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Dramatic Effects with a Movie Camera
by Gail Segal and Sheril Antonio
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Book Presentation:
The camera's capacity to organize space within a “frame” produces the fundamental unit of movie making: the shot.
Dramatic Effects with a Movie Camera is a practical guide to the visual storytelling potential of different camera techniques, demonstrating how they can produce compelling shots and sequences. By exploring how a close-up shot of a character's face can help the viewer share their fear or joy, or how a moving camera can reveal plot points, connect objects and characters in space or give clues to their state of mind, Gail Segal and Sheril Antonio show how choice of shot can dramatically affect your narrative.
With detailed analysis of clips from 45 films, from 30 countries, this is a unique window into how movie-making masters have made the most of their cameras – and how you can too.
About the authors:
Gail Segal is an Associate Arts Professor in the Graduate Division of Film and TV and the Department Head of Interdisciplinary Collaborations at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, USA.Sheril Antonio is an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Art and Public Policy and the Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, USA.
Press Reviews:
"This book is filled with the same love and knowledge of cinema that I experienced as a graduate student at NYU. I'm so excited that others can now share this knowledge. Drawing from important references both classic and new, Segal and Antonio guide us through the seemingly infinite possibilities of our craft, whilst beautifully illustrating its traditions. It is a wonderful resource for both experienced filmmakers and students. A treasure." ―Joshua James Richards, Director of Photography of Nomadland (2020)
"I really appreciate how a book like this introduces language and thinking that reflects a broader cultural perspective on the arts into the aesthetics of film form (i.e. referencing Seamus Heaney not because of his stature as a poet, but because of this insight as an artist and the way in which poetic and aesthetic insight is so relevant and so inspirational). Segal and Antonio weave their elegant prose with analytic insight; the writing is warm, passionate and precise." ―Rick Litvin, Arts Professor, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, USA
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
> On a related topic:
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A Guide for Creative Collaboration
Subject: Technique > Cinematography
A Guide to (Short) Documentary Filmmaking (2025)
Creating Artful Short Documentary Films
Directors Tell the Story (2025)
Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing
by Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou Belli
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