All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger - Softcover

Kaufman, Lloyd; Gunn, James E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425163571 ISBN 13: 9780425163573

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S., 1998

Synopsis

The maker of such class B motion pictures as The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet presents a manual for aspiring independent horror filmmakers on a tight budget and recounts his own strange career. Original.

About this title

From the Publisher

The best book written about true independent filmmaking.
Lloyd Kaufman, the head of Troma Studios, has created a raucous, entertaining, and informative book about independent filmmaking that will delight Troma fans, inform and guide the aspiring filmmaker, and brainwash the simple-minded. The book pays for itself after the first few pages, in which Lloyd reveals the secret recipe for the "toxic meltdown". This, plus an inside look at guerrilla filmmaking techniques and behind-the-scenes chapters on "Toxic Avenger" and "Tromeo and Juliet" make for an unforgettable reading experience! Books don't come with barf bags, but this one makes a good case for it.

From the Author

Greetings From Tromaville!
Greetings From Tromaville To The Friendly People OfAmazon.com:

Penguin Putnam Berkeley has published my book, All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger, which is now available at bookstores, gas station bathrooms, and traveling carnival sideshows nationwide, and of course, also from Amazon.com. Now you can learn how to break into the seemingly impenetrable world of filmmaking and make your own very bad movies just like I do, without having to leave the privacy of your own home (yeah, I know, they're watching my house too).

All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger was released on July 13 and already the feedback has been tremendous, almost overwhelming. I would like to clear up one point, though, which several people have written in about. I am not now, nor have I ever been dead, so please stop writing in about how much you have been "enjoying the Kaufman tome." If you have been to a graveyard with a tome stone with my name on it, it is mere coincidence, and I am not buried there.

Just briefly, All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger is the first and only real guide to the ins and outs (as well as the old in & out) that you need to know, to work in the magical world of independent film, that is, if you want to circumvent the less magical world of endless Xeroxing for the unappreciative devil worshipping media giants. If Michael Herz and I can write, direct and produce independent features from scratch, then anyone can. There is all kinds of practical information in this book that you won't find in those other "how-to" film books. Before writing All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger, I walked around the Troma building asking the young staff members what they thought about the current wide assortment of how-to film books. The responses varied from "get off my damn foot Lloyd," to "God, that's disgusting, there's a bathroom for that." But mostly, everyone agreed that there was a general lack of practical knowledge of the real world of filmmaking in these supposed guides. The reason? Because while most of the authors, who have written books about filmmaking, are good at deconstructing shot breakdowns, typically they themselves haven't made even one movie. Meanwhile, Lloyd Kaufman (me) has made a whole pantload of films which I have drawn upon to write this book.

Do you know how to use an everyday cereal box as an Arriflex movie camera? Or how to light a night shot of the Brooklyn Bridge using only a curling iron and a grapefruit? Well I certainly don't, if you do please contact me at (lloyd@troma.com).

Aside from graphic discussions of sex, violence and toxic waste, I wrote this book to be a valuable tool for young filmmakers who are currently on the outside looking in. You'll learn how to raise money and do your own special effects like head crushing and double dismemberments. After reading my book you'll be able to create your own Toxic Avenger and other hideously deformed creatures of super human size and strength.

I've made every possible mistake in filmmaking in the 25 years since Troma was born, so that now you won't have to. All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger will help you to steer clear of numerous pitfalls and traps that all too often ruin or sour talented new filmmakers to the industry scene. Even those who have blown a stack of cash on film school, I'm sorry to say, will probably learn more from my pages than they did in those four years of hell and horse****.

I have sensed lately the tide, of the film industry, is turning. The new generation of filmmakers and audiences are tiring of being spoon fed the baby food of the "blockbuster" movies like Titanic and Godzilla. The goal of this book is to give direction to those willing to undertake the battle to deliver the title ! of "independent film" away from the industry gian! ts who have turned it into a meaningless advertising ploy, back into the hands of the individual struggling artists.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0425163571
• ISBN 13: 9780425163573
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352