Sidney Lumet’s book “Making Movies” describes the process of making a movie in general and the accompanying shooting ideas in particular. The author mainly describes his examples of problems and peculiarities of filming in his time. The first chapter opens with an exciting story that unfolds in the middle of a Ukrainian restaurant in New York. Not the most pleasant palette of aromas from food to dirty toilets, as well as an unprepared and motley cast of actors and crew: all this made it challenging to shoot. Everyone except Lumet forgot their pencils, which prevented an essential part of the first reading of the script, editing, and adjusting the material to the people working with it. All this made me understand that both the first days of filming and the process itself, in general, are chaotic and change because of different circumstances.
For example, Lumet says that having shot several pictures in black and white, he felt that color films are much less lively and emotional, even fake. However, after watching the film “Red Desert,” where the color emphasized the emotional experiences of the protagonist and was associated with them, the director changed his mind, revealing for himself a different side of color. It is also interesting that the same approach to filming surprised Lumet a little initially because coming from the theatrical sphere, he got used to the fact that the scriptwriter is always in charge. Everyone, from the composer to the decorator and costume designer, almost idolizes him. In cinema, everything was different, and the director had complete freedom to interpret the script and full access to change everything from structure to external aesthetics and sound design.