Digital Video Pocket Guide by Derrick Story.
SECTIONS/ORGANIZATION
The book is divided into three chapters that aim to address specific questions. The first is the “What Is It?” chapter, which provides easy-to-understand explanations of DV equipment. The next chapter, “How Does It Work,” shows how to use the equipment to get the effects you want. The last chapter, “How Do I...,” offers professional advice on how to manage common shooting situations. The book is also liberally peppered with professional tips, which are invaluable in the sense that they stimulate ideas about how to extend your DV-shooting skills after you have a good grip on the basics.
As you would expect, there is also an appendix with a number of handy tables for quick reference. The index at the end is also quite useful in pinpointing the location of desired content.
CHAPTERS
The premise of this book is spelled out in the preface, where the author emphasizes a simple point: although the advent of inexpensive digital video cameras has made it easier than ever to create your own videos, the fundamental techniques of videography have not changed much from the days when only pros could afford it. “Only the science has changed, not the art,” Story writes, “In this book, you’ll learn both.” And so you do, in three easy-to-read chapters.
What Is It?
When setting out to shoot digital video, there is no single determinant of success that comes anywhere near the importance of knowing your tools and how they work. Sure, you can probably get passable results by simply putting in a fresh tape and pushing the record button, but to get the footage you want, it behooves you to know how the video camera works before you start.
With that in mind, this chapter lists the key parts of most digital video cameras and rates them according to three levels: Basic, Intermmediate, and Advanced. This information is a useful supplement to the owner’s manual (and no doubt far more interesting to read), as it describes in detail features that often get short shrift in most manuals. It could also be very useful to someone who is still trying to decide, based on which features are most desirable, which DV camera to buy.
Don’t be too quick to assume that any given feature is superfluous or not relevant to the task at hand, the author warns, because you’d be surprised at how often a seemingly unimportant feature can dramatically improve your ability to get good footage. Take the time to familiarize yourself will as many of the features as you can stand: it pays off.
The author quite literally explains the workings of digital video cameras inside and out, which can be useful to give you a sense of what you need or to help you get the best use out of what you’ve got, depending on your circumstances. From accessory shoes to zebra patterns, you can learn about what your camera has (or should have) here.
How Does It Work?
After you get a feel for the features your camera offers, the next step is to figure out how to put those features to use, which is what the second chapter is all about.
Like anything worth doing, making a video is best handled as a pre-planned process. In this chapter, the author outlines a ten-step process, and then walks the reader though each step. You’ll have to read the book if you want to know what these steps are, but several of them related to preparation for and careful management of the videos you shoot. It is here that you will learn the difference between “bumping” and “blacking” tape in preparation for shooting, how to manage the timecode that enables you to log your scenes and set up batch processing routines in your application of choice, back up your projects, and prepare your footage for specific types of output (such as streaming video over the Web or recording to a DVD).
The author builds a great case for following a regular process for dealing with your digital videos. Each step builds on the ones before it, with the cumulative effect of making even simple things look very professional. Follow a pre-planned workflow, produce great videos. Story’s suggestions make it easy.
How Do I...?
In this chapter, the author promises to show you how to capture “footage that you never thought was possible with a $500 camcorder.” He fulfills that promise by introducing 12 tips that will help you manage common shooting situations like a pro and put finishing touches on your footage that will really make it stand out.
From how to deal with various lighting conditions, through how to survive special events like weddings or graduations, to how to archive and share your work, Story packs a lot of vital information into this chapter.
RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS
The author warns in Chapter 2 about the hazards of breaking the timecode, but doesn’t provide any advice about what to do with a source where the timecode is already broken. Is the user just out of luck? Is there a way to salvage some or all of the footage? The author doesn’t say. (To his credit, the author does hint that not all video-editing applications need “clean code,” but the casual reader might be left with the impression that broken timecode leaves the tape ruined beyond hope.)
CONCLUSION
Whether you are looking to get into digital video or simply looking to take your existing skills to the next level, this book will point you in the right direction. You won’t finish this book knowing everything there is to know about digital photography, but that’s not what Pocket Guides are for. This book provides a solid grounding in the fundamentals of digital video and encourages a foundation in time-honored professional practices. What you do from there is up to you, your talent, and your dreams. The author’s closing sentence emphasizes this point well, so I’ll borrow it here: “Get out there and make it happen.”
