Customer Reviews

Digital Moviemaking: The Filmmaker's Guide to the 21st Century

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Scott Billups draws up his extensive experience in the film industry and in using cutting edge technology in the film industry.

This book is an excellent reference for digital filmmakers who want to produce industry-quality films using digital equipment. Billups primary goal with the book is to help filmmakers produce high-quality video that can be converted to film without looking like it was shot on video. Experienced filmmakers will understand that this is not a simple process. Even if your goal is not to go from video to film, the techniques Billups shares in this book will undoubtedly help you improve the quality of your films.

Billups pulls no punches when it comes to his thoughts on Hollywood, the movie industry in general, technology and what you should and should not be doing or using in the production of your films. High quality filmmaking is technical and though Billups attempts to make it understandable, individuals not familar with basic filmmaking methods and equipment may find themselves lost from time to time.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who uses or plans to use video for filmmaking. Without a doubt, Billups knows from experience what he's talking about -- he shot the entire first day of filming of "Barb Wire" using a MiniDV camcorder. And that's just a fragment of his experience in this arena.

I'm a right-brainer, and not usually that fond of technical discussions, but I bought this book out of sheer necessity, and read every word. Billups laid it on the line: turn off the auto-everything features, and just use the camera. My footage sucked for a while, and then started to look professional once I actually learned what was going on.

He also would have saved me a FORTUNE if I had read this book first, since he has great recommendations for used equipment. I didn't need to spend thousands on the camera. Oh well. This book has an occasionally world- weary tone, and the layout is quirky (the best info comes late in the book), but once you go with it and get used to his style, he'll save you money, time, and headaches. I'd put it in the must-read list *before* you go equipment shopping.

Working in the world of film & tv editing and post-production, I pride myself on being a bit of a techno-geek. However, this book goes into areas and ideas that, frankly, never even crossed my mind. Billups is like a favorite uncle recounting his experiences in the trenches, making the book very hard to put down. His enthusiasm definitely comes across, and the information stays with you because of the way it is presented. This is not a simple regurgitation of facts and technical specs. There's even a website where you can download charts and other goods for your foray into the digital film world. Definitely check it out.

Buy this book IF IF IF you plan to seriously transfer digital video to FILM (i.e. 16mm or 35mm) for example to submit to your documentary or movie to a film festival. He shows anyone who is serious can pull it off.

If you DON'T PLAN to transfer to film it is completely over the top.

Nonetheless, the book is written for a layperson and is quite entertaining to read. The author shoots straight from the hip and tells you his highly opionionated views on equipment and processes - exact models and estimated prices are described.

Refreshingly honest in comparison to the usual "how-to" type books.

After purchasing numerous books on the subject, in recent months, Scotts' book was a breath of fresh air!!.I was overwhelmed with the brutal honesty and passionate guidance of this book, that of which can only come from significant experience!!
All of my questions regarding "Which Camera ?", "Which Editing platform?", "Which Asylum will I be in at the end of all this ?" etc were answered. As someone who is about to spend close to 30k on a system I have been in "research mode" for the past 2 months.This book answered ALL my questions.
It is not only incredibly factual, but a very amusing and inspirational read. If you are thinking of purchasing digital equipment this is the best resource that I have come across.
Excellent book, worth every penny and great web-site for reference. Highly recommended.

At first, I thought this book was great. I followed Billup's tips to the letter. But, many things weren't making sense. So, I began to reach out to other digital moviemakers out here in Hollywood...

Time and time again, professional WORKING DP's, editors and directors would scratch their head when I explained a question I had regaring one of Billup's "tips." Repeatedly they'd say, "Who is this guy!?! That doesn't make any sense!" Then, they'd show me how they do things, which always made more sense.

For instance, the whole lightmeter issue. Billups makes such a huge deal out of it, but every professional videographer I spoke to told me the same thing: light meters are for film!

Anyway, like I said... at first I liked the book, as I appreciated Billup's "no holds barred" approach. But, as I learned much of his "insight" was rather "outsight," I've turned to viewing the book as a load of hubris.

The title is great - right on the button, just what I was looking for. And the instructional aspects of the book are very valuable. It is clear that the author has a great understanding of his subject and a wealth of experience from which to draw. What did not go down well was the author's attitude. Regularly belittling the aspirations of his readers, often pointing out his own successes and failing to take anything other than a narrow, personal, seemimgly jaded point of view, the author fails to strike any level of connection with a reader which could so easily have been achieved and would have ensured that I look for his work elsewhere. As it is, I find no reason or desire to be associated with the author in any way, as a reader of his work, as a recommender of his book or as a potential peer. I will use what I have learned from this book but will look elsewhere for new sources of information on this subject.

When getting into digital there are usually one hundred questions that each have at least seventy-five different answers. Scott takes these answers, distills the facts we need, and presents it in a concise fashion. He goes past the hype and gives both the novice and the veteran detailed and complete information. Highly recommended.

The technical mumbo-jumbo in this book is very well explained by Mr. Billups, and this is one of two books that I found essential in starting my digital movie business (SPEXProductions) with only limited knowledge of the essentials required to make intelligent decisions to purchase the best equipment at the best price. Many of the toys featured in his book are already outdated, but essential need-to-know technical basic concepts haven't changed very much. It was doubly hard for me because I'm using a lot of greenscreening techniques in our LIBERTY 72 project.

Like almost everything else in this genre, many of the featured toys and tech are already outdated. But wait! Don't miss out on this book. It's real diamond mine is that Billups has managed to (cleverly) slide in the best (and most humorous) description of the totally insane Hollywood mindset that I've ever seen from a Hollywood Insider. I don't know if he still gets invited to those "A-List" Hollywood parties (yes, I do believe I've seen him at more than one!) but he is always welcome out here where the real people are - and where hopefully a lot of great movie makers of the future will originate! Anyone can find a "how to" tech book ... but it is rare to find so many more things that everyone who wants to join the business need to know about some of the other pheripherals of the business. This is like buying several books under one cover. A must read for beginners!

If you want to learn about the process of making a low budget film that's digital this probably is not the book for you. I'm in the process of producing a film (my first) and thought this book would help guide me. It didn't. It seemed to me that the author spent most of the time talking about the techniques to use that would allow the best transfer to film. Don't get me wrong, this is useful information but that's not exactly what I was looking for.

So, if you've never made a film before and want to get an understanding of what's involved and your only going to buy one book, don't buy this one. I highly recommend Digital Filmmaking 101 by Dale Newton and John Gaspard (same publisher). This is a great book on how to make a digital film on a low budget. Check it out before you buy this book.