Customer Reviews

Video Made on a Mac: Production and Postproduction Using Apple Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a commercial stills photographer. If I were a brontosaurus, I'd be the guy looking at that one twinkle in the night sky wondering why it seems to get a little bigger each night. Good news (for me) is that I've experienced the world change around me once before -- as in the days when everyone shot film and digital seemed buggy and expensive. I'm not waiting around this time. I'm doing all I can to morph commercially into a digital cinematographer (with the full expectation that my "silver screen" will be exactly the size of the latest iPhone).

'Video Made On A Mac' is a great resource for guys like me. The illustrations are excellent. There's more space devoted to pictures than words. The 16 chapters run the gamut from creative concept and pre-production through to project delivery and archiving. The text is easy to follow and gets to the essentials quickly. As an unexpected bonus, the appendix provides great insights on DLSR Video.

Even if you're not looking to edit digital video in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Creative Suite, if you are looking to shoot DSLR video, consider this a "must-read". As I've learned quickly -- it's one thing to shoot footage (at 330mb per min). It's entirely another to edit the project into a meaningful presentation. At a minimum, you'll have to be able to dialogue with your editor.

Whether you want to edit or just be able to talk with your editor, 'Video Made On A Mac' will get you going in no time.

This book isn't just good... it's essential reading for all editor's and digital content creators.

What Harrington and Carman manage to do in fewer than 400 pages is help you sharpen your skills while providing tips and tricks on everything from Greenscreen solutions to crucial steps you must take for organization, archiving, review and approval.

A quick and easy (yet incredibly informative) read, you'll find yourself keeping a copy in your office as well as wanting one for your Kindle so they're guidance will always be close at hand. These guys are tops in their field for a reason. Whether you're working with Apple Final Cut Studio or Adobe Creative Suite... this book (and companion DVD with over 5 hours of training videos) will help you master the dark arts of "good" video creation and post-production.

I've been editing corporate videos, concerts, and indie features for over 15 years, and I still don't know it all... but these guys help me look as if I do. Again, if you make your living working in post-production, this is an absolutely indispensable tool for your arsenal.

Bravo! This is a much-needed resource. Video Made on a Mac will be the next best step for many intermediate media producers looking to take their work to the next level. It is an abundant virtual cookbook of video techniques bridging preproduction, production and postproduction as well as software platforms. These techniques will make your work look better and save you money and aggravation. I just jumped in to learn a specific technique in Adobe Soundbooth - a program that I had never used. EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED - easy to find and to understand. The video content on the DVD is a special bonus.

Bang up to date, covering Apple and Adobe apps, this book is easy to read, well illustrated and the CD is excellent.

Filled with tips and good advice from people who so obviously know their craft, this book is an essential purchase for anyone who wants to know more about anything video on a Mac.

The level is good - covering hardware from the low end, right up to RED cameras, there is plenty of useful information whether you are new to the craft or a few years in.

I love love love this book. Read it cover to cover twice already. Been in this field for 30 years and still learned much from these two guys. The training videos alone are worth the price of the book. As is the chapter on how to organize a project more efficiently. As is the real-world-logical suggestions about how to use type in Motion. As is-- oh, stop reading this and buy the book!

Stephen Tyler
[...]

I love this book. It is a daily reference. As a producer editor who has been working in tv for a long time, I'm not easy to impress. But by page 6 of this book Rich Harrington and Robbie Carman were teaching me things I didn't know. I wish I had this type of resource when I was starting out. It covers so much about how to actually make a video. Even PC users can benefit from the templates and information contained in this book. A clear winner - Video Made on a Mac: Production and Postproduction Using Apple Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite

I was very excited to receive this book. I basically read it through cover to cover and now am working through the exercises. This book is an awesome resource and one in which the information can be accessed again and again. It will be within arm's reach of my desk from now on. Great work!

This was such a great buy for me as a Mac user who produces video content. There are so many step by step techniques and real world examples and I have applied this information for many of my own productions.

The DVD that comes with the book is what excels it's worth. There are quicktime tutorials that accompany each topic and those are quite valuable to watch. There are also production templates and spread sheets in iWork and Microsoft Office that I use for reference all the time now.

I hope the authors of this book can write another edition soon, since technology changes by the week, information about how to apply the Mac software covered in this book are getting old and out dated really fast.

I've been video editing on Final Cut Pro for about ten years now and I'm always looking for more information on ways to improve my work which is why I purchased this book. While this book may be very interesting to readers who are still new to editing and Final Cut specifically, I flipped through this book and couldn't find one specific tutorial that I wasn't already familiar with. I was looking for a guide of clever tips and shortcuts to improve my skills and work flow but ended up with a refresher guide to Final Cut editing. While the quality of this book is good, I don't see this being useful for experienced editors.

Video Made on a Mac
Production and Postproduction Using Apple Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite


Richard Harrington
Robbie Carman
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-60472-9

This is a fantastic resource for those already well-versed in the fields of video production and image editing. You won't learn the actual software mentioned (After Effects and Final Cut Studio), but rather gain an overall perspective and useful tips while following along with the projects presented.

I found the production planning, budget, and project organization chapters especially useful in an otherwise technical resource guide. There were lots of useful tips on the sides of the pages as well. A lot of work goes into a production, and I learned about the various roles and expectations during the process. I also found the terminology useful for getting up to speed with real-world scenarios.

There's a DVD included that covers extra training as well as files that correspond with the lessons in the book. The appendix includes an excellent section on Working with DSLR Video.

The book's two authors not only teach the software but have gone on to speak at conferences, write books, and contribute regularly online.