Making the Transformational Moment in Film: Unleashing the Power of the Image (with the films of Vincent Ward) Review

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Making the Transformational Moment in Film: Unleashing the Power of the Image (with the films of Vincent Ward) ReviewI will be honest with you. One of the reasons I wanted to read and review this book is because I found what I thought was a transformational moment in a film. In the film "It's a Wonderful Life" there is a distinct moment where George Bailey transforms from someone with hope to someone without hope. It's just a moment, you could miss it if you looked down at your popcorn, and I wrote about this moment and my editorial got published in the Seattle Times in 2001. So this was going to be one of those books that was going to confirm how brilliant I was...well...maybe I'm not so brilliant.
Using mostly the films of Vincent Ward, Dan Fleming explores particular scenes and particular moments and breaks them down into camera angles and POV shots to explain what Vincent Ward was doing. Wait? Don't know who Vincent Ward is? Nor did I. I had heard of probably his most famous film: "What Dreams May Come" but didn't know who directed it, or who the creative team was behind it.
This is both good and bad. Good in the fact that Fleming opens you up to visually sumptuous films that you may not have seen. Bad in that there's no popular movie you most likely have seen that you could easily reference. Could he have used "Star Wars?" "Wizard of Oz?" "Avatar?" Well, yes, he probably COULD have - but not only have vast books been written about these films already - they don't have the artistic or visual tie-ins that a film like "What Dreams May Come" has.
What Fleming does in his book, is he ties Ward's films together in a visual tapestry. Incorporating links between art/music/Herzog/previous films/stories to give the reader an understanding (as best as one can) into the visual artistry of film by one particular film-maker.
Does this mean that Fleming doesn't mention other films? No. He sprinkles other films throughout the book - some that may have influenced Ward directly or others that were influenced by Ward. What you leave with is a dissection of Wards films and visual styles/set-ups and how to visually tell a story. In some ways I would love to see Fleming do this with other visionary film-makers such as David Lynch or Peter Jackson (juxtapose "Dead Alive" with "Return of the King" - I dare you...).
The only place I feel that Fleming's book is lacking is in comparison to those films that are being made in more recent years. Films that use the "moving the camera constantly" style of cinematography. Or finding, some way, to show that Ward's way of setting up a scene in "Map of the Human Heart" was copied in "Transformers 3" (if it can even be done). I wish there was a bit more commentary about how 3D films are lacking some of the subtly of shot composition because the film-makers need to throw things at the audience. Or a ripping apart of the way some films are shot today with total lack of shot set-ups or feel for a way a scene evolves. As if a "jittery camera" will make the scene more "real" when all it does it make me reach for the Advil.
If you are a director, or want to become a director, this book is an excellent piece of work showing you the basics in scene set-up/camera set-ups and teaching you how all things (lighting/music/acting) really can sell that transformational moment. Using both words and examples, Dan Fleming helps to define those moments that transcend the film and take it to new and unexpected levels. This book truly helps you see film in a new and different light.
Making the Transformational Moment in Film: Unleashing the Power of the Image (with the films of Vincent Ward) OverviewThis book is a bold exploration that gets under the skin of the filmmaking process and shows how audiences can be moved through deeply transformational uses of the medium. You'll learn how the raw materials of filmmaking are brought together so that the transformation happens. Key moments in films from Vincent Ward and others are used as examples, examining how the moment is staged, how visual composition is used, how narrative is constructed, how color, light and music are brought together, and how to get inside characters that we really care about. Roger Ebert describes Vincent Ward as a "true visionary." Here, the sources of Ward's filmmaking vision are revealed, offering a unique view of the creative process in film.

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