Gina McIntyre

Everyone loves a good making-of documentary in the bonus features of the DVD of a film. Well, this book is the next best thing. Written by Gina McIntyre, The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times details the making of director Guillermo del Toro's latest film, The Shape of Water.

I love books like these. Insight Editions (the publisher of this book) and Harper Design have been producing a lot of these gorgeous behind-the-scenes books about the making of popular films for a while now, and I adore every one of them. They're extremely expensive, but for good reason. This book (and others like it) is a large, hardcover, full-color tome that details everything that went into making the film. The book packs so much information into its pages that it's honestly incredible. I use the documentary comparison because this book honestly has the same amount of information packed into its pages that a feature-length documentary covering the same material would have, if not more.

When I say that this book has a lot of content in it, I'm not kidding. It contains interviews with the cast and crew, concept art, behind the scenes photos, information about how key scenes were filmed and edited, information about the characters, details about the creation of the Fish Man and how the makeup was applied to actor Doug Jones, sketches from del Toro's journal, and - best of all - character bios of three characters - Zelda, Giles, and Dr. Hoffstetler - written by Guillermo del Toro himself for the actors. The information in those bios are so detailed and rich, yet none of it appears anywhere in the film. That being said, you can see how having access to that information influenced the actors' performances in their respective characters.

Like I said, The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times is a treasure trove of information about the making of a truly superb film. It's full of information, full-color photos, removable inserts, and lots of fun. It's expensive but worth it. There's really not much else to add. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, or how films are made. You won't be disappointed.… (més)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is a novel originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. In this semi-autobiographical novel, readers follow the four March sisters from childhood to womanhood. Alcott’s books were a critical success and continue to be popular with young readers today. The recently released movie has brought a renewed interest in the story.
Read the recently published children's book on this topic, then learn more at the website:
LITTLE WOMEN: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE COMPANION by Gina McIntyre explores the author, the movie, and the legacy of Little Women. The book includes perspectives from the movie’s director and discussions about how young women today can relate to the characters.
Go to LITTLE WOMEN MOVIE
ARC Courtesy of Abrams Books for Young Readers.… (més)

First things first – it’s time for some confessions. I’ve only read Little Women once, and I barely remember it. (Except for Jo, because she was the most interesting). The second is that I really didn’t rate the latest Little Women movie. It was overly long and the back and forth in time just confused me. (The guy seated next to me drank two beers and left the cinema twice during the film – and he wasn’t the only male doing that!) But the acting was great with a strong cast and some lovely costumes. This companion to the movie goes into the technical and behind the scenes aspects in much more detail and for me, was the best part of the new film.

The book is published under a young readers imprint, but it will definitely entertain adult readers. It goes into detail regarding the cast, Louisa May Alcott’s history, the costumes and sets. Extra detail is provided on the food used in various scenes (Christmas, the ball, the final scene) with a recipe or two. The anatomy of a scene when Amy falls into the ice was fascinating – so much work for a short section of the film but it definitely looked good. (And who knew that CGI was used to make it look so realistic?) I also loved the wet plate photography illustrated throughout the book which was used for portraits of the main characters. The description of the process was clear and succinct and the photos themselves highly detailed, but in a different way to the photographs today. The modern photographs were also very well done, sharp and with a lot of detail.

Overall, this is a high-quality book that shows the details and background work required to make a film. It’s interesting whether you’re a fan of the movie/book or not, but I’m certain that fans will adore the additional insight.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (més)