"SHUT UP & SHOOT"

Forget guides to filmmaking. You can now hire people to make your film for you for less money than many guides cost.

Okay, it is not quite that easy yet.

But it is difficult not to be slightly overwhelmed by the huge quantity of material offering to lend assistance in this booming digital age.

Here is a buzzing volume – "The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide" - that drives the point home.

The title gives you some idea of the attitude of the author Anthony Artis, as does the website he runs - “downandirtydv.com” - with a thrust to help DV filmmakers make the best product for the least price.

In short, as per his opening line: “ This ain’t your mama’s film book.”

And if the tone of that sentence and all that has gone before suggests Artis is American, you would be right. But no harm done in stealing a few ideas from the other side if it helps you get the job done properly.

In keeping with the dynamic premise, the book has a luxury presentation that makes you feel like a successful filmmaker – or that you soon will be – from the word go.

Carried out in full colour, which makes a relief from too many academic tomes, its 296 pages are chock-a-block with very useful illustrations.

But the clincher seem to be the DVD which is all part of the package. You’re a filmlmaker, after all. A visual artist. Why would you want to spend all your time reading when you can be watching and learning.

The "SU&S" Documentary Guide is published by Focal Press in Oxford. It is out now and seel for £19.99.

Filed September 25, 2007