Twilight: Director’s Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer

The Story of How We Made the Movie based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer!

In this intimate book, readers will follow visionary director Catherine Hardwicke through the creative process that went into transforming Stephenie Meyer’s breathtaking novel into box office gold. Designed to replicate the director’s own personal notebook that she kept on set, readers will discover the inside secrets on wardrobe, storyboard sketches, behind-the- scenes photographs, personal notes about Catherine’s favorite scenes, and much more.

Praise for the film Twilight:
“Epic! Sexy, stylish and altogether the coolest movie of the year”
- Shawn Edwards, Fox TV

“. . . getting Catherine Hardwicke to direct Twilight was a shrewd move, because the youthquake specialists of Thirteen treats teen confusion without a trace of condensation. . . .She has reconjured Meyer’s novel as a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones, and understated visual effects.”
- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“Hardwicke has connected so intensely to the Meyer novel that it’s hard to imagine anyone else making a better version.”
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Twilight: Director’s Notebook Review

I’m still giving this 5 stars, but there were a few things that I found a tiny bit disappointing…

1. The book is 163 pages, but there is not much text and the pages are small. It took me less than and hour to read it from cover to cover.

2. The book is written in Catherine’s handwriting which can be hard to read sometimes.

3. I thought the book could have covered the topics more in depth. I thought the chapters about how they shot various scenes were interesting, but they made me wish I could ask her questions (and get the answers!). There were so many more things I wanted to know about how and why she made different decisions in shooting the movie.

Despite those 3 things, I still thought the book was really interesting and fun to read. I saw the movie twice in the theaters and this book made me excited for the DVD release (especially the bonus material). I realized after reading the Director’s Notebook there were lots of little details from the movie I had missed. Here’s one example: After the nomad vampires kill the security guard they wear his clothes, James wears his jacket and Victoria wears his “Kiss me, I’m Irish” t-shirt. I never noticed that before.

This book also made me realize how difficult it is to a translate a book into a film and how budget constraints can really limit a director’s vision. I feel sad that it didn’t work out for Catherine to do New Moon because you can tell how much she loves Twilight and put everything she had into this movie.

Buy Cheap Twilight: Director’s Notebook Sale

Twilight Collector’s Edition (The Twilight Saga)

The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector’s edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

Twilight Collector’s Edition (The Twilight Saga) Review

I first heard about Twilight in an interview with Stephanie Meyers. I was particularly interested in how she would write about her vampires. From the movies we have ideas about seductive dark men like Bela Lugosi and Frank Langella. Teenage vampires are something different.

I am an adult reader. I find there are many books directed toward young adults that can be enjoyed equally by adults. Twilight is one of them. I have read a many of the positive and negative reviews. Maybe not surprising for a book as popular as Twilight the criticism has tended to be nasty, some downright dumb and others are far too disparaging of the author.

For me, Twilight is very well written. I thought that some of the chapters could have been divided into two, just to give the reader a break. The book is written in the first person, which can be a problem for some readers and tends to restrict the narrative to a single point of view.

Generally, the wording is concise and descriptive without over doing it. The sentences are well constructed and move the reader along. I can’t say that I didn’t find some passages a bit tedious. Some of the sentences were a bit awkward and could have been rephrased. An example: ” I was trying so hard not to think about him, and what Angela had said…and more than anything trying to beat down my hopes for Saturday, fearing a disappointment more painful than the rest, when I looked up to see someone’s silver Volvo parked along the street and it all came crashing down on me.”

I liked the character development and interplay between Bella and Edward. I didn’t want their growing relationship to be hurried along. Bella’s character has been criticized by a number of reviewers as basically uninteresting. She is portrayed as a loner who sees herself an inadequate and clumsy, certainly not as the object of a romance. Her character actually fits the story far better than a more extroverted girl. If one is going to enter into the secretive world of vampires someone who also sees themselves as an outsider would be more understanding.

Edward’s brooding character is well captured by Ms. Meyers. Like Bella he is conflicted over his potential relationship with her. In the end, perhaps against his better judgment, he allows her into his world. I was hoping that Ms. Meyers would give her vampires different attributes than the sleep-by-day-feed-at-night creatures of Bram Stoker and other writer. The vampires are more like gods with their luminous skin. Vampires may be the ultimate killers but they are rational. It is also refreshing to have vampires who don’t want to be a treat to humans and find the need to be sociable, despite the risks.

Although I can’t say that Twilight is the best book ever written it has a lot going for it. It is a good mix of romance and horror that you can get carried away by. Perhaps that is the best way to judge a book.

Buy Cheap Twilight Collector’s Edition (The Twilight Saga)

The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector’s edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.