Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll (2005, Paperback)

I bought Cinematic Storytelling because it's suggested by script writing class teacher as a textbook. So I was expecting to learn about writing screenplays, but it's more about cinematography. I like it talking about broad topics including framing, color, props, and sound effects, but not much details about each. And since it introduces 100 elements in 250 pages with a lot of pictures, there are a few words of explanation about each element, which means there's a few information. Therefore, I think this book is good for beginning filmmakers who need broad and shallow knowledge. Another point I dislike about the book is not-structurally-rich text. For example, the author repeats certain words especially like "protagonist" and "antagonist". Because I think this book is supposed to teach readers how to tell a message through an art form, it would be great if this book has a better quality as an literature. More disappointing thing is that this book has easy grammar mistakes such as "Her doctor is too busy too help her,...", which is a sentence describing about Requiem for a Dream. The last aspect of this book that I dislike is its format. This book is in an unusual size of 11 x 7.4 inches, which makes it difficult to be fit in bookshelves. I don't see reasons that this book couldn't be a magazine size. And there are large blank spaces on some pages, which I think is a waste. I want the book to use those spaces to explain more why and how an element of a frame or scene works what theme of the film.