Customer Reviews

Digital Cinematography & Directing

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm quite amazed at how bad this book is. I have the sister book, Digital Lighting and Rendering, and that book is excellent. The author of this book has apparently written "the" book on Lightwave. And Digital Cinematography and Directing has gotten a lot of good reviews. And some bad ones. Pay attention to the bad reviews (like I wish I had).

This book is quite short - 225 pages. And literally half of the book is comprised of half-page-sized illustrations. That brings the text down to about 112 pages. Then subtract the one-page introduction to each chapter of the twelve chapters, and the half-page wrap-up, and you are down to about 94 pages of text (trust me - I am not exaggerating). That would be a very few pages for any author to cover the subject. And this author doesn't. It is one of the strangest reading experiences that I have ever had. The author can go on for several pages without really saying anything about the subject. One reviewer said that reading this book was like reading a magazine. I found reading this book more like reading a brochure about a book on Digital Cinematography. The author makes statements like "you are lucky because you are working in a 3D program and can do whatever you want. You don't have to pay actors our be bound by adverse lighting conditions, unions, etc." Or "you are the director. Take charge of your project. A confident digital director is always in charge ..." This book goes on like that forever, but never gets around to imparting any real information. Bizarre.

And about the illustrations - they are badly lit, badly textured, badly posed Poser renders. I have nothing against Poser - I own it - but this is really bad Poser. For example, for an illustration of a group shot shown from the top view, the author has obviously copied and pasted a Poser figure six times - without even bothering to change the pose or clothing - and placed it in a random, nonsensical grouping so that he can illustrate a camera set-up. That illustration takes up half a page (they all do). Then when he makes a statement about visiting a library to find more books on the subject of cinematography, you are directed to another half-page illustration of a screenshot of 3D modeled books!

The only thing that I can figure is that New Riders decided that they needed a Digital Cinematography book for their Digital series and made it as fast and as cheaply, and as carelessly, as possible. Do yourself a favor - don't buy it! As I am always short of shelf space - this book may actually hit the dumpster!

This book was slapped together to make a fast buck. If you know absolutely NOTHING about directing or video, this book might be for you. If you have spent a few minutes searching the internet, then there will already be very little it can teach you. If you are still thinking about buying this book, take a look at some of the better reviews. Do they seem like they were written by someone like me or you? I took the time to check them out: one of the reviewers wrote about every single title released by NRP on the subject. I wonder what kind of costumer this is... Some other reviews have tried to lead us into thinking that the book appropriately addresses its target reader: the absolute beginner. This is an obvious attempt at justifying its lack of content. Fortunately, I read a borrowed copy and saved my money.

Sure it's a nice book to have, although for the price it's paperback and quite thin. The problem is it's just another average book on directing. There's a lot about storyboards, continuity, camera angles, CU shots, Med shots, character staging, headroom. Did I learn anything unique to animation? No. Did I learn anything new? NO.

Except for the digital and animated nature of the images, there is only maybe 1 chapter (10 pages) that is purely related to digital as in 3d animation, and that is about resolutions, compression, and rendering. Wow! -640x480! NTSC! 16:9! I learned that all in school and on the web.

Save your money.

Based on other reviews I was expecting much more than I got. Ok,lets say, maybe it would be good for beginners, but as a mid level 3d artist I found it pretty much a worthless. The material consist of low tech Poser type scenes, with only a briefest overview of lighting, nothing about textures and surfaces, and the stuff on cameras is so basic one can figure it out with a month of Bryce use. Don't be fooled by the cover - this is strictly 101 stuff.

BTW - I sent it back

I bought this book in hope that I could improve my shots in 3d Animation but it couldn't teach me anything I didn't already know. I have worked in character animation for over 6 years and this book was way too basic for me. It might be ok for beginers but I am sure there would be better resourses out there. The book is thin and each chapter is very short, it was like reading a magazine. For those of you interested in improving your skills (which is what we constantly do in this industry) don't bother with this book.I am sure there is a better one out there.

Dan Ablan takes on a huge range of material in this terrific introductory book. He touches on pre-planning, staging, lighting, sound, and editing. It provides a very easy introduction to this material, though you should consider it a starting point rather than a definative reference work on any of these topics. I wish a book like this had been available when I first started in CG work. An easy to read, clearly written digital cinematography 101.

I'm reading through these reviews, and the one guy saying it's just satisfactory? What? IF YOU"RE SO ADVANCED - WHY DO YOU NEED A BOOK????? It's really amazing that all of these "pros" are great at critiquing and what have they done? Where is their great work?

Digital Cinematography is and excellent book. Yes - IT'S FOR BEGINNERS! Why else would you get a book? If you're advanced, you don't need a book. Duh! This book could have better illustrations, but what's there works just fine - the illustrations prove a point, and that's it! The information is excellent for any 3D animator who wants to bone up on their camera skills, shots, angles, planning, and even editing. Get this book. It's a great reference!

I just bought the book and it's a great value. I also just bought a new 3D storyboarding program which allows me to apply the ideas in the book and incorporate them into my current project. I am NOT an animator but a writer-director planning the remaining hour of a low-budget indie feature film (DV) in production. This book is valuable not only for storyboard artists but also independent filmmakers and writers! I just recommended this book highly on the forum for the storyboarding program, which is called FrameForge 3D Studio (see the product offers at The Writer's Store website).

"Digital Cinematography & Directing", is the newest book in my Lightwave library. and by far the most entertaining.

I have found Dan's books to be the best Lightwave training resources available. This book is no exception! I like how the book focuses on the aesthetics of animation, rather than the typical "how-to". It's the story that can really make the difference and I feel that this book guides you in the path to becoming a better animator. The book begins by giving the reader a foundation in photography, which is applied to the 3D camera. It then goes on to helping the reader to develop and visualize their story. Later chapters include topics such
as directing, lighting, staging, and editing.

I feel that Dan's book, from beginning to end, covers all of the essential concepts of cinematography and directing.
This book is a must-have for all 3D animators!

This book is a joke. The authors should be embarrassed, because I was embarrassed reading it. I learned more from watching The Matrix than I ever did from reading this entire book.