The Little Digital Video book

Michael Rubin
Peachpit Press 2nd edition 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0321572622
£15.99

In the introduction to this book the author states “the process in this book is less about making “movies” than about creating what I call video sketches.” For someone who is looking to make the most from their investment in camcorder and computer hardware, this does not necessarily sound like the most promising start. But, while this is exactly what the book is about, the thoroughness of the author’s approach makes it an excellent primer in the basics of DV production. The proviso here is the word basic – there is nothing in this book about lighting, about using a tripod, about distribution of the finished piece on the web or DVD. In effect, this is a realist’s book on how to create videos: it recognises that the most likely subjects which most people have access to – and have something to say about – are the domestic and daily situations of home, weekends and holidays. But the depth and breadth that the author brings to the topic makes this a book well worth considering as an introduction to miniDV video creation even if your aspirations extend considerably beyond superior home-movies.

The book is arranged in the usual way for these sorts of guides, beginning with an introduction to the technology, going through handling the camera, shooting and on to editing the material. There is an excellent and unusual section on organizing and care for your footage, including a strong emphasis on a log book of your tapes (list of timecodes and shots to enable location of specific footage quickly), and on how to store your tapes correctly (upright, on their ends in their cases, wound to the beginning or end, away from sources of magnetic radiation). This is the sort of information that is often neglected in other introductions to DV, and which most people acquire wastefully by learning from their mistakes.

The book manages the difficult balance of seeming right up to date in its technological statements without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail or becoming so specific about model numbers as to risk being out of date within months. Rather than reviewing an arbitrary few out of the vast range of cameras that are available, the chapter on cameras gives a basic introduction to what he calls the ‘primitives’ of any camera: the features they all have in common and that you will use 90 percent of the time. A full ten pages are devoted to the problem of broken timecode, why it is so important to avoid, and how to get around it if it should happen. This emphasis on what the beginner might see as an arcane point is indicative of the care the author has taken to forewarn his readers about how to avoid – or at least reduce – frustrations that can blight the DV experience.

The chapter on shooting emphasizes a ‘candid’ approach that seeks both to minimize the disruption that pulling out a camcorder can have on a previously relaxed and happy gathering (using a small camera, discreetly stabilising it rather than using a large tripod) and to make sure that you have material that will make an interesting film (varying shot angles within a planned approach, or ‘shooting for editing’). There are sections on design within the title and action safe zones and repeated exhortations to keep the camera still and let movement occur within and across the frame. All this works within the boundaries set by the author, while being applicable to a wider context of video making.

‘Getting Ready to Edit’ covers various topics around transfering footage onto the computer. There are sections on what cables you need, the various ways of connecting the camera and the computer, the layout of your “Edit Bay”: all designed to make the process of transferring the footage as painless as possible for the novice. The major software packages for Mac (iMovie, Final Cut Pro) and PC (Premiere) are given a brief airing, though this is not the book for someone needing detailed help on the use of these packages nor on the basics of how to prepare a PC to capture video if it doesn’t do so already.
The final chapter covers editing, beginning with the important question of why to edit ‘home’ footage at all. The emphasis of this chapter is on how easy editing is. There are some interesting metaphors around different editing styles (‘Cutting down’ – the marble-sculpting method v ‘Building up’ – the clay-sculpting method), and good sections on neglected topics such as the difference between media files and project files, the time it takes to read a shot relative to the shot width, etc., plus a working through of a ‘real’ editing project by the author from footage of a visit to the zoo. A list of Rubin’s rules of editing include “Editing is about source management”, “Sound is more important than pictures” and “Structure is everything”. Output to various media and management of final movies completes the chapter and the book.

Tomas Lewis
© 2003 Media Education Wales