This is a book about the history of Hollywood and Silicon Valley's technological relationship over the years. Author Philip Meza’s credentials are mostly in research and consulting. Much of the book talks about strategies for what Hollywood will need to do in order to stay afloat in the world of new media and Meza consults companies on this, so it’s safe to say he has proper credentials for this particular subject.
The book is definitely worth reading for people who are involved or would like to be involved in the media industry as well as people who are just interested in the latest example of the technological innovations from Silicon Valley merging with the money, business, and talent of Hollywood. The history provided gives perspective to the history of Hollywood’s struggle to accept new technologies and what they do to sustain profits. The inside information Meza provides is right from the front line and it will be interesting to see how relevant this information will be in the future.
5 out of 5.
-Ryan Keeshan
Showing posts with label Hollywood Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood Book Review. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Hollywood; Legend and Reality
Hollywood Book Review
I read Hollywood, Legend and Reality. It was a really good overview of how the town of Hollywood started and grew. This book had well rounded information on Hollywood. It was interesting to see it all through pictures and with people and stories attached. I loved the photos of the old movie posters or magazines that promoted movies. I also loved the aerial photos of a MGM Studio in 1932 and the sets that could be seen. It talked about the production, and screenwriting details of the town and how the first films came to be. This book also talked a lot about directing and had a whole chapter dedicated to the early beginnings. That chapter also went into detail about the roles that support the director. The chapters in production design and costume design had really good examples of old movies and how much it cost and the amount of effort that was put into creating them to be the works of art that they are. The pictures in these two chapters were unique and stunning. This book talked about the unions and how war affected Hollywood. It told of the violence and had pictures associated with picketing at the Warner Bros studio in a prolonged labor dispute of 1945. The last four chapters; cinematography, editing, scoring and special effects were also really good. Giving examples of how the big moviemakers did it in the beginning and toward the late 70’s. It showed pictures from films like Frankenstein and King Kong.
To me this book was really information about the business of movie making but except for the first chapter it was not so much about the town of Hollywood but the movie making business. I did think it did a really good job on touching and informing of all the areas including in film making and using great images that are not often seen. I would recommend this book if you didn’t know very much about the business as a whole or wanted a lot of history or even just to look at the unique pictures. I give it a 5
Nicole Sterley
I read Hollywood, Legend and Reality. It was a really good overview of how the town of Hollywood started and grew. This book had well rounded information on Hollywood. It was interesting to see it all through pictures and with people and stories attached. I loved the photos of the old movie posters or magazines that promoted movies. I also loved the aerial photos of a MGM Studio in 1932 and the sets that could be seen. It talked about the production, and screenwriting details of the town and how the first films came to be. This book also talked a lot about directing and had a whole chapter dedicated to the early beginnings. That chapter also went into detail about the roles that support the director. The chapters in production design and costume design had really good examples of old movies and how much it cost and the amount of effort that was put into creating them to be the works of art that they are. The pictures in these two chapters were unique and stunning. This book talked about the unions and how war affected Hollywood. It told of the violence and had pictures associated with picketing at the Warner Bros studio in a prolonged labor dispute of 1945. The last four chapters; cinematography, editing, scoring and special effects were also really good. Giving examples of how the big moviemakers did it in the beginning and toward the late 70’s. It showed pictures from films like Frankenstein and King Kong.
To me this book was really information about the business of movie making but except for the first chapter it was not so much about the town of Hollywood but the movie making business. I did think it did a really good job on touching and informing of all the areas including in film making and using great images that are not often seen. I would recommend this book if you didn’t know very much about the business as a whole or wanted a lot of history or even just to look at the unique pictures. I give it a 5
Nicole Sterley
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