cover image Live Cinema and Its Techniques

Live Cinema and Its Techniques

Francis Ford Coppola. Liveright, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-63149-366-9

Legendary filmmaker Coppola, director of such films as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, turns to a new form he terms “live cinema.” He describes the creation of a film in real time as a lifelong dream. Coppola recounts two recent proof-of-concept workshops, both rehearsed like plays, with cameras finding their blocking as the actors perform and the final product beamed out to theaters at the end of the process. These are not the teleplays of the 1950s golden age of television (though they are certainly inspired by them) but intentionally cinematic ventures, aiming at the kind of artfulness for which Coppola is renowned. Live cinema is possible, or so he contends, through advances in technology thus far only deployed by live sports broadcasts and 24-hour news networks. Coppola’s natural abilities as a storyteller, regardless of the medium, are evident here. Sections deal with his relationship to the prehistory of live cinema are as personally revealing as they are fascinating. A few areas are perhaps overly technical, though the book is referred to in places as a handbook of sorts. Nonetheless, this consummate filmmaker’s enthusiasm for cinema is infectious. Readers will find themselves rooting for Coppola to one day write a full-fledged memoir. [em](Sept.) [/em]