Publications

British Cinematographer Magazine

Ongoing

British Cinematographer is Europe’s No.1 cinematography magazine, with a growing worldwide audience. Encompassing the beauty of tradition, as well as the shock of the new, British Cinematographer focuses on the art and craft of cinematographers and the technologies they use during production and post-production.

Preserving the Vision

Ongoing

BSC EXPO 2022 SEES THE LAUNCH OF OUR BOOK


PRESERVING THE VISION


Edited and compiled by Phil Méheux BSC and James Friend ASC BSC,

containing over 600 pages featuring the history of the BSC with
photographs and biographies of all members past and present, plus
a selection of their major credits and awards since

the BSC inauguration in January 1949.


BSC Member Price: £75.00 Non-Member Price: £85.00


All pro
fits in aid of The Film and TV Charity


The book can be ordered direct 
from the BSC office by contacting helen@bscine.com

The Art of Film

June 15, 2022

The Art of Film

Blurb
What do On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Great Muppet Caper have in common - Terry Ackland-Snow!
In The Art of Film, Terry lifts the lid on his extraordinary career. With over 200 images, including set sketches and design plans, this is a book no film aficionado should be without!
Back Cover
Terry Ackland-Snow has worked on film sets since he was 18 and has been the Chair of the British Film Designers Guild and an adjudicator for the BAFTAS. Since retiring in 2001, Terry has turned his hand to teaching, setting up Film Design International at Pinewood Studios to share his expert knowledge with the next generation of film designers.
Wendy Laybourn has worked in the film industry since the 1970s and now spends her time trying to spread her extensive knowledge as far and wide as possible.
Acknowledgements
Robson Green
There is no substitute for experience. I’ve had the privilege and honour to have worked alongside Terry Ackland-Snow for many years. Not only is he a prince among men and a close friend, he is also the design equivalent of Lionel Messi when it comes to creating a world and an environment for actors to do our stuff.
 Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli:
Terry’s first job for us was Draughtsman for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969 and several years later, in 1987, we were lucky to work with him again as an Art Director on location for The Living Daylights, working with the late Production Designer, Peter Lamont.  
We are delighted that Terry’s extensive career has led him to share his film-making passion through his courses at Pinewood Studios, training our next generation of Art Department creatives.
John Glen
I first met Terry Ackland-Snow when filming On Her Majesty’s Secret Service  1969 and our paths have crossed many times since, lastly on The Living Daylights.
When I look back, apart from throwing the best Christmas parties, the Art Department are the unsung heroes of the Bond movies. I remember filming in the desert and needing a towering bridge to carry away the fleeing horsemen and pursuing tanks. I doesn’t rain very much in the desert, so an unimpressive structure across a small wadi was transformed by a foreground miniature into a bridge 90ft high with a silica river flowing beneath.
The miniature was built at Pinewood Studios and transported to Morocco so, with the aid of a Nodle head camera mount, we were able to pan and zoom to capture the action taking place on the bridge, together with explosions.
This remains one of my very favourite shots and a lesson to any would-be Film Director.
 

Amazon Link - The Art of Film: Working on James Bond, Aliens, Batman and More: Amazon.co.uk: Ackland-Snow, Terry, Laybourn, Wendy: 9780750997423: Books

Check the Gate

January 21, 2020

CHECK THE GATE
Memoirs of Harvey Harrison
 
For over fifty years Harvey Harrison has been in the film industry, starting at the bottom as a Tea Boy working his way up through the ranks, and ending his career as a Director/Director of Photography.
 
He’s travelled the world many times, witnessed so many experiences of life and been through dozens of highs and lows - mostly highs.
 
There are many tales and stories of the inside of film making, the stars and celebrities and the good humour of all those behind the camera - there is never a dull moment.
 
Films, commercials, sports, Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, rock concerts, world food, danger, travel and the odd drink - what’s not to like?
 
£25 + postage & packing

Overseas - postage on request
 
 
Contact to purchase - Check the Gate

The Art of Illusion - By Terry Ackland -Snow and Wendy Laybourn

August 25, 2017

Film production is a highly creative and collaborative industry, full of multi-skilled artists and craftsmen. The fast-moving pace of technology makes it hard to keep abreast of current practices in production design. However, the ethos and skills behind filmmaking remain the same. In The Art of Illusion, renowned Art Director Terry Ackland-Snow shares his passion and knowledge of traditional film design from over fifty years of industry experience, using real-life case studies from some of the UK's most iconic films, including Batman, Labyrinth, the James Bond franchise and The Rocky Horror Picture Show


Additional material includes:

  • The responsibilities of the art department and the wider film crew
  • Set design and construction
  • Scouting and working on location
  • Working with camera angles and perspective
  • Technical exercises designed to enhance draughting skills

 

Featuring over 100 original sketches, as well as rare behind-the-scenes photographs, storyboards and artwork, this book is exquisitely illustrated throughout, demonstrating the skills and techniques of film design with stunning intricacy.

"To any film student, this book is a must read. Terry's experience is immense." John Glenn, Director of five James Bond films

RRP: £18.99

Site Price: £15.19

E-Book Edition: £16.99 (incl. VAT)

A Passion for Plankton - by Peter Parks

August 25, 2017

For many years, friends and colleagues have tried to persuade me to write a book about the subject that has always interested and inspired me the most, the world of open ocean drifters, Plankton. Who on earth, though, would ever want to read a book about things you can hardly see?

More recently, however, I ventured to suggest to someone steeped in the world of wildlife publishing, whose opinion I greatly respect, the concept of combining an undeniably self indulgent autobiographical account of a life that has been both fulfilling, eventful and enjoyable, in combination with a survey of what most fascinates me about that extraordinary drifting oceanic community.

Intended as a brief summary of what 57 years of film and film making in a field seldom countenanced by any sane individual, this two and a half year, self-imposed sentence of computer-designed and enabled assembly and exhilarating, if unpredictable journey from childhood to the dizzying heights of 3-D Imax Wildlife production, Life on Sir David’s Earth, and a slew of weird and wonderful special effects assignments for Hollywood, via the lifelong passion for a world seldom ever seen, never before fully documented, and yet today so incredibly important and relevant, (if we humble mortals are to survive, for more than a century or two more, on this planet), eventually became a two-book, boxed set, 950 pages long, 4,000 full-colour image account, unlikely to be even thumbed, let alone fully read.

For further information about ordering a copy please contact: office@bscine.com 

Shooting 007

March 10, 2016

In Shooting 007, beloved cameraman and director of photography Alec Mills, a veteran of seven James Bond movies, tells the inside story of his twenty years of filming cinema's most famous secret agent. Among many humorous and touching anecdotes, Mills reveals how he became an integral part of the Bond family as a young camera operator on 1963's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, how he bore the brunt of his old friend Roger Moore's legendary on-set bantering, and how he rose to become the director of photography during Timothy Dalton's tenure as 007. Mills also looks back on a career that took in Return of the Jedi on film and The Saint on television with wit and affection, and Shooting 007 contains many of his and Eon Productions' unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs compiled over a lifetime of filmmaking. Featuring many of the film industry's biggest names, this book will be a must have for both the James Bond and British film history aficionado.

Outstanding Stills

February 10, 2016

Please contact us to purchase this title.     The cost is £40 + £5.50 for standard parcel delivery.

  "It is obvious to say that they are artists with light and that we could not have great films without them, but I’m particularly delighted that this splendid book bears testament to that fact." - KENNETH BRANAGH

"Over the years, members of the BSC have garnered no less than twenty two American Academy Awards, thirty four Academy Nominations and twenty six British Academy Awards for outstanding photographic achievements." - ALEX THOMSON BSC

They say that every picture tells a story so there are quite literally hundreds of stories behind this stunning collection of stills from behind the camera.

This is a unique working history of the British Film Industry and, in particular, the British Society of Cinematographers formed in 1949 "to promote and encourage the highest standards possible in the art and craft of motion picture photography and the exchange of ideas and ideals."

The great stars and directors are here - Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Sir John Gielgud, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Laurence Olivier, Huston, Hitchcock, Cukor and many more - but the main focus is on the men and women who, as someone once said, "paint with light."

Outstanding Stills handily compiled in alphabetical order - from Remi Adefarasin BSC to Freddie Young BSC - finally puts faces to several generations of outstanding British cinematographic talent at work in studios and on exotic locations around the world across more than 70 years of film-making.

A selection of the stills appearing in this volume are on display in the main corridor leading to the restaurant and café at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath.

A Story for the Children of Today - By Diana Thomson FRBS

March 11, 2015

 

You can change the path on which the world is travelling.
 
A boy and his dog go on an extraordinary and enlightening adventure into the past and discover a cleaner and less polluted world, where they meet some extremely intelligent girls with clever and inspiring ideas.
Getting home presents a practical problem, but with the help of the creative Goddess Freya, and his own ingenuity, the boy manages the seemingly impossible.
Featuring beautiful and lively original watercolour illustrations, A Story for the Children of Today will engage, educate and excite readers both young and old.