Editing Digital Video : The Complete Creative and Technical Guide (Paperback)

~ (Author), Patrick McGrath (Author) "Digital video editing is the process of transferring video and other materials into an editing system; assembling sequencing of pictures and sounds (first in a..." (more)
Key Phrases: most editing systems, many editing systems, editing appliance, Mouse Mouse, Delete Delete Cntrl, Cntrl Shift (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

excellent job...clearly explaining both the technical and aesthetic role...excellent textbook or resource...unique approach and comprehensive coverage -- Creative Cow, January 2003

will be re-read ... amazed ... how much ... covered in a single book ... how valuable the information was ... I recommend this book. -- The Cut, October 2002

Review

A "complete creative and technical guide" for editing digital video seems like an overly ambitious concept. It is surprising how well the authors manage to accomplish it. The goal of the book, stated in the 2nd paragraph is "to teach anyone, amateurs or professionals, how to edit on any digital video editing system and achieve results." As a first primer -- not superficial but focused on the introductory basics, this book makes a very good attempt in achieving that goal. While I filled the margins with notes on what I thought was left out, or opinions I did not necessarily agree with, I was surprised at the concepts I could not stop thinking about when I finished this book. It will now have a prominent, handy place on my bookshelf -- a treatment that most professional editing books do not get. I know this will make a handy reference and will be re-read more than once.

The book comes with a CD-ROM that is compatible with most editing systems, and offers step-by-step instructions using the source material when teaching basic concepts. The first chapter deals with basic concepts and defines editing, describes the hardware and software basics, and the concept of workflow. Oddly, the concept of offlining is not mentioned in describing workflows. This chapter describes why the term "Digital Video Editing" is used throughout the book instead of "Nonlinear Editing" (a distinction which I personally do not agree with) and offers six universal principles of "digital video editing" as part of the definition.

The next chapter follows with the basics of today's digital video editing system and examines the GUI desktop design aspects. The authors do a very good job balancing the amount of content and detail for the beginner. Small things I was troubled about was that they left out a reference to SDTI connections while they included SDI and HD-SDI in their discussion on connectivity standards. They also left out pen & tablet when discussing the human interface tools, although I was pleased that they discussed the ergonomics as it related to left-handed editors. Overall, it was a complete and effective lesson.

Chapter 3, "Beginnings, Middles and Ends" is my favorite chapter. Not only does it start with teaching editing, but it makes a very good introductory effort to communicate the aesthetic concepts involved with the craft of editing. It starts appropriately with the tradition of storytelling and goes on to discuss different editing workflows (bricklayer vs. sculptor), the concept of the montage, techniques for continuity editing, Pace and Rhythm, and offers "Five Guidelines of Editing". Then the book continues with a focus on polishing the program (trimming and audio -- Chapter 4) and goes on to Chapter 5 "Styles and Workflows" -- another excellent chapter.

"Styles and Workflows" starts with the question "What's Technique?", goes on to a training component, and then analyzes different styles and workflows including Music Videos, Commercials (analyzing different types), Documentary and Nonfiction (scripted and non-scripted), and Fiction. I found myself going back and reading this chapter several times.

The next chapter focused on media asset management, including ingesting, logging and both project and bin management. This is followed by another lesson in visual grammar (compositional issues, types of shots, point of view, etc.) and goes into aspect ratios and the creation of subclips. Chapter 8 discusses clip effects, color issues, rendering, and timeline effects. Chapter 9 continues by discussing graphics, titling and compositing including the various key types and DVE effects creation issues such as perspective and keyframing.

Chapter 10, "Getting It In and Out "is the most technical chapter in the book, and the most uneven. It goes into various ways to set up a picture monitor and yet it never discusses a waveform monitor and uses the word vectorscope just once without explaining it. It does a good job with audio and defining codecs, and does an excellent job with EDLs and its evolution to the AAF metadata standard.

The last chapter, Chapter 11, is an excellent cross-reference of editing terminology as used by the various manufacturers and also offers a keyboard shortcut cross reference. This could be worth the cost of the book for freelancers that need to go from system to system and for instructors that have students asking how to do something on their home editor.

The book finishes off with a valuable set of appendixes. The first, is "Films to Watch" listing not only the films but scenes to watch for to learn editing techniques, including advanced editing, comedy editing, sound editing and documentary editing. It also lists Eddie Award nominees from 1934 to 2001. Appendix B is a list of "Resources" including magazines, books, and internet resources. (There is no mention of Bob Turner's THE CUT, so it is obviously an incomplete reference!) It ends with an extensive list of manufacturers with descriptions and contact information. Appendix C is a script for the CD-ROM exercise.

There were small points I disagreed with and some sections that were not as strong as others, but overall I was amazed at not only how much was covered in a single book, but at how valuable the information was that was provided.

With these reservations stated, I recommend this book. I can see it as a text source for video editing instructors, and for anyone that wants to get started in the craft of editing. (The Cut )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (September 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071406352
• ISBN-13: 978-0071406352
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #213,848 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Books > Entertainment > Movies > Video > Direction & Production
  #42 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Digital Music > Audio & Video Editing
  #54 in	Books > Entertainment > Movies > Video > Technical

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, March 2, 2003

By A Customer

Let's face it, most people doing digital video are self-taught. Sure, there are some who've been to film school or have lots of experience with film but of all the DV camera owners, they're in the minority. The result: hours and hours and hours of weddings, school plays, birthday parties and... well... tripe. This book can help turn that tripe into gold because it covers the black art of editing.
Editing is one of those subjects that seems to be hard to teach through a book and, therefore, hard to learn. The solution employed by the authors is to include a CD containing three video clips for the reader to edit. The overall process is described in the text.
There's a wealth of other good information, some quite basic, some fairly advanced - a perusal of the table of contents will be informative to you.
Pros:
* Platform and edit system neutrality
* Video clips to edit
* Tour of all the important concepts
* Simple terminology

Cons:
* No finished professional edit of the project
* More detailed info on professional techniques would be nice

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written must-have that won't disappoint!, December 12, 2002

By	Juli S. Kobayashi (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an amazing book that is a must-have for anyone that is in the industry, interested in being in the industry, or just plain interested in the world of digital video. Editing Digital Video by Robert M. Goodman and Patrick McGrath is an exceptionally well-written book that covers techniques in craft and theory about editing that can benefit the novice home video editor to the professional feature film editor. The authors complete the daunting task of covering all of the many different digital editing interfaces by stripping them down to the essentials. They also cover the many different kinds of formats, such as narrative, documentary, commercials, music video, etc. I found the Keyboard Shortcut Cross Reference exceptionally handy. This book also covers recording DVDs, EDL formats, and details about exporting graphics. Being an editor initially learning editing techniques by physically cutting film and graduating to digital video editing, I very much appreciated this book that respected editing as a craft and art.
The fundamentals about storytelling and editing are definitely worth reading. Some of it might be a bit too Editing 101, but surprisingly, held some gems. The "Films to Watch" chapter with films that have been recommended for different genres of editing to lists of Eddie Award Nominees and Oscar Nominees is an added bonus.
Written in a very readable and likeable prose, Editing Digital Video is an absolute joy and a must for any editing enthusiast, whether in trade or in hobby.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essential editing book!!, December 11, 2002

By	Juli S. Kobayashi (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an amazing book that is a must-have for anyone that is in the industry, interested in being in the industry, or just plain interested in the world of digital video. Editing Digital Video by Robert M. Goodman and Patrick McGrath is an exceptionally well-written book that covers techniques in craft and theory about editing that can benefit the novice home video editor to the professional feature film editor. The authors complete the daunting task of covering all of the many different digital editing interfaces by stripping them down to the essentials. They also cover the many different kinds of formats, such as narrative, documentary, commercials, music video, etc. For the expert, I found the Keyboard Shortcut Cross Reference exceptionally handy. This book also covers recording DVDs, EDL formats, and details about exporting graphics. Being an editor initially learning editing techniques by physically cutting film and graduating to digital video editing, I very much appreciated this book that respected editing as a craft and art.
The fundamentals about storytelling and editing are definitely worth reading. Some of it might be a bit too Editing 101, but surprisingly, held some gems. The "Films to Watch" chapter with films that have been recommended for different genres of editing to lists of Eddie Award Nominees and Oscar Nominees is an added bonus.
Written in a very readable and likeable prose, Editing Digital Video is an absolute joy and a must for any editing enthusiast, whether in trade or in hobby.