Cinematic Storytelling

Jennifer Van Sijll argues that sound and picture carry most films, and that many novice writers and directors fall back on dialogue and narration and so give up much of what the medium offers. Her reference guide sets out 100 storytelling techniques that work without dialogue, with examples ranging from Metropolis to Kill Bill. Each technique is defined, and the guide also lays out 17 basic building blocks of cinematic language. It shows how sound, camera motion and the image itself can carry a story, and how a character's change can be shown without words. More than 500 frame grabs and 76 script excerpts illustrate the techniques for screenwriters and directors.

Musician and filmmaker Andi Dumitrescu included it in an interview among the books that helped him with the different parts of his career, directing among them.