About Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker:

What happens in the dark between the screen and the audience that makes movies so exciting to so many? Jon Boorstin believes that every movie is really three movies running at once: the “voyeuristic” movie (the logic of the film), the “vicarious” movie (the emotional hold of the film), and the “visceral” movie (the primal thrill the film elicits). Here he examines these elements using his own experiences as well as those of well-known filmmakers — from Hitchcock to Spielberg — to demonstrate how the moviemaking process works. He shows how filmmakers use light, space, and sound to create a world; tells what makes an actor a star; explains why he thinks Citizen Kane is a great film and what he feels is wrong with the ending of Fatal Attraction. The book — illustrated with stills from films and line-drawings of film techniques — is a fascinating and accessible guide for both filmmakers and serious film fans. 

Praise for Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker:

"Through thoughtful examination of the filmmaker’s art, Jon Boorstin enhances our sense of enjoyment and appreciation of the results." —Robert Redford

"A rare book on film: both accessible and highly informed, it brings together what I have been thinking about movies for twenty years." —Paul Schrader

"I always wonder how we did all this. Jon’s book explains it perfectly" —Gordon Willis, cinematographer (The Godfather, Annie Hall, All the President’s Men)

"Boorstin mesmerizes us with behind-the-scenes filmmaking phenomena that make movie buffs of us all." —San Francisco Chronicle

Click here to purchase Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker on Amazon.