The Little Digital Video Book
by Michael Rubin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael RubinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-06
ISBN: 0201758482
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Book Reviews of The Little Digital Video Book
Book Review: Excellent disourse on the basics of home movie shooting and editing
Summary: 5 Stars
In short 178 pages Michael Rubin covers the essentials of making home videos. This is a book for beginners. It follows a structure (and approach) smilar to an English composition college course - Rubin teaches techniques (types of shots, as you would cover paragraph structure), but also fundamental stylistic considerations (movies ,not unlike Enlgish compositions, must have structure, e.g. beginning, middle and an end).
There is much I liked about the book:
(1) Comprehensive - covers everything a novice would need (a) products (out of date - see below), (b) camcorder handling technique, (c) shooting techniques and (d) editing
(2) Less product covereage; more focus on techniques - spends almost no time on discussion regarding camcorder choice (which seems to be the area where most other similar book allocate too much attention) .
Thechniques are described in detail and author's views are clearly argumented.
For example, chapter 3 "Shooting" introduces camera holding techniques, gives Rubin's summary 11 rules of shooting and covers major techniques:
(a) structure - beginning, middle and ending shots; close-up, medium, large shots;
(b) coverage - establishing shots, over the shoulder shots, cut-away shots.
Or, Chapter 6, Editing, provides the following brakdown of approximate time required for postproduction of 20 min of material:
- 20min capturing the material on computer
- 45min creating the "first cut"
- 30min recutting and trimming
- 15 minutes creating titles and effects
- 10 min finalizing
(3) Clearly expressed opinnions - Rubin is not afraid to articulate his position (the market is otherwise full of "decriptive" books whose authors are afraid from taking a point of view).
For example, regarding close-ups, Rubin states, "...because your camera's viewfinder and LCD are so small, there is a real tendency to shoot everything too close...when you are shooting someone's face, don't be afraid of cutting off the top of their head. It's the eyes, not the head, that make for a powerful close-up of a person."
(4) Rubin is an able teache - and he teaches substance, not just technique, which is to say - he suggest a style of thinking while making movies.
For example, here is how Rubin puts forward his idea that making movies is what he calls, "shooting to edit" - "Shooting to edit involves nonlinear thinking - tha is, thinking "out of order". The last shot you make may turn out to be your opening shot..."
(5) Practical examples and exercises - Rubin illustrates with pictures many of his ideas (I would have loved a cideo-CD with the book). He also suggests exercises. For example - shooting at a dog park, so that one fine-tunes techniques (such as allowing subjects to "exit" the frame).
I also have a concern (or two) about the book:
(1) Technical material is dated - the book is published in 2002 and largely focuses on discussion of tape-based camcorders. There is no discussion of high definition videos.
(2) Limited additional information - a CD/video CD or web-site supplied with the book would have been nice. While illustrations (in black and white) in the book are OK, real video examples will have been useful.
All-in-all, this an excellent book for beginners.
Summary of The Little Digital Video Book
Congratulations! You've got a brand-new digital camcorder. Now what do you do with it? Before you shoot a single frame of tape, pick up The Little Digital Video Book. This friendly guide to the basics of digital video will teach you how to shoot well, organize easily, and quickly edit your own footage. For new camcorder owners, it's the ideal--and affordable--introduction to the exciting world of quality digital filmmaking.
The Little Digital Video Book is not some dense, jargon-filled reference tome. Instead, it focuses on practical shooting and editing techniques, and shows you how to start (and actually finish) that video project you have in mind--in less than a day. You get a thorough grounding in the basics of digital video, from how to get a good close-up shot and how to add a sound track to your video to how to organize your videotapes. The Little Digital Video Book is platform- and software-neutral, truly making it the guide for the moviemaking masses.
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