Over the Counter #107

What caught my eye this week as it passed over my library counter and under the scanner? Filming the Undead (How to Make Your Own Zombie Movie) by Rod Durick. There seems to be a how to guide for just about everything.......

From the publisher Barron's:

"Today, thanks to the development of modern, relatively low-cost and rentable filmmaking equipment, anybody with ambition, imagination, and basic cinematic know-how can become a movie producer and director. In this book, author Rod Durick helps readers develop that cinematic know-how. He translates his own experiences into a detailed set of practical instructions for budding independent filmmakers who want to specialize in making horror movies. Recognizing that most independent filmmakers must work on very small budgets, Durick emphasizes ways to find low-cost solutions for creating effects that rival those of Hollywood studios. He presents instructions on -

• Making a storyboard for a story concept
• Coping with preproduction details, such as contracts, budgeting, financing, assembling casts and crews, finding shooting locations, and more
• Creating props and special effects, making convincing zombie masks and horror-story makeup, designing costumes, and getting supplies
• Mastering production details, which include lighting and filming both indoors and outdoors
• Completing postproduction details, such as film editing, creating visual effects, and adding sound and music
• Marketing and promoting at conventions, festivals, local theaters, and other sites

The book is filled with step-by-step, how-to color photos and illustrations, lists of needed equipment and materials, do-and-don’t warnings, and virtually everything a low-budget filmmaker needs to know before starting out to produce a successful horror movie."

(Over the Counter is a regular feature at A Bookworm's World. I've sadly come the realization that I cannot physically read every book that catches my interest as it crosses over my counter at the library. But... I can mention them and maybe one of them will catch your eye as well. See if your local library has them on their shelves!)