The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing, and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD [Paperback]

Chris Gore (Author), Paul J. Salamoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2005

Learn from this comprehensive book, a soup-to-nuts approach to releasing your independent film on DVD. From package design to marketing to authoring to menu architecture to promotion to publicity to penetrating retailiers and even negotiating the DVD deal.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chris Gore has been called "a pit bull of journalism" and the "Gen-X Leonard Maltin." He founded" Film Threat "magazine in 1985 and the popular magazine gave him access to scores of unfinished, underground, and cult films. He lives in Los Angeles

Raised on a healthy diet of science fiction and horror from the age of five, Paul Salamoff parlayed his obsession for genre filmmaking into a successful run as a professional Special FX Make-Up Artist, Producer, Writer and Director. In 16 years, he has worked on over 40 films, 10 television series, and numerous commercials.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932907092
• ISBN-13: 978-1932907094
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Stress > Anger Management

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected at all, April 10, 2007

By 

Nancy L. Collins "Nancy Collins" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing, and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD (Paperback)

This book gives detailed instruction using Studio Pro, but, duh, that is software for a Mac, not a PC. It does give other info, but only about 10%. The other 90% of the book is detailed step by step instructions for using Studio Pro for Macs. If you own a Mac, go for it. If not, find another book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Thorough but Technically Overwhelming - at least for me..., January 9, 2006

By 

Matthew Terry (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing, and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD (Paperback)

Have you ever been to a party or watched a show on PBS where a very knowledgeable person expounds on some subject and you find yourself drawn in because they are a great speaker, or the subject matter is fascinating but you come away telling your partner: "Wow, that was really interesting. I have no idea what they were talking about."

That's how I felt after reading the first half of this book.

I know very little about all the technical aspects of DVD creation, authoring, processing and packaging. Frankly, I know just enough about my computer to completely fry my hard-drive (which I've done). I have used editing programs and DVD authoring programs in the past (and still use) but these are very much "over the counter" programs usually bundled with my DVD burner and extremely simple to use: Add titles, add content, stick in a DVD-R disc and push a button. Two hours later, you hope it works.

Paul J. Salamoff does an excellent job going through the step-by-step process of creating the DVD. He has thought of everything from the title colors to the hidden eggs. Using programs such as "Final Cut Pro" and "DVD Studio Pro 3" and "Adobe Photoshop," Paul goes through the meticulous step-by-step process of telling the reader how to create their DVD. Assumptions are already made. Assumption 1: You already have your film in the "can" and on your computer and assumption 2: You have a computer that can handle everything you have got.

Paul is extremely thorough and detailed from the Preparation of the Video and Audio to the layout of menus, overlays, subtitles, slide-shows and bios. It is all very fascinating - even if I do not thoroughly understand it. Though they do include dozens of screenshots and graphics.

Here, try this from the section regarding "Control Commands:" COLOR COMMANDS Use these commands to select a value between 0 and 15. These colors can be preset in DVD Studio Pro (Preferences > Color Palette). $ColorIndex1: Text Color ($ColorIndex1 = 1)

Now, if you understand that (and many others like that) - then this book is for you. If you are like me and that makes about as much sense as cotton candy on the moon - then maybe you should skip to the second section.

The second section is all about marketing your film. Dealing from everything from duplicators to distributors to foreign markets. Chris Gore goes into great detail about the hills and valleys of this process of getting your film out there in the marketplace. This section enlightened me to things that I was not familiar with when I go to my local "Best Buy" and buy "Crappy Movie 4 - SPECIAL EDITION." There is a detailed process and one you should follow if you have your film in hand and want to get it out to the marketplace.

Together Chris and Paul have done a great job of explaining pretty much everything you need to know about this process (including an EXCELLENT resource section in the back of the book). Here are a few other items I would have liked to see:

1. A section on what type of computer you are going to need including processor speed, monitor size, video card, hard-drive space, etc. If I have my film in hand, I am going to want to know what my initial investment is going to be.

2. An honest to goodness recommendation of software to use. Paul uses DVD Studio Pro 3 for authoring but says: "This is not an endorsement of DVD Studio Pro 3..." Well, gosh, why not!? I would have rather seen, straight up: Buy this type of computer and buy this type of software. There are other types of software and they do this and this and that and that - but here is why I am using and recommending this!

3. Resources by location. In the back of the book there are some resources listing out DVD Production Services and DVD Packaging Services. They're listed out alphabetically. If you are looking for one by location, you have to scan each one. It would have been excellent to include the same list via location.

If you have a film that you are ready to put on to DVD - this book is an excellent resource for you. Especially if you can understand all the technical talk. If you do not understand the technical talk, I would still suggest getting the book and the recommended programs and try to put it all together. It seems, relatively, simple. At least from what I understand.

Oh, and in all fairness to Chris and Paul, I am going to give the book to a friend of mine who has more knowledge on the technical aspects of this process (he would understand the $ColorIndex1 sentence above) and have asked him to review the book. I figure that with two authors, the book could have two reviewers. Look for his review soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one reference all independent filmmakers must have, March 17, 2006

By 

D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing, and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD (Paperback)

There's a host of tips on burning DVDs that Hollywood doesn't wish you to know: even if you're not making an independent video, these tips alone make THE COMPLETE DVD BOOK: DESIGNING, PRODUCING, AND MARKETING YOUR INDEPENDENT FILM ON VIDEO worth the price tag. And for those who are involved in independent filmmaking, THE COMPLETE DVD BOOK is a virtual goldmine of detail on how to produce high-quality DVDs similar to major studio products - but without the big-ticket budget. There are DVD templates, listings of designers, suppliers, distributors, tips on publicity and more: everything you need to produce a professional-quality dvd. Very highly recommended: the basic, essential reference all independent filmmakers should have close at hand.