The little digital video book : a friendly introduction to home video

one Of The More Frustrating Aspects Of Buying A New Digital Video Camera For Consumers Is Trying To Discover Not Only How It Works, But How To Shoot Good Movies With It Right Away. For Most Of Us, We Just Want To Turn On The Camera And Go, Without Spending Too Much Time Sorting Through Dense Jargon And Video Editing Software Manuals. Here To Guide The Troubled Newcomer To The Exciting World Of Digital Video Is The Little Digital Video Book, 2e. This Friendly, Approachable Guide Will Teach Users The Basics Of Shooting, Organizing, And Editing Their Own Footage, With Short Examples So They Can Practice The Techniques As They Read Through The Book. This Revised Edition Of The Bestselling Book On Digital Video Is Now In Full Color And Completely Updated For The Modern Beginning Videographer. Users Get A Thorough Grounding In The Basics Of Digital Video, But Without All The Jargon. Michael Rubin Explains In Under 200 Pages All Users Need To Know To Get Great Shots, Add Sound, Organize The Footage, And Use Basic Editing Techniques. They Will Learn How To Start And Actually Finish That Video Project They Had In Mind—in Less Than A Day. Cover Table of Contents Introduction CHAPTER 1 The Basics Your Tools Your camcorder Your computer Your software Other tools The bottom line Your Process Preparation Shooting Editing Finishing CHAPTER 2 Your Camera Fondle Your Camera Basic camera anatomy Assignment 1: The Blindfold Test Camera Care Playing videotapes A long camera life Videotape Tape length Tape quality Using Your First Videotape Assignment 2: Shooting Tape Your Friend, Timecode Learning how to read timecode Assignment 3: Working with Your Timecode Assignment 4: Break the Timecode Why broken timecode is a problem Assignment 5: Fix the Timecode Summary CHAPTER 3 Shooting The First Important Thing About Shooting Rubin’s Rules of Shooting How to Shoot Your body and your camera Think like a wildlife documentarian Structure Middle shots: The action or event Beginning shots Ending (closure) shots Camera Shots The close-up (CU) The medium shot (MS) The wide shot (WS) Coverage The establishing shot The shot/reverse shot The over-the-shoulder (OS) shot The point-of-view (POV) shot The cutaway shot (aka the insert) The top-down shot The pickup “Popping” between shots How long should a shot be? Looking into the camera The Hollywood Way—a Helpful Paradigm Watching the raw material Assignment 6: Watch Some TV Takes and Repetition Framing and Design Centering (or, really, not centering) Balance Safe frame margins Stop Moving the Camera Assignment 7: At the Dog Park How not to move the camera Assignment 8: More Dog Park Moving the camera Lighting Dark scenes Backlighting Sound Coverage Ambience Don’t worry about dialog Turn off the music when you shoot What to Shoot: Small Moments The expense of small moments Candid photography Non-candid photography How Often to Shoot Summary CHAPTER 4 Organizing Your Video Organizing Your Materials Labeling the tape Tape labels: “Reel names” Tape labels: Minimalist descriptions Logging Tape logs Assignment 9: Making a Log Book Your logging station How much detail to log? Storage and Care of Videotapes Tape care Head-cleaning tapes Disable record (aka “locking” a tape) CHAPTER 5 Getting Ready to Edit The Camera and the Computer Digital Video Is Big Shooting Ratios Culling vs. editing Cabling Cables and terminals The most useful cable Hooking everything up Your “Edit Bay” Monitors Looping analog video Chairs Choosing What to Edit Capturing Video Tips CHAPTER 6 Editing Who Needs Editing? Editing Terms and Concepts Sync sound Rippling/not rippling Reading a shot Source and master Timeline Editing functions (inserts and trims) Track controls Media files vs. project files Output (to tape) Rubin’s Rules of Editing Your Post-Production Schedule Approaches to Editing Method 1: Cutting down (the marble-sculpting method) Method 2: Building up (the clay-sculpting method) Your second pass Assignment 10: Compilation Music Video “Real” Editing Assignment 11: An Interview The Art of Editing Cutting on action Motion example: Trampoline sketch A little trick Re-editing and Versions Sound and Sound Tracks Your Master Tape Preparing your master tape Quality control Titles and Special Effects Dissolves Fades Titles Motion effects (slowdown only) Final Assignment: Small-Moment Video Version 1: With production sound Version 2: With a song from a CD Version 3: With production sound and a song from a CD Version 4: With ambience Version 5: With narration CHAPTER 7 Finishing Up Compressed Digital Output DVDs Posting on the Internet (YouTube) Deleting Files and Cleaning Up Copyright Law The Hobbyist Videographer Your Next Steps Complexity Shooting Technology Content Conclusion Index A B C D E F G H I J–K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y–Z "Shooting and editing videos can be a frustrating, confusing experience, or it can be fun and satisfying. Let The Little Digital Video Book show you how to make great videos - the easy way! Digital video expert Michael Rubin shows those who are new to digital video how to get the right tools and gather the right shots to make great looking finished projects. Using an approach that requires little equipment and no scripts, you'll learn that all you need to start creating videos is a digital video camera and a computer equipped with video-editing software - and this book. Impress friends and family with professional looking results, even if you're severely time deprived. Using Rubin's methods, you'll become skilled at making videos for family, school, church, work, or just for fun"--BOOK JACKET