74 of 80 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time reading this book, Feb 2 2003
By Nameless Faceless User - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Become a Porn Director: Making Amateur Adult Films (Paperback)
If you have a boring desk job, counting beans and staring out the window of an office building, dreaming about directing and producing your own porno movies... then you don't want to buy this book. The first half of the book was a depressing, pessimistic outlook on getting involved with the adult entertainment industry. In your part of the world, if you file for a business license as a photographer, will the cops come banging on your door? Will the local District Attorney drum you out of town? Will the town clergy mention your name (and spit) during Sunday Service? Read this book and you will be convinced this to be your fate.
This depressing first third of the book was followed by some extremely basic photography techniques. A glossary which follows is very short collection of the most common terms, which was also disappointing. The sample model release was good, but not great.
The author missed his target audience. The book might have been useful if there was less doom and gloom, a better glossary of terms, and a much enhanced section on shooting video. The large type font hides the fact that this book has as much information as a pamphlet (the glossary and model release are page fillers).
The vast majority of people will buy this book looking for tips on how to break in their new camcorder with their spouse or their neighbors. This book isn't for you. The central idea of this book is: If you live in a U.S. town where everyone knows your name, don't become a porno film director without moving to L.A. or N.Y.
31 of 35 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good but..., Feb 1 2003
By Evan Miller "Hedonist and All Around Geek" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Become a Porn Director: Making Amateur Adult Films (Paperback)
This book has a lot of nice concise information of the basics. As some others have said, you can find all this information with a little digging on the net, but it's nice to have it all in one convenient location. This being said, it is the basics. But it's a lot of need to now information including what to expect when you enter the business.
Weighing in at just over 100 pages, it's an awful slim book for it's price. Also, for all the authors talk of making sure you come off looking as a professional that has his/her stuff together, he could have used some of his own advice on the editing of this book.
Typos, poor grammer, missing words, misspelled words, all give an overall feel of, well, unprofessionalism. When the glossary itself even has mispelled words, you have to wonder. Constant, multiple problems on every page force you sometimes have to re-read a sentence to get it's meaning. A spell-check would have been nice and at least one cursory read through to catch mistakes would have been better. "Hole" instead of "Whole", etc.
All in all, it has some nice basic information to digest and think about and incorporate into your plans. He goes over the pitfalls that can plague you fairly well.
The biggest thing is for [$$] it would have been nice to have somethign that was a little more polished and in-dept than something that seems like a big brother dispensing wisdom to his little brother.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
SUPER LAME BOOK! DON'T BUY IT!, Aug 2 2005
By Monica Main "Monica Main" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Become a Porn Director: Making Amateur Adult Films (Paperback)
I rarely, if ever, give a book 1 star. That's how crappy this book was. I should have listened to the other two negative reviews. The author starts out by saying that you'll probably not make any money as a porn director and then says that you'll probably end up in jail making your film.
You know what they say, "Those who can't do, teach." I don't think the author was ever successful so he's down on the industry as far as making any sizable cash flow.
Then his directing tips were packed into the second half of an already very thin book. The first half will upset you. The second half is just plain stupid. Do yourself a favor and PASS on buying this book.