Writing Short Films is one of the bestselling university text books on writing short film screenplays. This updated and revised edition includes several new chapters.

Fully revised and updated practical and inspirational guide for students and independent film-makers, describing and explaining the whole process - from creating an original or adapted script, through producing, directing and editing, to finance and distribution.

Best known for his work with Neil Gaiman and his Harvey award-winning graphic novel Cages, comes this Blu-ray collection of Dave McKean's surreal short films collected in a behind the scenes 9 x 12 hardcover book! Dave McKean's short cinema on Blu-ray included in a hardcover book featuring photos, posters, stills, drawings, and more. A must-have for McKean fans! "Dave demands his characters agonize over the meaning of life but he forces us to take the roller-coaster ride as well . . . right to the heart of the creative process--his words and drawings cascading across the page in perfectly structured cacophony. Beautiful!"--Terry Gilliam Blu-Ray includes the following short films and documentaries from Dave McKean: Week Before - 23mins - Insipired by the music of Django Reinhardt, story about two neighbors, God, and The Devil. Neon - 27mins - This film is narrated by Velvet Underground founder John Cale and was first prize winner at Clermont-Ferrand (one of most prestigous short film festivals in the world). Whack! - 14mins - Based on Mr. Punch graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. Displacements - 14mins - A combination of three short films featuring Michael Moorcock, Iain Sinclair, and Ed Dorn. Dawn - 9mins - Filmed after McKeans's work on the movie Mirrormask, this short film is based on the Dark Horse Comics graphic novel Pictures that Tick, and was accepted into Clermont-Ferrand Festival Iain Ballamy & Stian Carstensen - 3 1/2 minutes - A video short of jazz musicians Iain Ballamy & Stian Carstensen. Sonnet No. 138 - 1min - An animated version of one of Shakespeare's sonnets as part of a large project to turn all of them into short films, the project was canceled and all that remains is this short film. MTV-9/11 Reason - 1min - Reason was created to play on Sept. 11th 2002, a year after the terrorist attack in New York in 2001. McKean made this image as a illustration for a memorial book published by Dark Horse, and turned it into a film shortly after. MTV-World Aids Day - 1min - McKean's short film for MTV on World Aids Day. Visitors - 15mins - Created to be a video shown during live performances for the band Food, this film was shot at the Pacific coastline at Pebble Beach, Point Lobos, Big Sur, Pacific Grove, and at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. A short film for Adobe - 4mins - Short film to cover the making of an image, which was the cover of The Particle Tarot. Signal to Noise - 4mins - Based of his own Graphic Novel Signal to Noise. RAINDANCE 7 - 1min - Trailer/Advert for the Raindance Film Festival. KODAK: TAKE PICTURES FURTHER - 40Mins - Commissioned by Kodak to launch a new film stock, and consisted of a lavish book, featuring several photographer/ artists, and accompanying 'making of' films for each contributor. BUCKETHEAD -THE BALLAD OF BUCKETHEAD - 4.5 mins - Daves ode to the musician Buckethead Izzy - 3.5 Mins - Film dedicated to opera singer Izzy, featured on MTV's Classical Channel. Lowcraft - 1 minute - A music video made for the band Lowcraft, inspired by the artist Lorenzo Mattotti. The Old Monkey - 4 minutes - A performance by McKean of a song he wrote for jazz composer Iain Ballamy and poet Matthew Sweeney. 9 Lives: Sheepdip, Johnson and Dupree; 9 Lives: The Cathedral of Trees - 4 minutes - Two short films from a show by McKean called Nine Lives.

From the renowned author of Possession, The Children’s Book is the absorbing story of the close of what has been called the Edwardian summer: the deceptively languid, blissful period that ended with the cataclysmic destruction of World War I. In this compelling novel, A.S. Byatt summons up a whole era, revealing that beneath its golden surface lay tensions that would explode into war, revolution and unbelievable change — for the generation that came of age before 1914 and, most of all, for their children. The novel centres around Olive Wellwood, a fairy tale writer, and her circle, which includes the brilliant, erratic craftsman Benedict Fludd and his apprentice Phillip Warren, a runaway from the poverty of the Potteries; Prosper Cain, the soldier who directs what will become the Victoria and Albert Museum; Olive’s brother-in-law Basil Wellwood, an officer of the Bank of England; and many others from every layer of society. A.S. Byatt traces their lives in intimate detail and moves between generations, following the children who must choose whether to follow the roles expected of them or stand up to their parents’ “porcelain socialism.” Olive’s daughter Dorothy wishes to become a doctor, while her other daughter, Hedda, wants to fight for votes for women. Her son Tom, sent to an upper-class school, wants nothing more than to spend time in the woods, tracking birds and foxes. Her nephew Charles becomes embroiled with German-influenced revolutionaries. Their portraits connect the political issues at the heart of nascent feminism and socialism with grave personal dilemmas, interlacing until The Children’s Book becomes a perfect depiction of an entire world. Olive is a fairy tale writer in the era of Peter Pan and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In the Willows, not long after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. At a time when children in England suffered deprivation by the millions, the concept of childhood was being refined and elaborated in ways that still influence us today. For each of her children, Olive writes a special, private book, bound in a different colour and placed on a shelf; when these same children are ferried off into the unremitting destruction of the Great War, the reader is left to wonder who the real children in this novel are. The Children’s Book is an astonishing novel. It is an historical feat that brings to life an era that helped shape our own as well as a gripping, personal novel about parents and children, life’s most painful struggles and its richest pleasures. No other writer could have imagined it or created it.

Disc characteristics : DVD Region 4.

What goes into the making of Hollywood's greatest motion pictures? Join the authors as they examine recent screenplays on their perilous journey from script to screen.

Anyone can make a short film, right? Just grab some friends and your handheld and you can do it in a weekend or two before being accepted to a slew of film festivals, right? Wrong. Roberta Munroe screened short film submissions at Sundance for five years, and is an award-winning short filmmaker in her own right. So she knows a thing or two about how not to make a short film. From the first draft of your script to casting, production, editing, and distribution, this is your one-stop primer for breaking into the business. Featuring interviews with many of today's most talented writers, producers, and directors, as well as revealing stories (e.g., what to do when the skinhead crack addict next door begins screaming obscenities as soon as you call "action") from the sets of her own short films, Roberta walks you through the minefield of mistakes that an aspiring filmmaker can make--so that you don't have to make them yourself.

The advent of affordable filmmaking equipment and software, combined with the popularity of websites such as Youtube—which encourage the submission of user-created short films—add up to interest in making and viewing shorts being higher than ever. Experienced professionals are interviewed on all aspects of short film production process in this filmmakers' resource that covers screenwriting, casting, shooting formats, location scouting, soundtracks, computer effects, and how to get the final product distributed. Five award-winning short films from distributor Dazzle Films—including Being Bad and BAFTA-nominated Hotel Infinity—discussed as case studies in the book are featured on a bonus DVD, along with layouts for budget spreadsheets, release forms, contracts, and more.

While Pixar Animation Studios was creating beloved feature-length films such as Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, and WALLE, it was simultaneously testing animation and storytelling techniques in dozens of memorable short films. Andre and Wally B proved that computer animation was possible; Tin Toy laid the groundwork for what would become Toy Story; and Mike's New Car exposed Pixar's finely tuned funny bone. In The Art of Pixar Short Films, animation expert and short film devotee Amid Amidi shines a spotlight on these and many more memorable vignettes from the Pixar archive. Essays and interviews illuminate more than 250 full-color pastels, pencil sketches, storyboards, and final rendered frames that were the foundation of Pixar's creative process.

Where does a young filmmaker begin? With the right short-film concept and this book! The right short can be a filmmaker's "business card" in Hollywood. Here's the authoritative handbook by one of Hollywood's most connected insiders that offers a step-by-step guide through the entire creative process of shooting a short film, as well as expert advice from established filmmakers, and a final game plan for promoting and selling the film once it's in the can.Topics covered include: € Concept € Budget € Finding equipment € Assembling a crew € Casting € Arranging for location € Locating festivals and ancillary markets € Working with the unions € Film vs. digital video Plus:€ A list of film schools € Oscar-winning shorts and nominees € A selection of short-film festivals € Actual short-film budgets € Sample scripts and shooting schedules € A helpful short-film glossary