No-Budget Digital Filmmaking : How to Create Professional Looking Video for Little or No Cash [Paperback]

Chuck Gloman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071412328 | ISBN-13: 978-0071412322 | Publication Date: November 26, 2002 | Edition: 1

This "must have" tool for aspiring video producers shows how every step of the production process can be cost-minimized, yet still result in a sterling, professional quality product. The author, an independent film producer, also explains how final distribution - via the web, DVD, the festival circuit, or public exhibition - can be handled in an equally inexpensive manner. It includes every major type of video. It thoroughly covers preproduction - the key to shoestring shooting. It talks about how to find free locations, equipment, and actors. It shows creating great lighting for nothing and using digital video, DVD, and streaming media.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Thanks to the rise of digital video technology, millions of people now have the tools to create their own films. But without an infusion of movie studio capital, how can you make effective videos on a low budget -- without making them look low budget? Enter McGraw-Hill's No-Budget Digital Filmmaking. (CineCityFilm )

From the Inside Flap

MAKE WINNING VIDEOS — WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SHIRT!

Thanks to the rise of digital video technology, millions of people now have the tools to create their own films. But without an infusion of movie studio capital, how can you make effective videos on a low budget — without making them look low budget? Enter McGraw-Hill’s No-Budget Digital Filmmaking.

Written with insight by a veteran director, producer, and videographer, No-Budget Digital Filmmaking offers detailed instructions on every step in the creative process: from script writing and storyboarding to casting, shooting, editing, and postproduction. As a result, the book will help you:

* Understand the intricacies of preproduction: the key to making videos on a shoestring
* Learn how to find and procure free locations, equipment, and actors
* Design effective lighting setups for zero cost
* Grasp the benefits of the latest high-tech media: DVD, streaming media, and more!

Plus, the book provides comprehensive discussion on the gamut of distribution methods — such as the Web, the festival circuit, or public exhibition — to help you get your work in front of the right audience. So no matter if you’re a student, a hobbyist, or a professional with years of seasoning under your belt, No-Budget Digital Filmmaking can help you realize your next masterwork — without breaking the bank!

SELECTED TABLE OF CONTENTS: * Getting Started * Preproduction * The Television Commercial * The Corporate Video * How-To Videos * Documentaries * Training Videos * DVD Authoring * Features * Streaming Video on the Web * And more!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (November 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071412328
• ISBN-13: 978-0071412322
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,021,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a "how to" book, but "how I did it" case studies., February 1, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: No-Budget Digital Filmmaking : How to Create Professional Looking Video for Little or No Cash (Paperback)

Using examples from his own long career, the author offers hints, tips and tricks on how to make videos on the cheap. Not only does he tell you how he produced videos with few resources, but he gives a wonderful overview of how you can make a living with your video camera.

On the other hand, although it says "digital filmmaking" in the title, there is really very little technical information about digital video here. Nor will you find much technical information on cinematography, directing, production or editing. If you need technical help, look elsewhere. But there is plenty of inspiration here.

If you can get past the endless typos and the author's annoying and unrelenting attempts at humor, you'll be inspired, but not educated.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and not on the subject, November 26, 2004

By 

Grand-Daddy (Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: No-Budget Digital Filmmaking : How to Create Professional Looking Video for Little or No Cash (Paperback)

This book is full of the author's entertaining video-shooting experiences, told in an entertaining style. It contains almost nothing of what the title and commercial blurbs suggest it contains. If you are (like me) an amateur video maker looking for tips on creating a higher-quality product while living off your day job,look elsewhere. His definition of "no-budget" includes having to rent an old helicopter, rather than a new one, for an aerial shot. The text is full of unexplained technical and slang references to filters, lights, and other equipment but it doesn't matter that you don't understand them because if you're really no-budget you can't afford them anyway.
There are a few real gems, like the opening chapter on the history of various video technologies, but these just emphasize the point -- buy this book if you want to be entertained, not if you want to learn anything practical.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some near-hidden gems, January 5, 2003

By 

Liz C. (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No-Budget Digital Filmmaking : How to Create Professional Looking Video for Little or No Cash (Paperback)

Perhaps Chuck should follow his own advice on humor - perhaps less is more. Particularly saturated in the first few chapters, the reader has to wade through many asides and jokes that, by page two, are more irritating than funny. Also prevalent are spelling errors (though not Chuck's fault, I'm sure) - my favorite being the passage including the "peanut button and bubble gun."

That said, buried in all the attempted humor are gems of wisdom and advice from a guy who obviously has been there and knows what he's talking about. And, true to his title, Chuck really focuses on the no-budget project - whoever thought that you could shoot something with only [money]? Evidently Chuck has, and is more than willing to pass on tips on how you can do it yourself.

Also helpful is not only his practical advice - like how to use that Ikea China ball onset - but also his advice on how to network and to maintain contacts. Few other books I've encountered so balance both those aspects of independent or no/lo-budget filmmaking.

All in all, if you find Chuck funny, you'll have a great time. If not, the little gems you'll find here and there are worth sticking it out.