iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual [Paperback]

David Pogue (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596006934 | ISBN-13: 978-0596006938 | Publication Date: August 2004

At first glance, iMovie 4 looks identical to iMovie3. But under the hood, dozens of annoyances have been eliminated and dozens of polished touches have been added. The program tweaks include: editing enhancements, better navigation, and audio improvements. iDVD 4 has undergone a more thorough overhall that makes DVDs look even more like a commercial Hollywood DVD. iDVD removes many of the limits in the previous versions. Improvements here include: increasing the number of buttons on a menu page from 6 to 12, extending the background music on the menu screen to 15 minutes, allowing up to 99 chapter markers, and extending the amount of burnable video to two hours.

iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual has been updated to reflect all of these changes in detail and with scrupulous objectivity. This witty and entertaining guide from celebrated author David Pogue covers every step of iMovie video production, from choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning the finished work onto DVDs. The book also provides a firm grounding in basic film technique.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You may not have paused (a pun!) to think about it, but we're living in the golden age of home movies. Forget dad's old Super-8 films and the stinky celluloid in grandma's basement: A reasonably priced digital video camera and a Macintosh computer give you the ability to not only record moving images, but modify and assemble them in order to tell stories more effectively than ever. David Pogue, Mac maven, shows you how to make movies using iMovie and iDVD, the video editing and burning software that ship with all modern iMacs. iMovie and iDVD: The Missing Manual documents its two eponymous programs fully, but without straying from the tone of lighthearted competence that characterizes Pogue's best work.

This book includes plenty of nods to total Mac novices--the author explains such terms as resolution and pixel--but appeals as well to competent Mac users who just happen not to be cinamatographers. Obvious stuff that authors often neglect--such as the approximate disk-space requirements of movies of various lengths--appears in this book. Plus, Pogue makes extensive use of a question-and-answer format (particularly in sidebars) that's simultaneously easy to read and extraordinarily fact-dense. This is the book you need if you're planning to do any video work with an iMac. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to use Apple iMovie and iDVD to record, edit, and publish digital video. It's a soup-to-nuts treatment, covering selection of a camera, filming (including lighting and composition), assembling clips into a meaningful narrative, adding special effects and titles, and burning the product to DVD for distribution.

About the Author

David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. His funny tech videos appear weekly on CNBC. And with 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how- to authors. In 1999, he launched his own series of amusing, practical, and user-friendly computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 100 titles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press O'Reilly (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596006934
• ISBN-13: 978-0596006938
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > iMovie + iDVD

More About the Author

David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column and an online video. His daily blog, "Pogue's Posts," is the Times's most popular blog. David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News and a frequent guest on NPR's "Morning Edition." His trademark comic tech videos appear each Thursday morning on CNBC. With over 3 million books in print, David is one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. He launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called the Missing Manual series, which now includes 60 titles. David graduated summa cum laude from Yale in 1985, with distinction in Music, and he spent ten years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York. He's been profiled on both "48 Hours" and "60 Minutes."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Necessity, September 4, 2004

By 

Andrew Kersten - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

Anyone who has a Mac should know David Pogue. He's been writing for the Mac community for years. His latest book, iMovie 4 & iDVD, displays all his hallmarks. It is exceedingly well written; it is completely useful and thorough; it is fun to read and funny.

Pogue hits the nail right on the head in the introduction. IMovie 4 and iDVD are simple but not simplistic. Unlike some other Apple programs like AppleWorks or the new OS, you will need this book if you want to make the most of Apple's wonderful new video software. Pogue and his co-author Erica Sadun get you up and burning in no time. Moreover they have created a Missing Manual web site with all the shareware and freeware programs and documentation you'll ever need.

As with his other Missing Manual books, Pogue has done everyone a great favor. Now do yourself a favor and buy this book. You won't regret it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Video editing techniques for use on the Macintosh, November 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual is a solid primer and resource especially focusing on step-by-step video editing techniques for use on the Macintosh. Chapters address forming seamless transitions and effects, the ins and outs of QuickTime Pro, iDVD secreets, and much more. An absolute "must-have" for getting the most out of iMovie 4 and iDVD software, highly recommended for amateur and professional moviemakers and movie editors working on the Macintosh.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goes beyond iMovie and iDVD, September 4, 2004

By 

Eric Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: iMovie 4 & iDVD: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

I've been a fan of iMovie from the first release on Mac OS 9. It made taking home movies fun. The great thing about this book is it goes beyond just a how-to or tips and tricks. A lot of the book is devoted to the dos and don'ts of creating home movies in general. Just as with still photography, the hard work is when your taking the shot, not afterward. The better your movie is at filming, the less work you'll have to do when you get it into iMovie.

The book is packed with a 450+ pages of information. Some examples: how to get your old VHS movies into iMovie, sending movies to your cell phone, creating better looking "title cards", and modifying iDVD itself. If you liked David Pogue's iPhoto 4 Missing Manual and/or GarageBand Missing Manual (both of which I have), this book is a must have.