Video Books

Anyone would easily think that Adobe premiere pro would be such a hard thing to learn how to do. Thanks to Jeff Schell, that problem is over. With easy excercises, this book is the essential tool to help you understand how to use the problem much better. It teaches you the basic tools, guides, and shortcuts that can help you create your own masterpiece (whatever that may be). The book also includes the disc that helps you step by step to create a simple video. I highly recommend this book for those who definitly want to learn Premiere Pro. It's Good Stuff

A book that I can read and understand without breaking into a sweat.
It solved one of my big problems inside five minutes.
You will not regret buying this book.

I would rate myself at the intermediate level when it comes to editing. I was fairly new to Premiere Pro 2 (was using 6.5 before) when I purchased the book. There were some things I knew already that the book described but I didn't know a lot of the shortcuts. It also taught me a great deal about using all of the Audio features, so that was a huge bonus for me. All in all, I thought the book was great. It was easy to work through and follow. It also allows you to skip around throughout chapters easily.

I have used both of Jeff's books (Pro 1.5and 2.) and find them the best on the market in my opinion. Clear, concise, very easy to understand and a great teaching tool. He makes what could be a difficult task, easy!
Highly recommended!

I have purchased a very large number of computer books over the years in an effort to teach myself the use of various applications. I purchased HOT Premiere Pro 1.5 book and liked it, so when I finally managed to acquire Premiere 2.0 recently I immediately purchased Adobe Premiere Hands-On-Training 2.0 by Jeff Schell. As an educator myself, I have to say that this is without a doubt the best "how to" guide that I have ever used. The exercises are terrific, and the detailed explanations make it possible for even a neophyte such as me to achieve a confidence building understanding. If you are intimidated by the learning curve of this very complex application, fear not, for Mr. Schell breaks each task down into incremental steps that foster understanding. The accompanying CD-ROM provides all the needed resources other than the application itself that are needed to gain a fundamental knowledge of Premiere 2.0. This is one of the good ones!

James Agee was a great writer (his book about the Dust Bowl is a classic). He continued to be a brilliant writer in his film reviews and his scripts. Thank you, Modern Library, for returning these collections of writing to us. They are wonderful to read and they make you think!

James Agee was short for this world, having died in his mid 40s. In that span of time he wrote a famous book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and a couple of classic screenplays, AFRICAN QUEEN and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. This collection of magazine film reviews and essays is in many ways the leftover part of his work, and yet it feels like enough to make a reputation on. His reviews span just one decade, the 1940s. Many of them tackle foreign films that may be unavailable for all I know.

Interesting to me is that he spends three weeks discussing Chaplin's MONSIEUR VERDOUX, which is a most unusual movie and mostly forgotten today. This might be because he saw it as his only chance to write a poignant piece on the greatest living film artist, or it may be because he identified with the plight of mankind theme that Chaplin was reaching for. You can pick another reason, yourself, but it was a bold decision, because most critics panned the film (according to him) and most readers probably couldn't even see the movie in their small towns. It was as if he knew he would be writing for posterity. Like all critics, he cultivated his darlings. He saw much in the work of John Huston and was very skillful in his sizing up of TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. I was impressed that he predicted the all-time classic nature of the film, but also understood the studio system gimmicks that took away from the genius.

You don't have to be literary minded like W. H. Auden to enjoy this book. You'll like it, if you like movies.

James Agee wrote film criticism in America at a time when the American film industry hardly deserved his attention. His celebrations of silent film comedy, of Preston Sturges, of John Huston [for whom he later wrote the script for The African Queen], and of the handful of worthy foreign films that he managed to see are what make this volume worth reading. Besides Agee's beautiful prose and above all his compassion. Interestingly, Agee was a fan of Frank Capra's comedies (It Happened One Night) and bemoaned the director's decent into serious social films (Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Meet John Doe). His negative review of It's a Wonderful Life, which has never been in print since it appeared in 1946, reveals the extent to which Agee was perhaps too far ahead of his time, and even of ours.

Ever wonder what causes a movie reviewer to *become* a movie reviewer? When I was a ten-year-old kid just getting into classic movie comedies, I went to the library and checked out the book AGEE ON FILM solely because it had references to Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields. Thus was my introduction to high-quality film criticism.

James Agee made his reputation writing sterling movie reviews for Time and The Nation magazines in the 1940's. Among other glories, he wrote a much-heralded essay titled "Comedy's Greatest Era" that helped to bring silent-comedy icons (most notably Harry Langdon) out of mothballs and caused them to be re-viewed and discussed seriously among film historians. He later went on to work on the screenplays of a couple of gems titled The African Queen and Night of the Hunter.

Unfortunately, many people who regard the critics Pauline Kael and Stanley Kauffmann have either forgotten Agee's work entirely or have assigned his own work to mothballs. But among the faithful are film director Martin Scorsese, who serves as editor of the "Modern Library: The Movies" series of film books. The series has recently reissued the AGEE ON FILM book, and re-reading Agee's work (or reading it for the first time, if you're lucky enough) proves that film criticism can make for reading material as compelling as any fictional novel.

Agee passes the acid test for any film critic: Even if you don't agree with him, his writing is so lively that you can't help enjoying it. His work ranges from three separate columns (three weeks' worth, in print terms) to Chaplin's much-maligned (at the time) MONSIEUR VERDOUX, to the most concise, funniest review ever: Reviewing a musical potboiler titled YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME, Agee replied in four simple words, "That's what *you* think."

If you want to see what high-caliber movie criticism meant in the pre-Siskel & Ebert days, engross yourself in this sprawling book. It'll make you appreciate the decades before every newspaper, newsletter, and Internet site had its own minor-league deconstructionist of Hollywood blockbusters.

I still have my first edition copy of Agee on Film.

A production on the stage is seen once and then is gone forever. Curiously, despite the fact that a film can be viewed repeatedly, once upon a time revivals were rare, and most audiences saw a film once, talked about it, then forgot about it.

Even the film studios only half-heartedly treated their products as permanent, allowing many of them to deteriorate irretrievably and others nearly so (eventually giving rise to an entire industry devoted to film restoration).

Films were given a new life with the advent of television. Growing up on old movies on the tube in the 1950s, I found that repeated viewing of the same film could be a rich experience, and nothing enhanced this experience more than the appearance in the early 1960s of Agee on Film.

Agee took film seriously as a cultural experience, a molder of public opinion, a tool that might be useful or dangerous. Just how much he differs from mainstream reviewers who regarded the movies primarily as entertainment can be seen in the two different sets of reviews in this book.

His reviews in the liberal The Nation are extended analyses of the films and the sensibilities of the filmmakers, withering critiques of the limitations of the studio system, and manifestos on how good films could have been made better. Agee interpolates in his reviews his opinions about everything: The War (WWII, of course), politics, race, education, religion, psychology, philosophy ... the list goes on.

In contrast, his reviews for Time, constrained by that magazine's conservatism, are truncated and absent the depth and bite that distinguishes Agee from all other critics. His beautiful use of language keeps him afloat, but were it not for The Nation, I doubt Agee would have the reputation of Greatest Film Critic of All Time.

Agee on Film was originally in two volumes. The first was the current book. The second was a collection of Agee's own screenplays, including the classic The Night of the Hunter; Noa Noa, a fascinating teleplay about Gaugin (very different from Maughams' The Moon and Sixpence); and his magnificent adaptation of the The African Queen. Thus, he was able, unlike most critics, and with admirable results, to put his pen where his critique was.

James Agee almost single-handedly popularized the appreciation of film as an art form. The writing in this book is how he did it.

This is a great way to learn Shake because it guides you step by step. The thing is that you need to know theorical concepts about compositing or have enough experience in another compositing software so you fully understand what he says, because sometimes the terms are not explained, just the way to do it, so if you don't know a lot about this I suggest you to first learn a little about how compositing works.

It is perfect for anybody wanting to learn shake. I bought the book with zero experiance and now i not only understand the program but I can relate nearly every "real" job to certain lessons in the book.

One of the best books in this field.Very comprehensive tutorials that make you understand shake in a minimum of time.

Marco, as always, has created another great Shake book. But as many of you know, Apple has recently stopped support of Shake. But thankfully they also reduced the price to nearly nothing making this powerful software available to everyone. But what do you do if you need support as a user? Check out [...]

This book is really good for someone who wants to start of with shake, gives you nice intro and then takes you all the way up, this book is not only full of tutorials but it also talks about the technical side, the humor makes me feel as if I am talking to the author. Its a good buy at the price and also there is no other material available on shake, I would like to see a part 2 of this book which is for film crew (compositors) who work with real difficult challenges cause each shot is different from the other.

I was impressed from the beginning with the content of this book. It has been a great help in my recent graduate projects. This is one I will keep on the shelf for reference.

This book is simply the best book on post-production audio out there. I have over a decade of experience mixing live sound and some formal training in post production, but Rose gets to the real nuts and bolts of the day-to-day sweetening of sound that I was able to apply his ideas the same day I read a chapter on EQ. I have read so many books on sound where authors get into all the details, but fail to give hands on practical advice. Rose has two unique things going for him in this book: the included CD that gives A/B comparisons of various audio sweetening and processing techniques and the cookbook format at the end of each chapter. Try any one of these "recipes" and you will instantly get results and be able to solve various problems and massively improve your soundtrack.
He gets technical in spots going into the physics of sound, studio design, and other minutia but the non-geeks you can usually skip these sections and side-bars. For those who just want to fix things they can jump to the end of each chapter and use the cookbook/troubleshooting sections. I can't recommend this book enough. If you are serious about filmmaking, you can't be without this book.

Audio Postproduction for Digital Video
By Jay Rose
Review by Pi Ware

Don't listen to the title. It's bigger than the title. The "Digital Video" part of Audio Postproduction for Digital Video restricts the scope of this classic Jay Rose text. Rose's book goes far beyond DV, in fact, it starts with an explanation of what sound is on the molecular level and then takes you not just through audio postproduction for TV, but to techniques specific to movie production, techniques that are entirely independent of the format you originate on. Audio Postproduction for Digital Video is top-notch. It's an excellent, text-book quality manual, a soup-to-nuts guide on how to deal with sound in postproduction.

Jay Rose never gives you solutions that are applicable only to specific Digital Audio Workstations, he arms you with knowledge you can use in any platform or program. The book is an education in sound and, together with the numerous photos and diagrams (and Rose's good sense of humor), it's a liberation from the dry prose of most manuals on postproduction.

Rose teaches you from the ground up what sound is, what good sound is, and how to make bad sound better. He doesn't just stop at good writing, however, he illustrates important points with an audio CD included in the back of the book. Together with the CD, the text guides you through importing audio into the computer, editing dialogue, Do It Yourself Foley and ADR, working with filters, noise reduction techniques, pitch and time changes, the sound mix, and even, if you're so inclined, designing, constructing and wiring your own postproduction audio facility.

Though postproduction changes with every new advance in technology, Audio Postproduction for Digital Video stays current by focusing on strategy, not software. Rose avoids giving specific keystroke instructions in specific programs, but instead explains common solutions to common problems using common tools. As he says in his introduction, "You should be able to use these pages for a long time."

Anyone considering directing a short or feature, anyone who wants to be even nominally involved in the sound design of their film, and, of course, anyone interested in working in audio postproduction, would do extremely well to pick up a copy of this classic Jay Rose text.

This book in fantastic. The author's voice and style make this not only easy to read but a joy to read as well. There are little tips and tidbits in each chapter that will make a good audio guy great and a great audio guy better. I recommend this book to anyone in the audio post world.

I decided to buy this book because I had used the forum on the DV.com website for information before, and Jay Rose's comments there had proven to be spot-on and well-informed.
This book contains a thorough examination of all the factors which contribute to the quality of post-production audio. The level of information includes the spectrum from basic to advanced, but through Mr. Rose's clear explanations the advanced information should not go over the heads of the reader.

Easy to read and follow. A good value even though it doesn't come with a demo CD.

Nice book. I've been an NLE dabbler for a few years, but never very serious about it. After finishing this book, I feel pretty comfortable with avid xpress, which was pretty intimidating at first. Good, easy read. I would have liked color pictures, though...

This is an excellent, well-written guide to the Avid Xpress Pro system, and while it can't replace the extended Authorized Avid Education advanced editing course, it is a great overview of the many different topics covered therein.

But, more importantly, it covers many things not in the official Avid training guides - things that after reading this book one feels really should be, like practical tips, tricks, and notes for a more truly professional end project. I would definitely recommend this for serious editors and people who want to get into the deeper strengths of the Avid system... it moves quickly, and might be confusing for a complete beginner.

I am just finishing up on this book, and after two solid days I have gone from no experience with avid to very comfortable. I don't know how well a new editor would do with this book, but if you already know FCP or Premiere this seems like an excellent way to learn all of the key concepts you need to run an editing app.
This is the best instructional manual I have come across.

I make my living editing digital video and this book is by far the best instructional material on Avid Xpress Pro I've seen. There are tips and suggestions it would have taken me years to figure out on my own. I'm doing better quality work in less time. I wish I had found this book two years ago.

Not only does Ebert thoughtfully review movies, he writes so well that each essay is a pleasure to read whether we saw or will see the movie or not. These are reviews of his "best" movies for almost thirty years, as well as an explanation of how he came to be exclusively a movie reviewer. Funny, literate, and informative.

Nice to have a comprehensive retrospective of Ebert's work in a variety of topics and formats. I have enjoyed his reviews, especially in the inclusion of sociological, anthropological, and philosophical observations. Ebert embodies the tradition of great literature as "Lies we tell about those who never existed, in order that we may learn the truth about ourselves." Ebert is worthy reading for many more than even the broadest categories of film enthusiasts would encompass.

You know, there's a very good reason Roger Ebert won a Pulitzer. The man is an amazing writer. If you enjoy the pure pleasure of reading, and have a passion for the movies, you would be hard-pressed to find a better book than this to read.

The book is mostly a collection of writings by Ebert over the last several decades. There's some interviews with famous film folk, a collection of essays on subjects such as colorization, digital vs film, the need for a viable "adults only" rating, a few movie reviews, a discussion on the past, present and future of film review, and, most importantly, a serious love of the movies that comes through on every page.

I confess I am somewhat biased. Until I began reading Roger Ebert's fine website, I'd never heard of films such as M - Criterion Collection (Special Edition), Nosferatu, The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition), or The Grapes of Wrath (I knew about the novel, of course). I'd also never had any real interst in, or appreciation for, movies such as Dark City (New Line Platinum Series), "The Bride of Frankenstein", Citizen Kane, or The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition).

Fool that I was.

Now thanks largely to Roger Ebert I've began to really develop a love and passion for movies in ways I never thought that I would. Just looking over my recent purchases on Amazon, I see things like Babette's Feast, Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition, All About Eve, All Quiet on the Western Front (Universal Cinema Classics), the "Godfather" films, and many others. Roger Ebert really opened my eyes to the glory of film, and helped me to understand why something like "Sunrise", is a glorious movie and something like "White Chicks" is not (hint: the abscence of anyone named Wayans helps).

I cannot recommend this book enough. If you like movies, buy it. If you like reading good writing, buy it. If you even think you might like this book, buy it! You'll be doing yourself a favor.

Roger Ebert loves movies, and he is a wonderful writer. He can reveal the essence of a movie with a poet;s touch, and he can point out some elements of the great mystery that draws us to an actor we might love, but not know why (thinking of his piece on Tom Hanks).

In one of the last reviewed movies in the book, "Crash" his writing helped me understand why a movie that seemed to rely so much on the most unlikely of fates, really deserved to be seen as a great movie. In the review of "Million Dollar Baby" which precedes "Crash", he shines a light on the heart of a movie that touched my heart, and does so with such simple and elegant precision.

It is easy to think of Mr. Ebert giving a thumbs up sign, doing battle with one of his guest hosts, or trying to find some way to indicate how much better than that a movie might be by using a series of adjectives or modifiers. Sometimes this has seemed silly, and inaccurate. For my wife and I, an unmodified "Two thumbs up" these days is as likely to reveal a mild stinker as something worthwhile and entertaining. Yet, I appreciate that he even writes an essay about another writer who decries such kinds of "criticisms and rating systems", doing so elegantly and non-defensively.

Yet when you read these reviews and interviews and let yourself be touched by them you can feel the author's joy and appreciation of the movies as well as his great understanding of this art form. That he is able to do this with a complete lack of pretense allowed me to fully appreciate the stand he has carved for himself as falling between the critic's movie critic and the people's movie critic.

If this were the last major work that Mr. Ebert creates in his life, he has performed a great service to those of us fortunate to pick this book up and read it. Thank you Roger Ebert. Two Thumbs pointing to the stars!

Finished the book in just under two days - he's my favorite author on cinema and this one didn't disappoint!

Unlike many training books The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video does not attempt to suggest what camera you should buy, nor does it tell you how to shoot Aunt Alice's 80th birthday party. This book, in its 89 pages, is a beautiful example of a subject that has been pared down to the essential information needed to learn it----and the subject is how to operate your video camera to get the best images you can.

The book's table of contents lists eight sections:

· Basics (such as camera functions, lenses, depth of field)
· Composition
· Basic Sequence
· Screen Direction
· Camera Moves
· Montages
· Lighting
· Doing It (how to plan for a shoot)

Each section is covered concisely, and there are over 200 simple, but effective, black and white line art illustrations to accompany the topic being discussed. This book is perfect for the person who wants to concentrate on improving their video camera operating skills.

This is one of the simplest, and best books I've ever seen for beginner filmmakers. It is able to very clearly explain complicated concepts, without writing any more than necessary. It's a very slender book, and a very quick read, and well worth your time.

This book is the easiest book on the subject to understand. Allmost anyone could understand this book. It gives you the same information as some of those long 300 page books that try to sound scholarly but just end up sounding pretensious. This book is the complete basics, so for anyone who is looking for more in depth stuff this isnt the right book for you.

Tom Schroeppel is an experienced film editor. Originally written for film cameras, the 2002 edition has been updated to apply also to video cameras. It's amazing how, in this short book, he is able to explain in simple language and illustrations almost everything you need to know in order to make a film or video. If you read your video camera's manual and this one book you will have all the tools you need to make excellent videos. I bought this book in the USC bookstore - it's used in a film class.

I recently picked up this book at a college bookstore, and I read it in about two hours. This is a fabulous book to get all the basic information needed to start making movies. It's littered with helpful diagrams and good examples. Buy it now!

Most Oscar-related books offer only limited pictures and focus on winners, not also rans. This excellent reference volume corrects those two oversights. It is filled with pictures representing the best of Hollywood--all contenders for Oscar's Best Picture are featured with a movie poster representation. Includes some rarely seen poster art, foreign posters, and multiple sized images. Excellent reference and enjoyable volume to pick up over and over.

A must-have volume for any cine-buff and film historian! This book, along with its companion first volume, "Academy Award Winners' Movie Posters" is part of movie poster maven Bruce Hershenson's exhaustive multi-volume series of books highlighting the history and beauty of what much of mainstream America has only in the last ten years begun to recognize. And that is movie posters are a "popular art" form that can stand proudly next to all other styles of art from gothic to modern, from expressionist to impressionist. Great film art borrows from all of these styles and this volume, which focuses only on posters associated with Academy Award-nominated films, illustrates innumerable examples. A fine book for any collector (get the hardcover edition if you can, it's harder to find; if Amazon doesn't have it, it's available from Mr. Hershenson directly at mail@brucehershenson.com)!

All of Bruce's books are full of wonderful images, but this one offers something extra - a history of ALL the films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. If you are a film buff, or you just like beautiful images you will love this book. Every year since the inception of the awards is listed and each nominee is displayed in brilliant color. A wonderful refrence source.

This beautiful collection of colorful poster art provides a history of Hollywood and American popular culture in a volume that's a delight to leaf through. As with all of Bruce Hershenson's poster books, this one is a tremendous value!

Like all of Mr Hershenson's books of film posters, this one is full of great reproductions of classic film posters. Movie poster collecting is both popular hobby and big business. For dealers and collectors alike, Mr Hershenon's books give all those interested in the hobby and business of movie poster collecting a ready-reference to images of great film posters for great and sometimes not-so-great films.

Psych is quite possibly the funniest show in the history of television. Steve Franks, the writing staff, and the entire cast are comic geniuses! Franks says he wanted to capture the fun of detective comedies like "Moonlighting" and "Remington Steele". Much as I loved both of those shows, this is funnier. You can tell the writers, cast and crew have fun making the show, too. I hope it goes on for years!

This is by far my favorite episode of Psych, so I had to have it. I bought it for my smartphone, and the only complain I have is that the video is a little slow on the phone, but the audio is perfect. If I could fix that problem with the video, I would give it 5 stars. I highly recommend this episode, you won't stop laughing!

This is one of less than a handful of shows I consider can't miss. It's funny, occasionally crossing into hilarious, and a pleasure to watch. The two main actors have a great chemistry and Shawn's relationship with his dad provides some of the shows funnier moments.

I'm used to the darker themes of Law & Order and CSI, so it's great to have such a light-hearted detective show that pokes fun at the genre and that isn't filled with sex and gore. I'll be honest, when I first heard the plot description I thought the show would be lame, and have weak humor, but after watching the pilot I was really surprised at how great the show was. The writing is excellent, the cast is great, Psych is definitely my favorite "new" show. I bought the first season on DVD and have gotten my mother hooked as well. Everything is just so hilariously bizarre, from the idea of a fake psychic fooling everyone to the strange places in which they find themselves solving crimes, from a Spelling Bee, to a Civil War reenactment, to a comic convention. The show has both great mysteries (how could a man be killed by a dinosaur), to hilarious banter, and doesn't rely solely on either. I definitely recommend Psych!

I recently downloaded and watch all of these episodes based on reviews here on Amazon. Psych is a very fun light hearted enjoyable show that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

There is no black and white here, hence my title. That ominous music can be a bit overkill at times (though, few!). What makes this show so dynamic is the psycological profiles of the criminals and even Goren and Eames themselves. The well-written crime drama of today is displays the humanity of good and evil, hero and villian and CI does just that! I prefer Mike Logan on the regular L&O. His character was way more interesting on that show. Hands down, the earlier Goren/Eames episodes are the best - those endings are reminiscent of great theatre!

This is my favorite of all the other L&Os, and after the death of Goren's mom, it's just getting better. Each ep. shows how much closer he is too the edge. The last ep were he went undercover was great, I can't wait for it to come back on. Also I wish they would release more of the shows on dvd.

I am getting caught up on seasons 5 and 6 this winter. I can't believe how astounding the performances are by Katherine Erbe and Vincent D'Onofrio. I am compelled and even uncomfortable at times watching, and I am seldom moved by television performances as I am by these actors.

I watch the Goren/Eames team episodes first (OF COURSE) and the Logan/[insert new partner here]episodes second. I am less affected by those episodes, but they are interesting none the less.

I have not watched ALL of these shows. I absolutely love LOCI. I have watched L&O for years since the beginning. When I was in FL taking care of my brother, I was introduced to LOSVU and fell in love, but I have to say that LOCI is my favorite. The two main characters are perfect and I would not change them. I do like Noth however and like that they brought him back into the fold, but katherine erbe and d'ornofrio are the best. he has such a way for this character. Something that I haven't seen in any other series. Now, I already like the CLOSER, and the new Saving GRACE along with my Law and Order shoes. I wish I was rich cause I would be downloading ALL of them. 6 stars!

I have never seen a TV series with better characterization and writing. For well turned psychological drama, this series is the best. The writers deliver scripts that expose the human underbelly of criminals, showing us how real people, even ones who might live next door to us, can cross the line between simply being dysfunctional and committing murder. The actors present it in a way we can all recognize. I've always been fascinated with criminal psychology and the writers/actors/producers of this show explore it for us in a very entertaining way. I often finish an episode thinking to myself, "Wow... that situation sure reminds me of so and so." Disturbing, but mesmerizing.