... it is time to get back to reading about animation.
Now that we have all been back at work for a while after the holiday season it is time to get back to reading about animation. Two different but extremely interesting books have come my way: Mastering Screenwriting from Shorts to Features and Michel Ocelot: A World of Animated Images.
Mastering Screenwriting from Shorts to Features
by Donald H. Hewitt
€24.19 $24.99 £20.15 Kindle or Kobo $16.99
Published by: Foreing Films Publishing/Los Angeles 277 Pages
To order from the publisher: https://www.thedigitalfilmmakinghandbook.com/product/mastering-the-short-screenplay/
On Amazon (Print or Kindle): www.amazon.com/Mastering-Screenwriting-Features-Filmmaking-Handbook/dp/1733150242
Kobo: www.kobo.com/us/en:ebook:mastering-screenwriting
Bulk sales discounts for schools or organizations: digitalfilmmakinghandbook@gmail.com
Mastering Screenwriting by Donald H. Hewitt is not just a textbook. It takes you through the entire process from preparing yourself to be a writer and finding your story to completing your screenplay.
The book is designed as a practical guide with a step-by-step methodology and an exercise at the end of each of the 18 chapters. The exercises build on each other, guiding the reader through the process of creating loglines, determining the major beats of your story, and developing characters that your audience will care about.
Donald shows the reader the correct screenplay format, stressing that “Nothing makes you look like an amateur more than an improperly formatted screenplay”. In fact, he feels that it is so important that he devotes an entire chapter to Screenplay Formatting.
For those just at the very beginning of a career in screenwriting and heading off to college, there is a discussion about four-year university film programs vs non-traditional or for-profit film schools as well as why a community college might be the right place for you.
The book also points out that there are other university options. Maybe you should skip a traditional education altogether and go right to the Christopher McQuarrie three-dollar film school. His advice to young writers is, “Get yourself a pencil, some paper, and write a screenplay. The only thing you need is time and effort”. I would add that reading and following the exercises in Mastering Screenwriting by Donald H. Hewitt is as necessary as pencil and paper. McQuarrie worked at a detective agency and traveled for five years before writing his first screenplay. He never went to college.
McQuarrie has written screenplays for The Usual Suspects, for which he won an Oscar. He is also a frequent collaborator with Tom Cruise.
Each chapter begins with a list of films to watch that are either referenced in that chapter or are examples of the topics in that chapter. If you love to watch film these lists will keep you busy for quite a while watching excellent films.
The book ends with an appendix containing course outlines for teachers or self-paced learners, as well as a comprehensive glossary of terms that you will need to know when embarking on a screenplay writing career.
Hewitt is a working screenwriter with over twenty-four years of experience. He teaches screenwriting at USC School of Cinematic Arts and UCLA Extension. His feature film credits include the English language screenplays for the Oscar-winning film Spirited Away, as well as the Oscar-nominated Howl’s Moving Castle.
Donald says that “Writing this book is an exciting way for me to continue to share my knowledge and experience from 25 years of professional screenwriting and 15 years of teaching screenwriting. I believe my clear, simple step-by-step process can make writing a screenplay far more accessible to everyone. My hope is that my book will be a passport to many great screenplays in the near future”.
I never plan on writing a screenplay myself, but I am a pitching coach. The book contains many useful tips that are helpful for writing and presenting a good pitch. It is also interesting for anyone who watches films to help you understand why you really enjoy some movies and other times walk out of the theatre wondering why you didn’t feel a film worked. The excellent list of films to watch is reason enough to buy Mastering Screenwriting from Shorts to Features.
Michel Ocelot: A World of Animated Images
by Laura Buono
€63,62 £52.99 $65.73 eBook £17.99
Order at: Routledge.com ISBN9781032272962
202 Pages 50 Black and White Illustrations
When I watch films by an animator whose work I admire and am very familiar with, I often wonder what inspired their story and visuals. If you have ever been curious about what inspires the acclaimed French animator Michel Ocelot then a new book by Laura Buono, Michel Ocelot: A World of Animated Images is the book for you.
Michel is a very private person who chooses not to say much about himself. He has said that he has already expressed everything that he has to say in his films. Born in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riveria, he spent much of his childhood in Guinea. That he showed his artistic talent at an early age is exemplified by a childhood drawing from the 1950s and a story that he wrote and illustrated for his grandmother, but the majority of the book is spent discussing and analyzing his films.
The author tells us that like many of her generation, she grew up with Disney films, but the unique art of Ocelot’s 1998 feature fantasy/adventure film Kirkou et la Sorciére (Kirkou and the Sorceress) amazed her even at an early age. The film served as the starting point of her research for the book. An entire chapter is devoted to the making of the film.
From a discussion about the history of silhouette and Ocelot’s use of it in his films to his homage to his adopted city Paris, Dilile à Paris (Dilile in Paris), the book gives an indepth examination of the many different techniques and stories the multifaceted animator employes in his films.
The book ends with a 2023 interview by the author with Michel Ocelot where he discusses his most recent project, Le Pharaon, le Sauvage, et la Princesse ( The Black Pharaoh, the Savage, and the Princess). Michel describes the film as “. . . a whimsical ‘Turqueire’ like Molière or Mozart, a comedy-ballet, in exotic costumes without aiming at historical truth”. He also talks about working with the Louvre on the production of this film.
For those of you who know and love Michel Ocelot’s films the book Michel Ocelot: a World of Animated Images will give you incites into his creative process. For those who are just discovering his films, it will open the door to a whole new viewing experience.
