DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish

by Ian David Aronson

Thanks to the digital revolution, film artists now have a spectacular array of powerful, new, inexpensive tools for creative expression through digital film. The once powerful studios can no longer stifle an artist's creativity. With the power of the Internet, film artists are finding once unimaginable ways to distribute their creations worldwide. DV From Start to Finish covers all aspects of the new digital video frontier, for amateurs and professionals alike--from the nuts and bolts of timecode and aspect ratio; to framing, lighting, and sound recording; as well as editing, special effects creation, and distribution. The book is written for filmmakers at varying experience levels--taking an integrated approach to media production, and emphasizing the ways different aspects of the process work together to create a vital work of digital Written in an engaging, accessible style, DV Filmmaking provides a solid foundation of tremendous value to a beginner, while addressing the fine points of filmmaking with a level of sophistication, detail, and insight that even the most worldly director or educator can appreciate. The author draws upon his years of experience teaching at the college and graduate level, his extensive professional background as a media producer, and his unmistakable love of cinema to create a text that's not only easy to learn from, but also fun to read.

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2006

Reviews

[Luke]

This book is exactly what it claims to be: a manual describing how to make a DV film from start to finish. Excellent. While it might go into too much beginning-level detail for experienced filmmakers, it is a perfect beginning guide for those who are unfamiliar with digital video production, or even unfamiliar with either of the commonly used DV editing suites (Adobe After Effects or Final Cut Pro). Aronson spends plenty of time on each of the topics, ranging from planning a shoot, to lighting, to editing, to sound design, to post-production. He offers tips, advice and websites that will aid an aspiring filmmaker in their endeavor. Also very helpful is the included DVD that allows the reader to follow along with the examples in the book, provided the reader has either After Effects or Final Cut Pro installed on their machine. If you do not have the program installed on your computer, the disc is useless. This does not negate the enormous amount of helpful knowledge contained in the book. I enjoyed this text very much and I expect to refer to it many times in the future. I do with that Aronson would have spent more time talking about how to capture certain effects or moods. There is a HUGE amount of technical advice and discussion, but very little artistic discussion. This didn't bother me because I was looking for technical advice, but this valuable text would be even MORE valuable with a little more artistic advice added to it.

Overall, an excellent resource for the beginning DV filmmaker. Thank you for taking the time to read my review.