Video Production Books

I have been an anime fan now for about 6 or 7 years, and like most here in the U.S., I got my anime roots through undam Wing (I am still a HUGE Gundam fan). Anyway, I saw features about this book in some magazines I read, so I went to my local comic book store to buy it. It showed me EVERYTHING I needed to at least get a basic understanding of the themes and different variations of anime. Now, I enjoy all styles of anime and am even beginning to build a small collection. I would also recommend at least checking out "What's Japanese in Japanese Animation". I know I sure will.

This is an excellent book about the Anime genre. It describes not only the history of anime but the various styles and elements that make anime unique.
The author includes recomendations in the different anime styles and makes parental recomendations as well.
Elements of Japanese culture are woven into the descriptions making this an all around good read and reference book.
There is also a video animation called "Otaku no Video" which complements this book and has a similar cover.
If you want to learn more about anime or are a fan pick both of these titles!

I love anime! Drawing Japanese pictures is awesome. I don't have many friends, so drawing pictures keeps me entertained. This book was great for me because it had lots of Japanese pictures in it. People call me a nerd for drawing Japanese pictures and listening to country music, but I don't care!

This book is much better at talking about anime fan culture than anime itself. If you're interested in knowing more about the films, there are better resources such as "Anime Explosion", "Samurai from Outer Space" or, for the more academically inclined, "Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke"

I'm too old to have discovered Japanese manga and anime in my youth, but I've made up for that the past few years. Being interested in Japanese culture and literature generally, I had some understanding of why anime is the way it is, and why it's so much different from American or European graphic art, but reading this well-written book, I found there was a great deal I had missed. Poitras writes from the fan's point of view, so he knows what questions he should be addressing -- everything from the "big eye" mania, to the difference between hentai and mainstream manga, to the nervousness among the U.S. morals police about "foreign" art, to actually setting up and publicizing a fan group, plus the ins and outs of model kits, imported publications, and so on. There's also an excellent rundown of recommended anime titles and series, which I've photocopied as a checklist. This book doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but it's a good place to start.

Well-written and an excellent guide, Ablee goes into detail of every stage of making a CGI film. Essential for anyone who is even considering making a film, especially if your primary program will be Lightwave.

The book is really great. Cannot stop reading the book. The book is very inspiring. hats off to Timothy Albee. A must read for people who enter in to the field of animation.

Excellent book. It is very well written and has a lot of very useful information. Although at times Mr. Albee gets a little heavy handed with his philosophies or life and art, in general his advice is most welcome.

I especially recommend this book to people who are just starting in the business, or are looking for a break in.

Did you ever admire someone's abilities who shares an interest with you? Wouldn't you love to speak to him/her and ask them questions how they got to that point in there career to help guide you? Say a chef, and artist, maybe someone who succeeded in business?
Well, being somewhat deeply involved in 3D as a hobby/freelance, I, along with many of us, know of Tim Albee. He has a deep background in 3D and has worked at some fine studios. But, more importantly for me, he's dived into making his own shorts. This is of special interest to me, since i don't expect to be working at pixar anytime soon. That being said, there are certain issues that arise for the artist looking to make his own short. Tim walks you through his journey. From start to completion. How he work up a script, how to design characters, ways to cut corners. He even goes into improvised ways of doing your own audio! Then he wraps up with different ways to market your film with actual websites and film festivals all while giving you "insider" tips.
In short, if your have dreams of making "your own" animated short, with a limited budget, this is the book for you.

This book, to the uninformed, might seem like something special however, it seemed more like self promotion on a product that is over hyped and severely lacking in quality content... the DVD of Kaze.

If you are lacking self confidence and have very little knowledge of how to work with 3d and create a short, you may want to invest in this book. Mr. Albee is constantly touting how amazing and special he you are. This seems to me like a thinly veiled attempt at fooling the reader into liking the book. While it is a good marketing technique it is not what the someone needs if they truely want to succeed in the film industry.

It does seem that Mr. Albee definitely has a bit of technical experience and must be commended for finishing his DVD and writing a book about it. The animation of the DVD is riddled with problems though. Intersections, sudden stops, no overlap, arms moving rapidly with no impact on the body, broken wrists, obviouly constrained controls and much more. The camera moves and staging are alright for a student film but, full of novice mistakes that cg artists commonly make.

After reading the book and seeing the DVD, I would suggest your time is better spent with books on animation such as "The Animator's Survival Kit" and "The illusion of Life". Books on filmaking and production such as "Story", "In the blink of a Eye" and "Film Directing Shot by Shot". These are quality books that will help you grow. They will not pat you on the back and tell you are great when you may not be. The production process is very hard and it's very difficult to become good enough to produce the quality that the big studios require. This book doesn't really put you in the right direction.

Good review of the history of stop motion and a great introdutction into making stop motion movies, though not too deep. Some explanations are rather short and not everything is explained. Good price and quality.

This is a great book for anyone interested in 3D animation. There is alot about the history of animation with clay and puppets. Included is info on cameras, lighting, sets, and how to build characters in clay. Learn about movement of characters and see great pictures of Wallace and Gromit being built as well as other short films. Get "Chicken Run Hatching the Movie" book too. You'll love it.

Aardman is one of the most admired animation studios around, known by animators and regular people alike as the creators of beloved clay animation characters like Wallace and Gromit, and the "Creature Comforts'" pent-up zoo cat ("I need space!"). This book will be devoured like candy by anyone wanting a closer look. The text provides a well-rounded animation primer, but it's the pictures that really make this book such a valuable reference. Clay characters are removed from their backgrounds and depicted clearly in frame-by-frame movement sequences that demystify even the complex animation sequences. It also offers practical advice on building characters and other handy tips for animation production. If you are doing clay animation of your own, you'll refer to this book again and again. In the UK this book is titled "Cracking Animation" for the cheese-loving Wallace's favorite complement.

no comment

An excellent book for fans of Aardman and those wanting a basic overview, but only fair for those looking for detailed information on how to create their own stop-motion films. Susanah Shaw's book comes closer to being the "bible" for puppet animators. But there are at least 6 crafts involved in stop motion, each deserving of a book in themselves, so no single volume can cover it all in detail. Worth buying, but don't expect it to be the all-in-one answer.

Not bad, but I have read better. It does have a lot of good pictures of the effects they are teaching and all in all this book is not bad, there are just so many others that I feel are better. Check out The "DV Rebel Guide" by Stu something or other or "101 Digital Video hacks", both I feel are better than this.
Enjoy!

I read through the book which was very informative, form ohh so thats how and TV never really was the same after. I have also tested out good part of it and got good resuslts. I would recommend it highly

I was looking for a video book that shows methods of filming ideas. Just searching I ended up with very complex cinephotographer books that contained tons of detail but too complex for casual person like myself. Just happended to stumbled across this book and was really surprised at the clear writing style and easy to understand images. For making a simple film project with no budget I thought this was the perfect book.

If you are looking to improve your video skills or making a large student project, I would highly recommend this book. For the film student or professional these tips might be already covered in school. Many of the project require nothing special, just a standard video camera and basic editing software. This is a nice change from other books that almost require Adobe After Effects to produce a good special effect.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and will keep this in my video bag to spark any ideas I might need during filming.

There are a view techniques described in this book that might come in handy someday, but the descriptions are not particularly thorough. The bottom line: this will make a good coffee table book but don't expect to learn too much.

very practical way of showing how to do multimedia effects at minimal or no cost. Good illustrations & straight to the point. very clear bullet points under the photos, No boring bulcky paragraphs.

I recomment this book, it's Excellent.

I am so thankful for the insightfulness of Mr. Aronson. I have done more conceptual video work in the past when I was a graduate student in photography. I am looking a doing another educational project and wanted to brush up on my skills. The book provides me with the knowledge I can use to feel much more confident in the upcoming project as well as exploring my own fine art projects. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in digital video.

este es un libro que explica de manera didáctica ,todos los procesos que tiene una producción audiovisual.
Muy bien ilustrado, con ejemplos que ayudan al nuevo realizador audiovisual a enfrentar sus primeras producciones de una forma segura, buscando que éste no cometa errores que luego pueden demeritar su trabajo.
La única crítica que tengo para hacer de esta obra, es que los ejemplos de montaje los realizan en programa específicos , como Final Cut, algo que de alguna manera deja sin posibilidades a aquellos que manejamos plataformas de edición diferentes.

The first half of the book is very thorough in going over the basics of film and digital video. There's also some description on some basic equipment you'll need to get off the ground.

The second half talks about basic editing in Final Cut, which I mostly skipped since I don't plan on using Final Cut. Honestly, for filmmakers who plan on using Final Cut, this would've probably made 5 stars.

Have fun and good luck on your film!

"DV Filmaking from Start to Finish" is a !!MASTERPIECE!!. It is a book I
recommend to anyone interested in Digital Video. Reading the book was like having Mr. Ian David Aronson in your room sharing with you all of his knowledge.

This book it's not a 18 chapter tutorial on learning Final Cut Pro or After Effects. It's more like traveling back in time and learning from the history of Digital Video to the present day. Aronson show's everything, from film to video, the way you should treat your camera, what you should be
prepared with; lighting, greenscreen, Hardware, white balance, DVD
authoring,
aspect ratios, you name it, including some basic tutorials on doing
edits.
He even gives you an internet address to look and confirm what he is showing
you.

If you are an advanced editor, this book is for you. This book is for to
read,
learn and keep it forever just in case you forget a detail, so you can
review it again and again. I was amazed with the things I have learned from
Mr.
Aronson. Thank you and I'll hope to read another book from him.

Jorge Raphael Valenzuela Hernández
Graphic Artist / Videographer

DV Filmmaking From Start To Finish by Ian David Aronson's will reach both amateur and professional digital video users with a basic primer on differences between digital and print mediums. Familiarity with Final Cut Pro or Adobe After Effects, the two programs used here, will aid in understanding DV applications in either PC or Mac formats, while the author's background as a teacher of digital media lends a logical progression to his tips and practical applied examples.

As any fan of classic film knows, Harlan Lebo's books on the making of certain films are must-haves in the savvy cinemaphile's personal library.
I have found all of his books to be tremendously informative, and I find myself repeatedly turning to them both for research purposes and elective reading. Lebo's The Godfather Legacy is no different.

The author presents the behind-the-scenes drama of the making of these films in incredible detail while also managing to keep the reader's interest piqued. Lebo maintains an element of suspense as he reports the unfolding of events that have to led to the making of one of the most important and influential films of all time. Lebo approaches his subject respectfully, yet he isn't afraid to present the films' artists and businessmen as they are, showing the stark, unadultered truth. For someone who truly loves Hollywood, reading about the banalities of the day-to-day craft of filmmaking, as well as the intrigues of the making of the Godfather films, is equally fascinating. Lebo's in-depth picture of the director, the producers, and the actors as they worked on these projects is captivating, and his perspective has created a much deeper connection to the films for me. I find myself watching the films in several different realities because of this book: I see the story of the film itself while simultaneously identifying with the experiences that occured during the shooting of specific scenes.

Finally, the photos and stills are a wonderful visual layer that back up the book. I was also impressed with the amount of research and fact-checking that seem to have gone into this book. No stone is left unturned. It is that attention to detail that has left me feeling as if I know the true, insider story of how the Godfather films have come to be made.

Everything you need to know about "The Godfather" movie, you will find in this book. "The Godfather Legacy" has a wealth of information and photos -- this book makes you hooked that you really can't stop reading it!

One would wonder why someone reading about The Godfather chuckles, every now and then -- it has many funny behind-the-scene stories.

"The Godfather Legacy" is a fantasic and priceless resource of all things Godfather. It is a must-buy for all Godfather fans! Capice?

I ordered this for part of my husband's 50th birthday present, along with Godfathers I, II, III DVD. Of course, he loves the DVD but he has really enjoyed this book. It had some info in there that he didn't know!

it's amazing what goes into making a movie; just one scene. very imformative and enjoyable. Lots of trivia if you like that kind of thing.

Simply fantastic!

I picked up this book expecting to find exactly what I found: Jam-packed full of details available nowhere else. This book provides a fascinating behind the scenes look into one of the great movies of all time.

Reading the book is almost as if living through the production. Lebo's writing puts you right in the action and gives the reader new insights into what went into making the movie, relationships between those on set, and the creative vision (and struggles) that went into it all.

It is great to have this level of expertise at your finger tips while watching the real thing. I was amazed with all the behind-the-scene knowledge I had of each take and truly consider this an excellent read well worth my time. I highly recommend it.

Full of just about every bit of info you need to make an indie film, but it was written 25 years ago, so it inevitably doesn't directly apply to newer forms of filmmaking and the recent changes in the industry. Other than that, an excellent book.

I'm still reading this book. It is a slow read and you must take your time to really let the info. seep in. From what I read so far, I like it. It is a professional, not too much though (which is a great thing) book, gives the reader alot of numbers to compare and to show how the business works these numbers. I would recommend this book, definately. Hope this helps. Enjoy.

I have the 1998 version, and this is a very informative book. But be sure to verify the copyright of the book you are ordering. There are 3 editions: 1982, 1998, and 2003. Per an unconfirmed review at google, the 2003 is not completely updated but merely the 1982 version with a new cover. In this ever-changing industry of independent film, I hope that Mr. Goodell will soon release an even more current version that is as up-to-date as possible. Still highly recommend the 1998 version.

I'm a writer-producer currently prepping my first independent film where I'm in the driver's seat. This book has been an invaluable resource for me along the way in terms of educating me on the industry and laying out all of the steps I need to take in order to pull off this project. I've read a number of other books on producing lately, and so far nothing else comes even close to this one. Completely comprehensive, from development to distribution.

This book goes into fairly extensive detail on almost all aspects of film production. Production is a grey area to most and this book illuminates it quite well. It is a bit dry and long winded but is more than made up for by its excellent index and organization. It doesn't have to be a page turner if you can find the page you need. Buy it and use it as you need it (and you will need it)

We had been using Innovation Games to find the real market of hundred of ideas that companies in our program are developing. It is amazing, how a simple game can be a powerful tool to develop marketing strategies. Our companies had learned the magic of seating with their customers and play games, and then new products are developed. The cost of doing this learning is very low and the results are so big that reading this book has the highest ROI that you can image. Never less, playing the games are very valuable when you read from the book, the real learning experience is when you play them several times or you are able to bring an expert consultant that gave you the insights of the experience.

Reading the book is half of the story, you must play several of these games to take the best experience. I highly suggest trying it.

Luke Hohmann's Innovation Games makes current paradigm obsolete.
What if the decay in the learning rate from kindergarten to high school is not only related to wrong educational policies and practices?
What if adolescent are treated "seriously", when being serious is a barrier to learning?
Hohmann's exported the "learning by playing" environment from kindergarten to market research and other fields.
The panoply of games he proposed support an ample variety of opportunities.
I'm glad I dedicated the time to read Innovation Games, and organized to use them.
Let life be fun!

Luke Hohmann's Innovation Games bring an extension to the complex areas of software requirements. The games bring out the essence of requirement gathering, namely the importance of the users' feedback to the requirement gatherers and close relationship between the user and the requirements gatherers. Two thumb up for this book!

The process of eliciting requirements suffers from some of the same problems as the process of collecting information for expert systems. A person does not really know how much he or she knows about a subject. Each of us knows something so well, that much of what we know is not part of our conscious awareness. It is hard to bring that information to the conscious mind to share with another person.

What this tells me is when I am in the role of eliciting requirements from another person, I need many different ways of getting information, because different means will achieve different results. I can take an analytical approach (tell me about...), a physical approach (show me ...), and a creative approach (let's play a game ...). The more approaches I use, the more information I will get.

What I love about Innovation Games is that games use a part of the brain that we tend to ignore when "at work", bypassing the analytical parts and tapping into the fun, creative areas. This is a great way to find new information about the requirements of a product or service. I think it works especially well because most people I interview are expecting an analytical approach, and using games brings a fresh perspective.

Luke Hohmann has really captured a great set of games. He explains the games very clearly, and gives detailed instructions for how to organize an Innovation Games session so that everyone can make effective use of his techniques.

Thanks so much Luke for bringing us another great book.

Most of the content of this book belongs in sales brochure not a book. A large proportion of this book is a long, overblown ad for the author's services.

Some of the ideas, while creative, are just repackaging of many well-known and established techniques.

In addition, there is one reality the author ignores. The exercises are not going to work well with "average," everyday people. They require a degree of creativity and acumen that quite honestly, most people (including very well-educated ones) just do not possess. I work in this industry everyday and if there is one thing I've learned it is most individuals are much better reacting to ideas than creating them.

Haven't read a bigraphy so interesting since I browsed through richard branson's 3 years ago. it's always great to read about a rollercoaster life, especially one as up and down and then up up up as george Lucas...

Really Well Written... top marks

I read the older edition and loved it, but the "revised" edition is lacking. I believe that the more accurate, and far more interesting tale is spun in the recent book Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution. That book has a technical edge that Skywalking does not (both good and bad news, I suppose), Droidmaker smacks of deeper truths and less sensationalistic noise. Skywalking covers Lucas' youth very well, and stories of the production of his early films, but I don't think it's really that good a book. I suppose it's a must-have for the fan, but take that with a grain of salt. There are better and more current books now available -- in particular, Hearn's Cinema of George Lucas and Rubin's Droidmaker.

I'm a Star Wars fan, and always wondered what kind of person George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, was. This book pretty much answered any and all questions I had about the Master Jedi himself.

Pollock's narrative of Lucas's life begins with George's childhood, then proceeds into his rebellious teen years--which was the inspiration for American Graffiti--then straight onto Lucas' student filmmaker years and finally to his highly successful movie career. The latter of which is when Star Wars and its sequels were produced and established Lucas as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of the medium.

The book offers a balanced, journalistic account of Lucas' life, with very little opinion injected into the book. Some places Pollock seems to praise Lucas too much, but it's nothing too extreme.

The only real problem is that the book was written during the production of Return of the Jedi, when Skywalker Ranch wasn't finished, George was still married to first wife Marcia, and before the flops Willow and Howard the Duck. I read the revised edition which has an intro mentioning these things, but the book's main narrative is about what's happened to Lucas up to 1983.

I'd recommend this book to any fan of Star Wars, and anyone else curious about Lucas himself.

An extremely well written book but I find some of the information within to not be entirely true. I have researched Lucas' achievements for nearly the last 20 years and Skywalking paints him to be egomaniacal, something that Lucas is far from.

To add, Lucas pulled his support for the book due to that very issue. Pollock is no doubt a talented writer, and there is some very good info within, but the author should go get a position at The Enquirer if he wants to spread gossip, which is just what he does in the updated version of the book, after Lucas expressed his concerns. Pollock takes several cheap shots at Lucas in a new chapter, unwarranted snips that are obviously meant as retaliation by Pollock. He gives Lucas an unwarranted suckerpunch by mentioning the obviously painful divorce from his wife Marcia. This is a real low blow that you would not suspect from a man of Pollock's stature in the industry.

Moreover, Pollock also mentions that Lucas is sue-happy, threatening to sue anyone who attempts to even mention his Star Wars franchise. This is simply not true. I myself wrote a book about the Star Wars films, and I was in contact on two different occasions with Lucasfilm representatives. Never once did they try to hinder my efforts or threaten me. In fact, they were even encouraging and thankful and always remained professional and courteous.

To add more negativity, Pollock paints incorrect images in his book. He makes it sound as if Harrison Ford considers Lucas to be like a plantation owner. "Master George," so Pollock would like readers to think. This could not be further from the truth. Harrison highly regards Lucas as one of his most admired filmmakers and friends. Ford has said in many interviews that the success of his career came largely from his association with Star Wars. Ford also only signed on to do three Indiana Jones pictures because Lucas was involved. Harrison stated in an interview that he signed on because he "knew the character and abilities of the filmmakers (Lucas/Spielberg) involved." Also, Ford stated in front of millions of viewers at the AFI Lucas award ceremony "I love you man." Doesn't sound to me like Harrison dislikes Lucas.

Furthermore, Pollock states that Lucas is like a hermit, hiding inside the walls of his ranch and secluding himself from the world. However, in another paragraph, Pollock mentions how Lucas must meet and greet over a hundred people a day, per Lucasfilm's daily operations. If I had to do that I'd want to be left alone for some quiet time, too.

Pollock then includes comments by movie critics who feel that Lucas has ruined big budget action films by inspiring other filmmakers to direct "all action" and "no story" films, leaving the movie-goers of today with lackluster action and sci-fi films. This is the biggest error of all. Lucas made Star Wars, a film that touched viewers across the globe -- because of its story and likeable characters -- and brought in the biggest fan explosion that Hollywood has ever seen. Lucas made a good movie that, at the time, was cutting edge and risky. If filmmakers of today can't match Lucas' ability to make a good film, like Star Wars, how can that be blamed on Lucas? Lucas made a good film and it struck a chord then as it does now. Blaming Lucas for ruining films of today is like going to an eatery on the north side of town, getting served a crappy meal, but instead of getting angry with the person who served your meal, you go to another eatery on the south side of town, who had nothing to do with your meal, and blame them. Ridiculous.

Sounds like Pollock is just jealous. He has an impressive career in the film industry, but he'll never match the iconic status that Lucas has achieved. Really, when you say Dale Pollock who perks up? When you say George Lucas people know what he's done. And this book just makes Pollock seem bitter. Pollock set out to write a controversial book about Lucas, and that's just what he did. Now Pollock bashes Lucas in interviews and has become the mascot for all Lucas-haters. What a shame.

Lucas' reputation as an integral man abounds with those who know him and have seen his efforts. It is a shame that this book doesn't focus on the positives.

A good book but be cautious of what you read...some of it is not true.

In times past the function of biographies was generally to elevate their subjects to noble heights and focus on the individuals accomplishments. In modern times the function of biographies often seems to be to tear down their subjects, ruthlessly exposing every flaw and possible past transgression of the person under examination. This biography of film director/producer George Lucas is an evenhanded look at his life and work, even if some of the conclusions it's author arrives at are necessarily personal rather than certifiably factual in nature.

The book is peppered with many quotes from Lucas himself as well as Spielberg, Coppola, Milius and others which lends it a feeling of legitimacy which I believe is probably lacking from other, less sympathetic biographies. Lucas himself is quite forthcoming about his feelings on his own work and what he sees as his limitations as a director. His comments on Hollywood were amusing if understandably bitter, especially for someone who has worked there in the past.

If one omits his earliest film shorts such as the student version of THX 1138 and the documentary Filmmaker, Lucas has only directed three films in his career, THX 1138, American Grafitti and Star Wars. His function since that last mega-smash has primarily been as producer and head of the state-of-the-art Skywalker Ranch production facilities up in scenic Northern California. He has also helped finance a number of less "mainstream" works such as Kurosawa's Kagemusha. It's unfortunately probably true that Lucas has never been taken seriously by many critics ever since Star Wars because that film was so consciously intended as a "kids movie". Despite the fact that it was embraced by popular culture around the world due to its quality and mythic resonance it does tend to overwhelm his early, more adult-oriented films. Lucas himself is quite skeptical of some of the intellectual critical analysis that has been produced on what was intended to be an innocent hommage to 30's style action movie serials and not a "think piece". It's also surprising that so many people continue to consider the Star Wars films science-fiction when they really fall much more into the fantasy genre despite all the high-tech trappings.

Of course this book includes reams of trivia on the films, from the origin of all of the characters names in Star Wars to the details behind preview screenings and loads of very funny anecdotes that could only have been provided by an industry as crazy and high-stakes as Hollywood. Mostly however this is the story of a man from modest origins who managed to beat Hollywood at it's own game and achieve financial independence from "the system" through a combination of very savvy business choices, luck and a personal vision that happened to coincide with what a large number of the paying public wanted to see on screen.

This review refers to the original 1983 hardcover release of this book.

So far its really a smart book full of great info and tips.
Great suggestions for the start up film maker.

Okay.. this book won't tell you every little details about how to make a film, however it covers overall information that you need to know to make your own short film. If you are a film student trying to learn how the system work, it's a great book. It covers pretty much most of the stuff that filmmakers should know. This book will give you a general idea of the difference between the film and digital cameras, types of positions in the filmmaking, sound, dealing with papers works, distributing and much more.. it's a must have for film students.

If you want the absolute best book on filmmaking; this is it. Kim Adelman knows her stuff. She gives testimonials from film festival coordinators that are worth more than the price of the book if you are into submitting your films to festivals. I also really enjoyed the overview of the different types of media and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
I originally picked up this book out of frustration with some of the other titles I had purchased and was pleasantly surprised with its contents. The book is extremely dense (lots of words per page) and is well worth the cover price. I keep it by my side almost constantly--reading whenever I get a chance.
Seriously, if you want the the book you have been looking for and can't find...this is the one. I suggest getting a sleep aid because once you pick it up, you may not be able to put it back down. I refer to it constantly. It is truly informative and inspiring.

I think the criticisms on this page are reasonable, but I have found this to be a useful book:

It covers pre through marketing. I disagree with some of what she says, but I've also found it useful to return to the book as I enter each stage of production on my 4th short. It's helped to refocus me a few times.

This book is written in a breezy style, yet contains enough varied information about the world of short films to make it well worth the price. I liked some of the "top ten" lists, such as great shorts to see, and tips for getting great performances from actors. This is not in-depth stuff, but the value of a book like this is that you can read it quickly and be reminded of a great number of essential things otherwise forgotten...or never learned.