Professional Cameraman's Handbook, The, 4th Edition

Foreword to the Fourth Edition

A special note to industry newcomers—students who have taken “The Art of Film,” introductory cinema courses.

The following “Foreword to the Third Edition” was, with few changes, written 20 years ago. It opened Carlson’s Green Book (second edition) and was later adapted for the Red Book (third edition), as the editions are fondly referred to by the industry. Sylvia Carlson now has asked me to write the foreword to her Blue Book, which, like its predecessors, is designed to help the professional and student cinematographer to function efficiently and survive in the sometime art form and sometime trade—the film business in the 1990s.

I believe that the original foreword largely still stands and reflects the daily ...