Understanding Movies, 11th Edition

The average text book is about the size of a piece of printer paper, but this one is quite a bit smaller. It's still bigger than the average novel, an inbetween size really. Very good quality, brand new, packed with care.

So I only bought this because it was required for my film analysis class, but I actually really liked it a lot and I'm keeping it instead of selling it back. There are lots of pictures and interesting information on actors and movies from all the way back to the 1930s to now. Since reading this, I watch movies differently. I know what techniques are and why the director used them, successfully or unsuccessfully, which is fun. So if you are a movie nerd or going into film, this is a great book.

This is the volume we are using in my cinema class this semester, and I have to agree with other positive reviews of the book that I've read before buying it. This book is a good read for anyone that appreciates movies; the process of what goes into making movies and all of the components that the film makers consider when approaching a product. The author's writings are easy to understand and there are ample pictures to go along with, and illustrate, what he describes. We've just begun class, and already I have learned much on the subject.

Fun read for movie lovers!

This book served as a textbook for an Introduction to Film Class that I was taking, so I had to read it from cover to cover.Make no doubt about it. This is a textbook, written in a very technical style. It provides the reader with many tools and terms to use when breaking down film images, understanding how they were constructed, and discussing the content of a film scene.Although this book covers everything from the history of film, to acting, editing, and sound use, one of the most significant segments that our class focused on was the 15 elements of Mise-En-Scene (which is scene composition). This mise-en-scene analysis seems to be one of it's major selling points, since there are essays available online based on this author's system.Unlike many of the other reviewers, I have not had access to previous editions, however I felt that this one fell a little short of some of the most modern trends in film-making. One thing that is most conspicuously absent is any detail about modern computer effects and the use of digital recording versus traditional film recording and editing. This is a very significant part of the modern movie industry, and I'm surprised that an Edition of this book released so recently omits these details.I'm not sure this book is worth it's high price tag. The information content is decent, yet it seems highly opinionated in places. It would be one source among others that I would use if I wanted to get a complete understanding of film. It is not a bad book, but the cover price is very high.If I were you, I'd buy it used or try to find a substantially reduced price.

Class sucked and I never looked at the book, but it was the book for class.

Great condition

Wonderful book. Excellent! Gives a lot of useful information, it has very sophisticated, but it is accessible. Divided in short chapters.