Digital Video Production Cookbook: 100 Professional Techniques for Independent and Amateur Filmmakers (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)

by Chris Kenworthy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Have you ever watched a big-budget Hollywood movie and wondered "How did they do that?" or, perhaps, "How can I do that?" While digital technology greatly simplifies the filmmaking process, there are many tried-and-true production tricks that only those lucky enough to work in the world of high-budget professional film production get to know. The truth is that setting up a car chase, making a realistic-looking alien, staging a fistfight, creating atmospheric lighting, and using special effects are often not as difficult to master as you might think.

Digital Video Production Cookbook will show you how to create sophisticated-looking visual effects, dramatic shots, and powerful sequences using low-cost methods adapted from high-end professional techniques. Author and award-winning filmmaker Chris Kenworthy explains how you can use a digital video camera and basic editing software, to create high-end production values with household equipment and a little imagination.

The book includes easy-to-follow recipes for:

• Creating bluescreen effects
• Simulating rain, snow, and other natural phenomena
• Working with backlighting, simulated candlelight, and special lighting effects
• Shooting day for night
• Staging safe stunts, chase scenes, and fistfights
• Makeup techniques for aging, bruises, and serious injuries
• Shooting at night
• Working with camera movement
• Adding special effects such as laser bolts, holograms, and explosions

and much more.

Packed with full-color, step-by-step instructions, inspirational examples, and authoritative information and advice, this book is the ultimate, no-nonsense cookbook for every aspiring digital filmmaker.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. (November 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596100310
• ISBN-13: 978-0596100315
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #293,265 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great stuff about camera angles and movement , February 26, 2006

By	Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I visited a technical bookstore in Dallas during a programmer's convention. I was determined not to spend any money on any books while there (especially because I've already dropped a bundle on other video books). But I sat in the bookstore and read as much as I could for 2 or 3 hours. This book is amazing. It illustrates camera techniques by showing sequences of shots and how they were produced. Often that is the problem: we can read about something but not see it in action. More than half of the shot setups concern everyday scenes and situations. The last third was about special effects (blue screens, fake blood, etc) which didn't really interest me.

I'm a relative novice to video production, so maybe more experienced videographers would find some of this stuff basic things they learned through experience. What I liked is the many examples of how videographers could use a flaw/mistake and turn it into an interesting cinematic effect. This book does a great job of training the eye when setting up shots.

Another thing. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure the camera in the illustrations is the Sony HDV-HC1 (the same camera I own!).

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun book on how to improve your video techniques, February 21, 2006

By	John A. Suda (Rochester NY) - See all my reviews

Advances in computer video and moviemaking software has mad it very easy to make a bad movie. Software like iMovie, Avid Free and others allow easy input of video camera footage into a program which can edit both video and sound clips, overlay clips, and add transitions, titles, sound effects, graphics, credits and more.

All of this technology however does not guarantee a watchable or quality product. There still is no substitute for compelling narrative writing, acting, dialogue, purposeful editing, and soundtrack selections.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of amateur directors and producers who want to create their own films for personal, family, or group enjoyment. This is where a book like "Digital Video Production Cookbook" fills a need. This is a volume of about one hundred professional- level techniques to help independent and amateur filmmakers improve their movie's quality. Almost anyone with basic competence using a digital video camera and video editing software can use these techniques to improve their movie products.

The author is a writer, producer and director of award- winning independent films, as well as a contributor to computer arts publications. This is a book for beginning or novice filmmakers on low or no- cost, easy to implement, production techniques to enhance your personal creations. These are techniques about lighting effects, camera illusions, visual effects, night shooting, make- up effects, weather and sound effects, and more, all designed to enhance the visual and dramatic impact of your shots. Most of these techniques are used to help you tell your story. This is not a book on how to capture footage or how to use a digital video camera, but on how to go about telling your story via visual and audio techniques to improve your film quality.

A key point about these effects is that that are easy to understand and create but will almost certainly will have a large impact on the results of your work. It really does not take much to create impressions on an audience. Simple editing in a clever manner, or sound effects juxtaposed against innocuous video scenes, can be very persuasive and impactful.

Almost anyone can get started in amateur filmmaking. All it takes is a decent video camera and editing software, along with a handful of incidentals, like a tripod, microphone, and movie light. Author Kenworthy shows how easy it is to light a simple scene, whether indoors or outdoors, with natural light, artificial light, and candle light. Mood can be manipulated by coloring the light. A soft, romantic scene can be lit by natural light bounced off a yellow towel, for example. Backlighting a smoky background scene can imply a mysterious or eerie effect. Low lighting on a face creates a horror-look. Stories can be told using shadows. All of these effects are demonstrated in the section on lighting effects.

Certain illusions are easily produced using "pull focus" to show 2 scenes at once without moving a camera. Camera movements like a background slide, dolly shot, discovery shot, and spins can greatly enhance the dramatic impact and professional look of your film. A scary chase scene can be created, in part, by footage captured while running holding your camera close to the ground. Editing segments to show implied forward or backward looks is very easy to do with almost any decent software.

Other camera techniques demonstrated include shooting reflections, mimicking gunsight or binocular views, flash cutting multiple images, and picturing implied blood and bullet impacts using homemade fake blood. Interesting visual effects can be created using clever camera views or homemade models, like miniature worlds made of clay and other simple components, or spaceships made from cheap junk parts, but properly lit to mimic the dramatic scenes from "Star Wars".

There is a section on performing safe stunts like jumping large gaps, safe punching and fighting scenes, and smashing objects. More advanced techniques include showing how to mask foreground components from a background so they can be inserted elsewhere in other scenes to create action in illusionary environments.

Some of the most interesting effects deal with mimicking weather effects like rain and storms, and people- related effects like bruises, aging and serious injuries, sometimes just by using camera angles. It was interesting to learn how to create a fake brain spill using canned plums and fruit mix with colored water and glycerin. Cool!

This is a richly produced book with plenty of photographs and visual illustrations showing how to produce effects that duplicate some of the great producers and directors from Hollywood.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book, December 8, 2005

By	Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is fantastic! It gives two page descriptions of all kinds of cool video tricks, as well as describing proper video technique. Given the length most of these descriptions act as a starting point, but that's what you really want anyway.

I can't recommend this book more highly. It's just what you want if your idea is to add Hollywood style techniques to your movies.