If you are interested in Video or Audio these are 25 of my most influential books that have truly inspired me  and challenged my creativity.   The Filmmaker's Handbook, Story, On Directing Film, The Hollywood Standard, In the Blink of an Eye, The Name of this Book is Dogme95, Rebel Without a Crew, The Reel Truth, Shooting to Kill, Easy Riders Raging Bulls, Down and Dirty Pictures, Poetics, True Fiction Pictures & Possible Films, Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, The Art of Immersion, Sound Effects Bible, Designing Sound, Lowering the Boom, The Foley Grail, Audio Postproduction, Uncanny Bodies, Sound Design and Science Fiction, The coming of Sound, Off the Planet, The first Hollywood sound shorts.

 

Book Reviews

"The Art of Immersion provided an overview of all the changes taking place in our connected, interactive, game-ifield culture."

 

"Shooting to Kill  chronicles Vachon's experiences of becoming a producer in the 90's with honesty and wit. Vachon gives reader an intimate look behind-the-scenes to understand how she and her producing partners practically willed into existence some of the most challenging and memorable films from the decade."

 

"The Foley Grail is the art of performing sounds for film, games and animation"

Association of Film Commissioners International – With over 300 Film Commissions on six continents, there’s almost always an AFCI member office nearby to help you navigate local laws, customs and procedures.

 

Art of the Guillotine – Online film community for film editors. Connect editors and future editors with ideas and techniques that make films great as well as connect them with each other.

 

B&H Photo, Video, and Pro Audio – Your one-stop-shop for any equipment you may need throughout the filmmaking process.

 

BIGSTAR Movies – The site offers distribution, networking and a monthly short film contest.

 

Baseline Intelligence – The service provides a variety of pre-packaged reports on popular topics for movie producers, independent filmmakers, corporate financiers, and other entertainment entities.

 

Cinephilia and Beyond – A fantastic collection of resources on all things cinema: screenplays, interviews, videos grouped around themes, films or directors.

 

Creative Cow – An excellent source of info on video production, with a lot of professionals and production experts hanging out in the comments and ready to answer any question you may have.

 

Drop.io – Use drop.io to privately share your files and collaborate, thinks screenplays, film productions and animations, in real time by web, email, phone, mobile, and more.

 

Detonation Films – Detonation Films is dedicated to putting the fun back in filmmaking by establishing a new paradigm between digital media and online entertainment. And also by blowing stuff up.

 

DVcreators – Training and resources for digital video makers.

 

DVXuser – An online community for filmmaking.

 

Earth Protect – With over 2,000 videos online about things you care about. You can start a blog, forum or find you favorite non-profit.

 

ExploreTalent – Auditions and job listing board.

 

Filmmakers Alliance – Helping independent filmmakers achieve their goals since 1993.

 

Filmmaker IQ – As well as technical tutorials and guides on the process of filmmaking, Filmmaker IQ explores the ‘whys’ of filmmaking just as much as the ‘hows’.

 

Film Riot – Ryan Connolly’s critically acclaimed tutorial site which provides a fresh and funny take on filmmaking how-tos.

 

Freesound – A collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.

 

Hollywood OmniBook – From agents to extras to screenplays for sale, the Hollywood OmniBook is your one stop source for connecting with Hollywood.

 

Go Into the Story – Given that telling stories lies at the very heart of filmmaking, this is essential reading.

 

IMDb – The “Internet Movie Database” says it all.

 

IDA – The International Documentary Association is the ultimate authority on all things related to documentary filmmaking.

 

indieProducer– A social networking site for Hollywood filmmakers

 

IndieTalk – An excellent platform for indie producers to chat shop and share tips, tricks and tales from the field

 

IndieWire – Geared towards both indie fans as well as indie filmmakers

 

InkTip – Find good screenplays and professional writers. Access is free to qualified producers, directors, agents, managers, and name actors.

 

John August – Useful information about screenwriting.

 

Mandy.com – International TV and film production resources.

 

Making Of – Natalie Portman interviews industry professionals on filmmaking.

 

MovieMaker Magazine – The nation’s leading magazine on the art and business of making movies and the world’s most widely read independent movie magazine.

 

ProductionHub – The Community search site for film, television, video, live event and digital media production.

 

reTooled – Ever needed tutorial-style advice on Premiere Pro or After Effects, or wanted to streamline your production workflow? reTooled is the place for you.

 

Script Mag – One of the largest online communities for writers and filmmaker alike.

 

Student Filmmakers– Searchable community of filmmakers – both new-and-emerging and professional – talents in the film and video industries.

 

The Film Collaborative – If you’ve completed your film or getting close to it, check out the Film Collaborative for help on how to best distribute your film and find an audience.

 

Tom Cruise’s Blog – That’s right, Tom Cruise has put out a surprisingly brilliant list of resources over on his personal blog (or, at least, his team has). Although the list is mainly geared towards actors, there’s plenty of crossover here.

 

Twitch – Unrelated to the livestreaming service of the same name, Twitch is a depository for indie films and the discussion thereof (has a strong focus on world cinema.)

 

Videomaker – One of the earliest filmmaking magazines still going strong after nearly 30 years, now fully digitized.