Making IMovies for the Web |
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Scott Smith
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Pages: 156 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0201704897
Pub: Peachpit Press
Pub date: 2000-05-02
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1432745
Editorial Review:
You'll have seen the ads: with an iMac Dv and a digital camcorder suddenly the leap from juddery home videos that make you feel faintly dizzy to Cannes and the Palm d'Or doesn't seem quite so unlikely. The trouble is, that in the absence of a little guidance, what most people end up with are well-edited juddery home videos--with some nausea-inducing transition effects to liven things up a little. Making iMovies could help you avoid this pitfall. Ambitiously, and in true Hollywood style, it goes the whole nine yards--we're talking real movies here, with actors, storyboards and a plot, as well as, who knows, maybe even a script. But while this is a more ambitious enterprise than editing last year's holiday video, the whole thing is handled in a very approachable and easy-to-follow way and the topics and techniques are applicable to almost any video project.
The book centres around producing three short movie projects (all the materials you need to complete these are on the accompanying DVD) each demonstrating various movie-making techniques as well as specific features of iMovie, The digital video editing software supplied with the iMac DV. There are some fundamentals to deal with before you press the record button--where to get your actors (friends, family, pets), how to structure your story and shooting techniques--before getting to grips with the technical stuff like importing and cropping clips; adding sound and music; voiceovers; titling; and transition effects. A short penultimate chapter deals with preparing video for web delivery and finally you're treated to an instructive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the three tutorial movies.
The well-structured layout, clear uncluttered design and lack of jargon make this an ideal starting point whether your aim is low-budget short fiction, documentary or holiday videos of the non-juddering genre. --Ken McMahon
Reader Reviews:
Excellent iMovie guide with a *great* DVD-ROM (1/1 people found this helpful)
I'm sure you've seen the Apple TV commercials: make digital home movies, including professional-standard fades, cuts and credits, on your iMac DV! Enticed by these dramatic TV commercials, I bought an iMac DV, but of course there was no iMovie instruction manual included. One of the only laments I have about Apple these days is the lack of documentation and instruction books included with their new computers (and their online help features are frequently confusing, anemic, and infuriating to use), but luckily a whole new range of books are being published to cope with this lack. This is one of the first iMovie instruction manuals published, and though I can't make any comparisons yet with the many that will likely follow, this is a great instruction and idea manual. This largish-format paperback (9 x 9 inches) takes you step-by-step through planning your iMovie, storyboarding, filming on your digital camera, editing, scoring, and adding sound and credits. Lots of color illustrations show you examples as well as screen-shot menus that make the process clear and easy-to-follow. There's an excellent general theory section on storytelling on film, many examples of how to make your shots more dramatic, how to get around the basic limitations of shooting digitally or showing your iMovies on a computer screen, troubleshooting, things to avoid, and much more. Among the great tips it offered that I didn't know and *needed* to know is how to convert Quicktime files into iMovie format. Most important, this book contains a DVD-ROM with all the files you need for three separate project exercises in editing, scoring, adding sound and credits. Most "exercises" provided with computer manuals are usually pretty lame, but *not* these...they're entertaining, well-shot short-short film segments (you put 'em together into three films), with a tongue-in-cheek quality and twist endings that make them fun to work on, *not* laborious. So, in short, this a great introduction and beginner's manual to a user-friendly but very detailed Macintosh program in specific and novice filmmaking in general. While the page count (138 pages) may seem anemic for £29.99, the large amount of color and the DVD-ROM featuring imaginative projects to use as exercises and source material go a long way to making this a good buy. I'm eagerly awaiting a competing book: David Pogue's "iMovie: The Missing Manual" (ISBN 1565928598)--Pogue is one of the recognized experts on all things Mac and *always* entertaining to read--but *this* book is a great way to start out making your own iMovies. Narration by Jeff Goldblum not included.
Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Web Development
Books -> Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software & Graphics -> Graphics & Multimedia -> Image Manipulation & Creation -> Digital Photography
Books -> Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software & Graphics -> Graphics & Multimedia -> Animation & Multimedia
Books -> Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Digital Video -> Filmmaking
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Film -> Production & Technology -> Cinematography
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Film -> Production & Technology -> Direction & Production
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Film -> Production & Technology -> Computers & Film
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Film -> Production & Technology -> Bestsellers
Books -> Subjects -> Study Books -> Undergraduate & Postgraduate -> Arts & Humanities -> Photography, Film, Video & Animation -> Digital Video
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
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Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
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