Love The Five C's of Cinematography? Readers share 100 books like The Five C's of Cinematography...

By Joseph V. Mascelli ,

Here are 100 books that The Five C's of Cinematography fans have personally recommended if you like The Five C's of Cinematography. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of The Human Figure

Robh Ruppel Author Of Graphic L.A.

From my list on timeless art advice.

Why am I passionate about this?

In the “meme-ification” of the world, the long-form version of learning and practicing skills is getting lost. True discovery happens after a thorough and deep understanding of the subject. Truth is a multilayered, complex exploration that is hard to sum up in a single sentence. 

Robh's book list on timeless art advice

Robh Ruppel Why Robh loves this book

Vanderpoel was JC Leyendecker‘s teacher in Chicago. You can’t go wrong by going back to the source. Underneath JC’s style, is rock solid form and structure. With slightly archaic language that takes a while to understand, this book offers huge insight into the structural thinking of how to draw and interpret the human figure.

By John H. Vanderpoel ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Human Figure as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This great classic is still unrivalled for its clear, detailed presentation of thousands of fundamental features of the human figure. Every element of the body (such as the overhang of the upper lip; the puckering at the corners of the mouth; the characteristic proportions of the head, trunk, limbs, etc.; the tension between connected portions of the body; etc.) is carefully and concisely pointed out in the text. Even more helpful are the 430 pencil and charcoal drawings that illustrate each feature so that you are, in effect, shown what to look for by a master teacher.
The result is…


If you love The Five C's of Cinematography...

Ad

Book cover of The Beatles and the 1960s: Reception, Revolution, and Social Change

The Beatles and the 1960s by Kenneth L. Campbell,

The Beatles are widely regarded as the foremost and most influential music band in history and their career has been the subject of many biographies. Yet the band's historical significance has not received sustained academic treatment to date. In The Beatles and the 1960s, Kenneth L. Campbell uses The…

Book cover of The Practice and Science of Drawing

Robh Ruppel Author Of Graphic L.A.

From my list on timeless art advice.

Why am I passionate about this?

In the “meme-ification” of the world, the long-form version of learning and practicing skills is getting lost. True discovery happens after a thorough and deep understanding of the subject. Truth is a multilayered, complex exploration that is hard to sum up in a single sentence. 

Robh's book list on timeless art advice

Robh Ruppel Why Robh loves this book

The Practice and Science of Drawing is one of the few books worth reading every page of. I thumbed through it for years before finally reading it. The author breaks down drawing into two major categories, that of line and that of mass, and how they are distinct from one another, yet how they are intertwined in their ability to render form. An awareness of both concepts is crucial to a full education of the artist.

By Harold Speed ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Practice and Science of Drawing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Much of the learning to practice as well as to appreciate art is concerned with understanding the basic principles. One of these principles is what Harold Speed calls "dither," the freedom that allows realism and the artistic vision to play against each other. Very important to any artist or work of art, this quality separates the scientifically accurate from the artistically accurate. Speed's approach to this problem is now considered a classic, one of the few books from the early years of this century that has continued to be read and recommended by those in the graphic arts.
In this…


Book cover of Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters

Robh Ruppel Author Of Graphic L.A.

From my list on timeless art advice.

Why am I passionate about this?

In the “meme-ification” of the world, the long-form version of learning and practicing skills is getting lost. True discovery happens after a thorough and deep understanding of the subject. Truth is a multilayered, complex exploration that is hard to sum up in a single sentence. 

Robh's book list on timeless art advice

Robh Ruppel Why Robh loves this book

Hale’s book uses master drawings as the basis for his analysis. He shows the critical thinking that went behind the draftsmanship and offers a few choice words on conceiving a solid shape before trying to render it. Style is great but style without understanding is just a bad xerox of an idea. Hale offers a deeper dive into understanding what all those bumps and lumps are and more importantly, the hierarchy to where they sit and what to emphasize. Mindless rendering never helped anyone.

By Robert Beverly Hale ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A book whose sales have not diminished but rather increased dramatically since its publication 45 years ago, this bestselling classic is the ultimate manual of drawing taught by the late Robert Beverly Hale, who's famed lectures and classes at New York City's Art Student League captivated artists and art educators from around the world.

Faithfully producing and methodically analyzing 100 master drawings-including works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rodin, Goya, and Rembrandt among others-Hale shows how these artists tackled basic problems such as line, light and planes, mass, position and thrust, and anatomy. With detailed analytical captions and diagrams, every…


If you love Joseph V. Mascelli...

Ad

Book cover of Taiwanese-Language Cinema: Rediscovered and Reconsidered

Taiwanese-Language Cinema by Chris Berry (editor),

This is the first anthology in English about a long-neglected but now rediscovered cinema phenomenon in Taiwan, Taiwanese-language cinema (a.k.a. Taiyupian).

Taiyupian was a substantial commercial film industry that produced over 1,000 films between the 1950s–1970s in Taiwan. Once the industry declined, they were quickly forgotten for many years…

Book cover of The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing

Robh Ruppel Author Of Graphic L.A.

From my list on timeless art advice.

Why am I passionate about this?

In the “meme-ification” of the world, the long-form version of learning and practicing skills is getting lost. True discovery happens after a thorough and deep understanding of the subject. Truth is a multilayered, complex exploration that is hard to sum up in a single sentence. 

Robh's book list on timeless art advice

Robh Ruppel Why Robh loves this book

This book offers the technical breakdown of painting in grisaille. I only know of a few books that cover it and this one was written by an amazing painter! This was the common practice of Bouguereau and Gerome and is thoroughly explained in this particular volume as well and the rendering of planar “facets.” The practice of grisaille is an important phase in painting. The separation of color and form is partly why so many of the “masters” had such control over form and value.

By Solomon J. Solomon ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This instructive volume introduces not only the techniques of oil painting but also the underlying principles of figure drawing. Written by a distinguished Pre-Raphaelite painter, portraitist, and book illustrator, the treatment begins by explaining the construction of the figure, head, and limbs. Succeeding chapters illustrate these teachings with examples of images by the Old Masters, including paintings from the Italian, Dutch, Spanish, French, and British schools.
The Birmingham Daily Post pronounced this volume "probably the most useful handbook for art students that has yet been published." Students at every level of expertise will benefit from its discourses on light and…


Book cover of Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know

Larry A. Brown Author Of How Films Tell Stories: The Narratology of Cinema

From my list on the art of filmmaking.

Why am I passionate about this?

One reason I became a professor of humanities, teaching subjects like film, theater, and literature, was to share my enthusiasm for the great works of imagination which have inspired people for centuries. Stories shape our lives and pass on our most important values and beliefs to future generations. In my academic career, I have directed plays and have written two novels, but teaching film has been my major passion for the last several years. 

Larry's book list on the art of filmmaking

Larry A. Brown Why Larry loves this book

Using multiple helpful examples to illustrate her points, the author examines the various ways that films tell their stories visually through the use of cinematography.

Techniques of lighting, editing, movement, color, and camera placement are effectively discussed, making this a helpful and practical resource for film-making students as well as those who simply want to appreciate the art of filmmaking. 

By Jennifer Van Sijll ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cinematic Storytelling as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What the industry's most succcessful writers and directors have in common is that they have mastered the cinematic conventions specific to the medium.


Book cover of Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music

Larry A. Brown Author Of How Films Tell Stories: The Narratology of Cinema

From my list on the art of filmmaking.

Why am I passionate about this?

One reason I became a professor of humanities, teaching subjects like film, theater, and literature, was to share my enthusiasm for the great works of imagination which have inspired people for centuries. Stories shape our lives and pass on our most important values and beliefs to future generations. In my academic career, I have directed plays and have written two novels, but teaching film has been my major passion for the last several years. 

Larry's book list on the art of filmmaking

Larry A. Brown Why Larry loves this book

I found Claudia Gorbman’s book insightful in her examination of how film music helps to reinforce the story and enhance the mood of what’s happening on the screen.

Music has a powerful impact on the film viewer, shaping our emotional response to the characters and their triumphs and challenges. Using many examples, this book sharpened my understanding of how music works in a film. 

By Claudia Gorbman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Unheard Melodies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A good book for the basics of classical film music.


If you love The Five C's of Cinematography...

Ad

Book cover of Anatomy of Embodied Education: Creating Pathways to Brain-Mind Evolution

Anatomy of Embodied Education by E. Timothy Burns,

The vast mysterious terrain explored in this book encompasses the embodied human brain, the processes through which humans grow, develop, and learn, and the mystery of consciousness itself. We authors offer this guidebook to assist you in entering and exploring that terrain.

As parents and educators come to understand this…

Book cover of Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood

Robert Matzen Author Of Season of the Gods

From my list on old Hollywood in general (and Warner Brothers in particular).

Why am I passionate about this?

My dad instilled in me a love of, and respect for, history and an avid interest in golden-era Hollywood. In my adult life as a professional writer, that paternal guidance has translated into eight books about various aspects of old Hollywood, with a growing focus on the intersection of Hollywood and World War II. My career to date was punctuated by the international success of Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, which detailed the future star’s very hard life in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. Dad didn’t live long enough to know I’d written anything, let alone a number of books he would have enjoyed reading. 

Robert's book list on old Hollywood in general (and Warner Brothers in particular)

Robert Matzen Why Robert loves this book

Leonard Maltin shot to prominence as a youth publishing the annual Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, with each new edition becoming an instant New York Times bestseller. Maltin also served a long stint as an on-air correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, where he earned backstage access to generations of movie stars.

His recently published memoir details his early obsession with the movies and then his slow but steady rise as one of Hollywood’s leading historians. I love this book most for its insights into the old stars that Maltin met—stars who knew him from his books and TV work and opened up about their own histories, making this book a valuable resource for film scholars.

By Leonard Maltin ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Starstruck as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hollywood historian and film reviewer Leonard Maltin invites readers to pull up a chair and listen as he tells stories, many of them hilarious, of 50+ years interacting with legendary movie stars, writers, directors, producers, and cartoonists. Maltin grew up in the first decade of television, immersing himself in TV programs and accessing 1930s and ‘40s movies hitting the small screen. His fan letters to admired performers led to unexpected correspondences, then to interviews and publication of his own fan magazine. Maltin’s career as a free-lance writer and New York Times-bestselling author as well as his 30-year run on Entertainment…


Book cover of A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies

Michael Tau Author Of Extreme Music: From Silence to Noise and Everything In Between

From my list on absolutely arcane corners of human existence.

Why am I passionate about this?

Following mysterious trails and uncovering esoteric stories: it’s what I love to do, and it’s also what I love to read about. Before I released Extreme Music, I wrote extensively about unusual music subcultures and audiological anomalies, for example artists who put out hourlong blocks of unchanging white noise. I’ve learned that the most interesting ideas – and tales – exist in these outer fringes.

Michael's book list on absolutely arcane corners of human existence

Michael Tau Why Michael loves this book

The filmic counterpart to Amanda Petrusich’s exposé on collectors of 78 RPM records, Do Not Sell at Any Price, this book uncovers the eccentric characters who have devoted their free time to collecting theatrical prints of movies, often risking harm (and jail time) in the process. One highlight is a profile of Mike Vraney, the man who founded Something Weird Video, a film distributor famous for re-releasing arcane Z-movies and shock films. The self-professed owner of the “largest sexploitation archive on Earth,” his stories, and those of a range of other specialized collectors, make this book a worthy compendium of a unique subculture.

By Dennis Bartok , Jeff Joseph ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Thousand Cuts as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Thousand Cuts is a candid exploration of one of America's strangest and most quickly vanishing subcultures. It is about the death of physical film in the digital era and about a paranoid, secretive, eccentric, and sometimes obsessive group of film-mad collectors who made movies and their projection a private religion in the time before DVDs and Blu-rays.

The book includes the stories of film historian/critic Leonard Maltin, TCM host Robert Osborne discussing Rock Hudson's secret 1970s film vault, RoboCop producer Jon Davison dropping acid and screening King Kong with Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore East, and Academy Award-winning film…


Book cover of Creating Animated Cartoons with Character: A Guide to Developing and Producing Your Own Series for TV, the Web, and Short Film

David Perlmutter Author Of The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows

From my list on understanding the history of animation.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a freelance writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specializing in media history and speculative fiction. I have been enchanted by animation since childhood and followed many series avidly through adulthood. My viewing inspired my MA thesis on the history of animation, out of which grew two books on the history and theory of animation on television, America 'Toons In: A History of Television Animation (available from McFarland and Co.) and The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows (available from Rowman and Littlefield). Hopefully, others will follow.

David's book list on understanding the history of animation

David Perlmutter Why David loves this book

Murray, the creator of the wonderful shows Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Laslo, details in full the story of his own career in animation while at the same time exploring the mechanics of producing animation for television.

He includes interviews with his colleagues and contemporaries in the field which are revelatory about how many great programs of the 1990s and 2000s were produced, and fills a major research gap in the process.

By Joe Murray ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Creating Animated Cartoons with Character as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating characters and the world they live in and what it takes to get ideas on the screen. The tone is approachable and encouraging, from an Emmy Award-winning artist. It features behind-the-scenes and in-progress storyboards, photos and art from several popular animated series, such as "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Spongebob Squarepants". This book targets the scores of aspiring cartoon animators who are seeking a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating characters and the world they live in. "Creating Animated Cartoons with Character" was born out of Emmy Award-winning illustrator and animator Joe Murray's experiences…


If you love Joseph V. Mascelli...

Ad

Book cover of How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul

How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist by Caroll Michels,

This updated and revised classic handbook puts to rest the popular myth of the starving artist. There is plenty of room to make a living – if artists take an active stand in promoting their careers and learn how to navigate the often-bewildering corridors of power that lead to success…

Book cover of Pretty as a Picture

Josh Stallings Author Of Tricky

From my list on crime stories with neurodiversity plus one.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a massively dyslexic writer. I have always felt like I was standing outside a party I wasn’t invited to. Reading writers with diverse backgrounds and brain types from me but a common humanity makes me feel less alone. I grew up on the activist hippy side of the 60’s culture wars. I grew up poor. I went to a mostly white hippy grammar school. I went to a mostly Black inner-city high school. My oldest son is intellectually disabled. I have committed petty crimes, done drugs, been a drunk. I am one diverse mother-trucker. But then again, aren’t we all.

Josh's book list on crime stories with neurodiversity plus one

Josh Stallings Why Josh loves this book

Marissa doesn’t label herself but seems to deal with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In her words, “The best way I can think to describe it is that there’s a beehive in my chest, and most people upset the bees. The nearer they get, the worse it is—and direct contact makes them swarm.” Marissa is more than a diagnosis. She is a film editor struggling to verbalize to producers her inner creative process. I was a film editor for many years and Little’s description of the creative process was spot on. Marissa is trapped on a movie set full of mayhem and murder. How she presents makes it hard for anyone to believe her when she discovers a killer amongst them. The book is a powerful statement on looking beyond how someone presents the truth they are speaking.

By Elizabeth Little ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pretty as a Picture as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, and CrimeReads Best Mystery Book of 2020

"Funny, fast-paced, and a pleasure to read." --The Wall Street Journal

An egomaniacal movie director, an isolated island, and a decades-old murder--the addictive new novel from the bestselling author of Dear Daughter

Marissa Dahl, an up-and-coming film editor with a flair for faux pas, travels to a small island off the coast of Delaware to work with the legendary--and legendarily demanding--director Tony Rees on a feature film with a familiar logline.

Some girl dies.

It's not much to go on, but the specifics don't concern Marissa. Whatever…


Book cover of The Human Figure
Book cover of The Practice and Science of Drawing
Book cover of Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

2,358

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in film, art, and painting?

Film 248 books
Art 1,004 books
Painting 63 books