Everything I Know About Filmmaking I Learned Watching Seven Samurai

by Richard D. Pepperman

In celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai ⎯ one of cinema’s most superb and influential achievements ⎯ Richard D. Pepperman presents this elegant book as a master class, and illustrates, with beautiful strokes of insight, how and why this film has inspired generations of filmmakers. Here is a handbook for directors, screenwriters, and editors, and a guide for all curious lovers of cinema.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

بررسی تخصصی صحنه به صحنه پلان به پلان و دقیقه به دقیقه فیلم.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read that I would categorize as an intro level film studies book. The author goes through Seven Samurai scene by scene summarizing what is happening while introducing basic film terms (close up, long shot, fade out, wipe). After each scene/shot summary there is a "Lesson Learned" paragraph. These paragraphs don't seem to actual convey a learned lesson but rather lightly analyzes the summary (often feeling like a continuation of the summary itself). I think this book would be well suited for someone who has never looked at a film beyond surface entertainment.

[Mike Calla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format. Author uses a what-kurosawa-did-here approach after each scene. After the first read, I thought it was slightly pedestrian. Upon the second read I realised, yet again, that over analyzing film, any film, does a great injustice to the film making process and all the variables that contribute to the execution and final cut. This is NOT a film theory book. It is a film making book. It presents the tools used by the director in a very simple and construction fashion.

You can apply these tools immediately, to any facet of film production (script to screen) .

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weirdly uneven journey through Kurosawa's masterwork that flips from being obsessively detailed to maddeningly abstract, often within the same paragraph. I'd say you would have to be pretty au fait with Seven Samurai to follow; by the same token, anyone that familiar with the work won't find much new here.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

What a valuable resource this book is! Pepperman goes through the entirety of the original (extended) cut of Akira Kurosawa's legendary Seven Samurai, picking out thematic, structural and technical elements from nearly every scene. He selects them carefully and wisely, breaks them down, explains them, and supplies their purpose in this film and the larger grammar of cinema. While the focus is undoubtedly on directorial choices, techniques and jargon are explained in an accessible way for those who wouldn't be familiar with them, and Pepperman's visceral passion for the medium of film is so obvious that it makes you want to read everything twice. I honestly couldn't recommend this enough for practical filmmakers - I would recommend being familiar with Seven Samurai first (I'd only seen it once before diving into this), but I wouldn't say you had to be an expert at all.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3 1/2 stars. I’m glad I got this and it was fun to see what the author learned about movie techniques (including some writing and some visual and directing). The book goes through the movie using the chapter stops on the criterion collection edition for chapter breaks and titles, with many pictures from the movie.

I’m not sure I got anything out of this that I didn’t get from the commentaries included with the DVD/BluRay. Indeed, because the commenters included a look at the time period of the film, some context of when the film was made, and anecdotes about Kurosawa, there is probably more there. This book is just another persons view, and good for what it is, but in the end, skippable.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked a bit more analysis of the film itself, but this was a great insight in to the choices and techniques underpinning Kurosawa's masterpiece.

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scene by scene breakdown of Seven Samurai, mostly descriptive. I didn’t find much additional insight here.

[Mike Calla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format. Author uses a what-kurosawa-did-here approach after each scene. After the first read, I thought it was slightly pedestrian. Upon the second read I realised, yet again, that over analyzing film, any film, does a great injustice to the film making process and all the variables that contribute to the execution and final cut. This is NOT a film theory book. It is a film making book. It presents the tools used by the director in a very simple and construction fashion.

You can apply these tools immediately, to any facet of film production (script to screen) .