# Learning about the cinema form **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548 "2015-07-18T21:15:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548/1 "2015-07-18T21:15:23Z")
I would like to learn about the cinema form. By that, I mean things like the principles of editing, 3 point lighting, the 180 degree rule, camera angles, script writing. More the different crafts than the history of the content. I certainly do not plan to make it a career but it interests me and may be useful in other areas. I simply quite enjoyed learning from these three guys: > **[Every Frame a Painting](https://www.youtube.com/user/everyframeapainting)** > > Every Frame a Painting was a series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016, by Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou. > > We officially announced the end of the channel in December 2017. Nothing sinister, we just felt it was time.... [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzENFfEVWkQjkCVjkiMKVwg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzENFfEVWkQjkCVjkiMKVwg) > **[Karim Debbache](https://www.youtube.com/user/KarimDebbache)** > > Salut à tous, c'est Karim Debbache, chroniqueur sur www.jeuxvideo.com, pour l'émission CROSSED. > > Bienvenue sur ma chaîne Youtube, consacrée au cinéma. > > Vous pourrez y retrouver les épisodes de CROSSED, qui est une émission de critique de films qui... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548/2 "2015-07-19T00:22:17Z")
Another good YouTube series is Filmmaker IQ: [Filmmaker IQ - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/FilmmakerIQcom) ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548/3 "2015-07-19T01:17:18Z")
Get the book [“shot by shot”](http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108). It will tell you everything that you want to look for. Then go watch a lot of movies with the intention of seeing what they are doing and not actually watching the movie. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548/4 "2015-07-19T01:31:04Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Get the book [“shot by shot”](http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108). > > It will tell you everything that you want to look for. Then go watch a lot of movies with the intention of seeing what they are doing and not actually watching the movie. I missed the edit window. I also really like “[Story](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0042FZVOY?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1)” by Robert Mckee as a book about screenwriting. It isn’t the only book, and, like shot for shot, it’s geared both toward beginners and people looking to break into Hollywood, but they both give you a starting point so you can wrap your arms around some big basics and figure out what you want to learn more about and why and how to further your own self study. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learning-about-the-cinema-form/725548/5 "2015-07-20T00:28:34Z")
What a neat idea ! I have not met someone who wants to learn all of this just because they are interested in it. Kudos ! I’d wanted to be a cameraman since I was 14 years old. That was 39 years ago. Since the age of 17, I have been just that. Knowledge for its own sake. Nice ! The references suggested above are a great starting point. A few thoughts on the cinematography end of things. Compositional rules applied were derived from the classical compositional rules of renaissance painting. [The Rule of Thirds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds), [The Golden Mean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds) as applied to photography, lens choices that do or do not emulate the human experience ( [“The 50mm Lens and Metaphysical Doubt”](https://luminous-landscape.com/sm-02-09-22/) is superb in this regard), lens height choices, camera movement or lack of thereof and so on are all aspects that inform a good cinematographer. I’ll look for some good solid fundamentals of cinematography books and report back. ETA: FYI: [Amazon has patented 3 Point Lighting.](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140507/04102327144/us-patent-office-grants-photography-against-white-background-patent-to-amazon.shtml) :o