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Posted by idiotprogrammer on 12/06/05 20:07
Digital Video Hacks: Tips and Tools for Shooting, Editing and Sharing
Joshua Paul et al. 0596009461 432 pages O'Reilly; 1 edition (May 27,
2005) $29.95 US PDF Samples
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digitalvideohks/chapter/index.html
Digital Video Pocket Guide Derrick Story, Oreilly, 2003, 128 pages
0596005237 $14.95 US PDF Samples
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dvideopg/
Does anyone know when Oreilly stopped putting animals on its book
covers? And started adding (gasp!) illustrations to their technology
books? Camels and monkeys and birds still adorn the programming books,
but a lot of recent Oreilly books have targeted user applications
(i.e., The Missing Manual series) and a more graphically-oriented
approach (some might say a comic book approach) to highly technical
subjects (see the Headfirst Series http://www.wickedlysmart.com/ or
their recent Make magazinehttp://www.makezine.com/ ). The newly
released Digital Video Hacks offers a more user-friendly approach,
providing lots of tips and ideas to how to produce a video project.
This book (like other Hacks books) lists 100 hacks and how to do them.
It includes contributions from about a dozen writers, most notably
filmmaker Michael Dean (who directed the film DIY or Die: How to
Survive as an Independent Artist http://www.kittyfeet.com/diy.htm ) and
Derrick Story who wrote the terrific Digital Video Pocket Guide (which
I'll speak more about later).
Unlike Digital Video Pocket Guide (which focuses more on the shooting
part of the production process), Digital Video Hacks walks you through
production, post-production and even a little bit of distribution.
First, here's a list of things you won't find covered in this book(not
in enough depth to be useful). You won't find much discussion about HD
production (a good source is the HD For Indies weblog
http://www.hdforindies.com/ ); you won't find much advice about buying
equipment or how to comparison shop (camcorder.info
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ might provide better information about
that). You won't find a handbook of non-linear editors (NLE) or even a
comparison of those currently on the market. Interestingly, the NLE
screenshots come from various applications, and in fact they even
mention Linux and open-source options on occasion (it doesn't mention
Kino http://kino.schirmacher.de/article/static/2 , though it goes over
a neat open source encoding tool called ffmpeg
http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php ). Acknowledging that people
will be using different NLEs, the book talks about NLE tricks in a
generic way. Aside from postproduction, this book doesn't cover
managing a video project (getting clearance, making budgets, etc), or
the aesthetics of videography. You'll have to check other books for
that (see below).
That aside, the book is great. For basic videography, the book talks
about things you can improvise: using roller skates or baby carriages
for dolly shots, windshield shades for bounceboards, parchment paper or
pantyhose for light diffusion. I also learned a lot of great tricks:
how to mount your camera on your car
(PDF)http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digitalvideohks/chapter/hack27.pdf,
log your footage and fix timecode/digital transfer problems
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digitalvideohks/chapter/hack48.pdf (PDF)
.. The book covers lots of gotchas: Why you should edit with both a TV
monitor and computer monitor, cleaning audio (with high-pass or
low-pass filters or applications like Soundsoap
http://www.bias-inc.com/products/soundsoap/ ). All great stuff. The
portion on lighting was ok; unlike many video production books (which
go into excruciating detail about lighting equipment way above an
individual's budget), the book describes an on-the-go lightkit
assembled by a director for shooting in Thailand. This was cool and
interesting, but I definitely could have used more buying information
about something above no-budget lighting. I would have liked a
discussion of common lighting scenarios. (I guess this is just
something you have to learn on your own). Aside from a discussion of
monopods, I'm surprised that the book didn't weigh in on do-it-yourself
steadicams. I really wanted an extended discussion of that (luckily,
there seems to be a a slashdot discussion on the topic
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/09/1929235 ).
I had the same complaint about the audio section. While it contained
some interesting sound tricks (regarding the soundproof car interior as
a mobile studio for example) I missed information about the different
types of microphones and how to place them correctly. Such basic stuff
isn't properly considered a hack and thus not included here. That is
unfortunate. To be fair though, the audio hacks given here were
excellent. To wit, hack #57 (Fool Your Audience's Perception (PDF))
describes in detail how to use the McGurk effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk_Effect to cover mistakes and yes,
even to edit out profanity without your audience catching on.
For readers looking for more information about the shooting process
itself, the cheaper and more succinct 2003 Digital Video Pocket Guide
by Derrick Story covers that information superbly. Story's book goes
into more detail about equipment to buy as well as how to resolve
lighting and sound problems. There's only so much you can say in 112
pages, but 30 of those pages are devoted to solving practical shooting
problems (i.e., the walking interview, dealing with wind
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dvideopg/chapter/Tip5.pdf (PDF), etc.)
Another 30 pages consists of reference material and tables about basic
camera concepts (i.e., how aperture relates to depth of field). Also,
this book in particular has a high percentage of color photographs,
which (like those in Digital Video Hacks) make it easier to understand
what the writer is getting at. Some of the information from Digital
Video Pocket Guide is duplicated in Digital Video Hacks, but lately
I've found myself referring more often to the Pocket Guide than the
Video Hacks book.
In contrast, Digital Video Hacks spends a lot more time on
post-production, resolving sound problems and image discrepencies. It
also contains lots of tricks (special techniques for appropriate
certain contexts). Some examples: time-lapse video of a sunset,
constructing a DIY blue screen shot (really cool and not as complicated
as I thought), controlling your camera remotely, making your own
"weather report," creating a "freeze-time" sequence (a la Matrix),
creating a video for 3-D viewing, making DVD menus, defeating the
Macromedia protections on commercial DVDs to import clips into your
project, shooting a computer monitor (the discrepencies in refresh
rates causes flickering) and rotating your video from vertical to
horizontal. The book also contains some postproduction tricks (such as
changing a scene from day to night) as well as other advanced
techniques: Removing an unwanted object (like a microphone) from your
video image using your NLE or using XML config files to create custom
effects and transitions in MS Movie Maker
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/moviemakersfx.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true.
The book did a fairly good job talking about distribution, encoding and
rendering. There was a good discussion about setting up bit torrent,
videoblogging, live feeds, video catalogs, creating DVD menus and
encoding for media players on portable devices (using 3GPP file
formats). This is important and amazing stuff, especially as video
aggregators like FireAnt http://help.antisnottv.net/index.php/Main_Page
become more popular. In addition, some hacks were less about video
production than using remote cameras for everyday uses (security,
remote tech support). Interesting for some, not terribly important to
future Richard Linklaters.
The best part about both books are the great color images. Both are
easy to read and browse through. I like the way that Digital Video
Hacks offered suggestions for Linux, Windows and Apple and didn't limit
themselves to talking about only one application like Final Cut Pro.
Sometimes a a technology book, if its approach to the subject is too
generic, will turn out not to offer a practical series of steps for
accomplishing tasks. Digital Video Hacks did not fall into this trap.
In summary: Digital Video Hacks is an excellent all-in-one book for
video producers at all levels. Great practical suggestions and tricks,
although I wish it provided more help for evaluating your equipment
needs (and making it fit within your budget).
Robert Nagle , aka idiotprogrammer
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/ writes web
fiction under various pseudonyms. He is soon embarking on first feature
documentary project.
* * * *
Other Book Recommendations:
Books: Lighting for Digital Video & Television, Second Edition by John
Jackman
Producing Great Sound for Digital Video [Paperback] by Jay Rose
On Film Editing by Edward Dmytryk (written 20 years ago, but succinct
and still relevant)
Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger (good on aesthetics,
camera technique & project management).
No Budget Movie (FREE PDF book) http://nobudgetmovie.com/
The Conversations: Walter Murch & the Art of Editing Film, by Michael
Ondaatje. Extended thoughts on editing & the art of filmmaking.
Forums: dvxuser http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/index.php? ,
camcorderinfo.com http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/ , dvinfo
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/ , and cinematography.com
http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/
Free Tutorials: Sonnyboo Articles
http://www.sonnyboo.com/downloads/articles.htm , Indie Film Tech Videos
by Scott Spears (free for download
http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html ), Cybercollege course on
Audio/TV production http://www.cybercollege.org/tvp_ind.htm (with
quizzes, exercises, etc).
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