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Little Digital Video Book, The (2nd Edition)
Binding: Paperback
Author: Michael Rubin
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Features:
Average Rating: 4.5
Total Customer Reviews: 33
List Price: $24.99
Our Price: $16.49
Sales Rank: 184618
Product Description
One of the more frustrating aspects of buying a new digital video camera for consumers is trying to discover not only how it works, but how to shoot good movies with it right away. For most of us, we just want to turn on the camera and go, without spending too much time sorting through dense jargon and video editing software manuals. Here to guide the troubled newcomer to the exciting world of digital video is The Little Digital Video Book, 2e. This friendly, approachable guide will teach users the basics of shooting, organizing, and editing their own footage, with short examples so they can practice the techniques as they read through the book. This revised edition of the bestselling book on digital video is now in full color and completely updated for the modern beginning videographer. Users get a thorough grounding in the basics of digital video, but without all the jargon. Michael Rubin explains in under 200 pages all users need to know to get great shots, add sound, organize the footage, and use basic editing techniques. They will learn how to start and actually finish that video project they had in mind--in less than a day.
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Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: A beautiful little book, emphasizing the essentials The Little Digital Video Book is practical and down-to-earth, but also charming. Rubin clearly knows the traps that most of us fall into -- never finishing our projects, not discarding enough in editing, trying to do everything, failing to shoot all the elements of a good little video. And it's the good little video -- he calls it a video sketch -- that this is all about: something you can finish in a couple of hours and enjoy... as well as learn from.
Unlike most books on basic video use, Rubin doesn't over-emphasize the mechanics and he doesn't talk as though your DV camera is the first step towards a Hollywood career. Instead of telling you how various pieces of equipment (microphones, tripods, stabilizers, ...) could move you closer to professional quality, he actually *discourages* you from thinking that equipment can substitute for thought.
Rubin is a strong advocate of tape over memory cards and built-in disk. He is more comfortable -- and who can blame him in some ways? -- storing his footage and finished videos on tape than on hard drives and DVDs. But tape has its price, too. He spends many pages talking about the mechanics of shooting with tape (not breaking time code), logging it, and importing it into an editor. Part of this is perhaps that when the book was written (not that long ago!), a 1TB drive cost around $400, while now it's more like $100, so having a second for back-up is not a big deal.
This is a great little book, and I highly recommend it.
Product Review Summary: Little Digital Video Book, The (2nd Edition) Little Digital Video Book, The (2nd Edition), seems about as thorough as any novice might want to be. I have not read the book in a cover-to-cover fashion, yet. But I have managed to pick up a few great novice tips. For example the section on "time code" is invaluable, a must know, if you're even half-way serious. Also, some of the editing tips have been helpful. THe chapter on editing is another one to which you want to pay close attention. They say that a big part of the success of your "little" movie will probably depend on the how well you edit. I suppose if you want to get the most out of this publication you need to first sit down and read it from cover to cover and then go back to read the sections that pertain to your particular interest. And, I suppose too, that if, while you are reading from cover-to-cover, you take the time to do each of the assignments you'll come away a better filmmaker/videomaker/videographer. Mr. Rubin has a style that is pretty easy on the attention span so you really do not get bored easily.
Product Review Summary: If your friends and relatives groan when you offer to show them home videos, you really need this handy little guide! Books about video tend to be either far too simple or far more technical and unfocused than they need to be. Most presume an audience that either just needs a better manual for the camera than the nearly useless ones that camcorders come with, or that really wants to be out there making independent films. I haven't found a good guide for the hobbyist, who wants to push the limits of a consumer camera and create home video that's watchable and enjoyable ... until now.
Rubin's got the expertise and background to write technical, but doesn't. Rather than a book on "filmmaking" or "videography" he emphasizes that this is a book on making "video sketches" - non-professional but still polished-looking presentations with an emphasis on images caught live, in action, in the situation. He's clear and cogent and explains things very well. He explains how cameras work (or, rather, how to work them to their best capacities); he explains the stages of putting together video projects; he explains how to keep organized when you've got lots of video; he explains all the basic shots and how to get the best shots; he offers several useful ideas for how to think about the editing, and, perhaps most useful, reminds that you should have the editing in mind while you are shooting, so that you are sure to capture enough footage to be able to cut together something coherent after the fact.
Some advice I found very helpful, even though most of this is not new to me, are his suggestions for working with audio: that you should think of sound as its own entity, and that you need to get coverage for sound independently of video coverage. For example, if you are shooting a musical performance, you need to keep the camera on throughout the performance and get a "master shot" of the sound -- even if you will be editing in various other shots into the video "master shot". If you are filming something that's windy, and don't have an adequate wind muffler for the microphone, you should get some "ambient sound" from a less windy location to fill in to the sound track for the video.
One thing to note is that this edition still focuses on recording on tape - especially miniDV tape. Rubin devotes a fair amount of space to issues like working with timecode and effective tape storage methods, all very useful advice for miniDV camcorder. However, in the past year or so there's been an explosion on the market for harddrive and flash memory camcorders (I have the [[ASIN:B001OI2YNS Canon VIXIA HFS10]], for example). These camcorders raise a host of other issues that Rubin doesn't address such as how best to store and backup the video files you've recorded or how to convert all of the new popular formats such as AVCHD or HDV, for edit and playback. This is not really a serious omission, since many of these issues are platform and format specific and would be hard to cover adequately in a handy little guide like this - but they are still things that may raise questions for beginners, and I expect that future editions of this book will cover them.
If you are just starting out with home video, you really should consider this book as an essential supplement to your camera. If you follow Rubin's advice, your home movies can very quickly go from boring and unwatchable to engaging and exciting. Highly recommended for newcomers to home video, or for those who don't want their friends and relatives to groan in agony every time they offer to screen footage from a vacation or special event.
Product Review Summary: Great little book Unlike the thousands of "beginner video books", this book isn't one that dwells upon what camera one should buy and what features the current set of cameras have (which gets obsolete quickly).
This book is about what one really wants and needs to know and is not something that changes as equipment changes. I've read this book twice, once when I got it along with my then new video camra and again a couple years later for review, still good the second time.
It's about what to do with the new video camera. It's about basic movie making, how to take video and what to do with the raw video afterwards. Not stuff one can get out of the camera's instruction manual, not the stuff one can get out of one's video editing software's manual. It's not how to operate, it's about what one should do with those tools such that the results don't look like amateur family videos that others have shown you (and made you gag). No little statues given as prizes on TV shows from Hollywood will likely result, but no Malox used by one's family watching the videos either.
This book should be a requirement for anyone who has just gotten or is about to get one's first video camera.
Product Review Summary: Nice little primer on doing digital video projects Despite the plethora of video camera choices now and the popularity of video distribution sites like You Tube, it still isn't very easy for many people to create and enjoy their own video works. There may be too many choices in video equipment - models, formats, media, and software - and too many steps in the process of creating worthwhile material. For these people, a "friendly introduction to home video," like The Little Digital Video Book, Second Edition, is a welcome aid.
The author, Michael Rubin, is an experienced writer and professional editor who also is an avid maker of his own personal videos, a hobby he shares with his family and friends. His small (7 x 7 inch), slender, well-produced volume may be all one needs to get started on one's own personal video projects.
The book is an easy read with plenty of full-color photos. Nearly every page contains photo or graphic illustrations or sidebar content, including clearly-designated Notes, Tips, Warnings, and references to free online examples taken from the book. Throughout, there is much friendly encouragement to the reader to get started shooting and editing. The casual approach is suitable for the purpose, although I thought some of the presentations were a bit confusing and could benefit from some text editing.
In the first two chapters, Rubin explains the basics of buying and using consumer level equipment and in preparing, shooting, editing, and finishing what he calls "sketches" - not feature films, but four to five minute video projects taking up a days worth of effort at most, from beginning to end. The author spends nearly 10 pages alone emphasizing the concept of "timecode" which is the time data stored on video media. This concept is especially important in facilitating indexing, storage and recovery of film segments for current and future projects. The author has learned from experience that one will likely accumulate video material which if not organized and stored in a coherent way be inaccessible for both viewing and incorporating into new projects. Chapter 4 is all about intelligent organizing, covering labeling media, keeping a log, storing media and clips, and archiving.
The author's focus on "results oriented video" means helping the reader get up to speed on becoming a video maker by making product recommendations and simplifying nearly everything about the video making process. This is basic instruction and guidance and is not comprehensive in any way. The author's attempts to simplify may not suit some readers. Rubin's discussion of hardware selections was insufficient, I thought, especially regarding decisions on choice of media and camera and computer input/output formats. Some readers will like the "Assignments" found in most of the chapters designed to help beginners get a feel for the processes. He does this primarily by relating how he creates his personal projects.
One of the more useful sections deals with shooting footage. The author explains the different factors in shooting beginning, middle and end footage and emphasizes his "Rules of Shooting" - shoot to edit, ad-lib, use existing light and a static camera, simplify content, and more. He categorizes the types of shots, the purpose of shots, and how to "cover" a scene using different perspectives, angles, and types of shots all designed for later editing where one's masterpieces are completed. The magic of good video, he explains, is in the editing, both visual and sound. Those topics are covered in chapters 5 and 6. Basic editing concepts are explained and illustrated. The last chapter called "Finishing up" contains short sections dealing with video compression, You Tube postings, and copyright.
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