one point in the book the author wonders aloud when a team of tracking dogs won't chase a Big Foot into a swamp because, " ...maybe the dogs don't believe in Big Foot." Read. Enjoy. Live a little.

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Strange Creatures from Time and Space
John Keel
Manufacturer: Fawcett Gold Medal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KGCXNG

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Leunig in Angry Controversial Mood

Strange Creature
Michael Leunig
Manufacturer: Penguin Global
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 067004136X

Product Description

Wonderful new book by Australian cartoonist - this time it is full of politically 'incorrect' humour! Leunig takes President Bush and Prime Ministers Blair and Howard to task over their involvement in the latest war. VERY FUNNY, VERY INTERESTING, VERY CONTROVERSIAL!

Customer Reviews:

Leunig in Angry Controversial Mood.......2004-02-03

This latest book of Michael Leunig's is totally different to his usual soft and meditative approach to life via his man and duck cartoons.
This one is very politically motivated - a tour de force against the West's involvement in the war in Iraq. The 3 leaders of US, UK and Aust. get a blasting!
A VERY funny look at a VERY controversial subject.
HIGHLY recommeded for all Leunig fans.

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Strange Beginnings
Karen Needham
Manufacturer: Crocodile Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Reference & Nonfiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Zoology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1896580114

Book Description

This beautifully illustrated natural history book has been painstakingly rendered to accurately represent those strange insects that live 99 percent of their lives underwater. It shows the dragonfly, the mayfly, and the caddisfly in their natural habitat.

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