Video Books

Double or Nothing is a gripping tale of murder, deception, and true love. It boasts a well written script, and an intriguing plot line. This modern who-dunnit is executed masterfully by an exciting cast of characters, led by Leif Garrett and Lisa Collins. They turn in fantastic performances as two fated lovers that time and injustice cannot separate. I have listened to this Audio Movie again and again in the two weeks since I purchased it, and I still find it absolutely captivating!

Imagination was the only form of entertainment in the mid 1920- 1950's and for writer M. D. Baer to take the most fascinating part of the entertainment business full circle. He has created not only a masterpiece for the industry. But has re-established what the original fore fathers of the business took so much pride in, imagination creating reality.

The audio movie "Double or Nothing" brings not only a gifted writer but an aspiring cast of seasoned entertainers from all branches of the entertainment business.

The combination of singing sensation Leif Garrett and Lisa Collins is just remarketable. If awards were given Garrett who is more famous for singing the love songs has found a new genre that highlights his resume.

Garrett plays dual roles in this story and as well as the other 28 cast members. But these piece is more than just a story it is a must to have item for any entertainment collector's den.

Garrett is joined by another music sensation, Michael Hutchence of INXS. This was Hutchence's last performance outside of his musical performances before he died. Also, Baltazaar Getty, Michael DeBarres, Donald Morrison and others whose name is synomious with the business.

For some the story starts out slow, but then you get hooked. It is east to follow and the story get's just stronger as it goes.

For those who like to put the tape in and drive, this is one that really needs to be in the bag. Whether you are traveling by air, train or car it would be like leaving the best part of your vacation at home.

As for the movie as awhole it is like a good book, sometimes it is not easy to put down.

Leif Garrett was the world's most famous "Teen Idol" and sold more albums during that genre and his fans would like this. It is vintage "Garrett".

And just like back in the 1970's Garrett kick down the doors of music and achived rock and roll fame. Garrett, now older and seasoned is kicking at a new door as co-producer with writer Baer for audio movies. As co-producer Garrett's vision is to take it one step further and that is obvious by the production of "Double or Nothing".

From the cover to cover this project is awardable

Double or Nothing is a fantastic story/movie/ listening experience!! it keeps you enticed from the very beginning. Well worth the time it takes to hear the whole thing from start to finish. If all audio movies are like this, I have a new hobby!

Baer does a great job with crackling dialog in this modern L.A. noir story. Sound effects help to create a whole world you can feel amid big mix-ups and bad trouble in the seedy underbelly of Hollywood. Highly recommended

Pour yourself a martini, turn the lights down low, relax and drift away into a world of intrigue, murder, double crosses and passion. From the start this briskly written, intricately crafted audio movie takes hold and won't let go. It is a richly textured audio experience full of music, sound effects and a variety of colorful characters which allow the listener to clearly visualize the action and the drama as it unfolds. Full of humor, clever twists, colorful language and cool style this audio experience is best experienced in its entirety--and once you start listening you won't be able to stop! If you're a fan film noir, radio drama, or classic mysteries then you'll love Double or Nothing, don't miss it.

People remember different things from their youth, and one I remember most fondly is going to the drive-in movie. Because of that, I am drawn to books like this one. Though the text of the book is somewhat limited, it still evokes wonderful memories. It would be on my recommended list for anyone who wants to relive the "good ole days!"

The photos in the book are just great. They made me think back about my great childhood memories of going to the drive-in with my family.

...and hear the crickets. What a trip! Although drive-ins survive today, only a select few go to the trouble to capture the essence of the hey-day of the drive-in theatre. What is lacking in reality has been captured on paper. I didn't know what the Sanders could do to add to their previous book, The American Drive-In Movie Theater, but I was pleasantly surprised. I stayed up until I was finished one night. I simply couldn't put it down. Well done Don and Susan. -Stu Megaw (the Traveling Drive-In Enthusiast)

The Sanders have perfectly captured the essence of the drive-in movie theatre. My own work on the subject has given me the chance to verify that Drive-in Movie Memories is a celebration of outdoor movies! It is even better than their first book.

If you are interested in nostalga and/or drive in theatres, this is an excellent book. You may remember that Don and Susan Sanders came out with an excellent coffee table book entitled: "The American Drive-in Theatre." The original book was packed with previously lost photographs and memories of the drive in theatre.

Don and Susans latest work, "Drive in Memories : Popcorn and Romance Under the Stars," while physically smaller, is full of additional pictures and information about the drive-in theatres of yesterday. The new book is well written and edited. It will make a worthy edition to any one interested in the drive-in theatre.

I've just read this book and found it to be a great resouce. In the introduction the author wrote that his " ... main aim was to provide a book that would help a complete novice shoot, edit, and output high-quality video ...." Ozer's intended audience is the person who has been given the responisibilty of creating instructional, training and corporate videos and needs to quickly learn how to do it. This is not a book for the person who wants a full time career in video, but rather for the worker who finds that this has been added to his or her job tasks. It may be a HR person who needs to make a video explaining new company policies, a teacher who needs to shoot a lecture, or a salesperson who needs to "interview" an engineer about the latest and greatest widget he's going to sell. While Ozer does not cover shooting weddings, news gathering, or documentaries, the techniques and methods learnt here can be used in making those as well as videos for family and friends.

Ozer makes four basic assumptions about the reader:
* They are working alone.
* They have only one camcorder.
* They are editing digitally.
* They are producing for professional distribution.

The three shooting scenarios covered are:
*Executive Briefing - a single person, facing the camera delivering a message to an audience.
*Interview - asking questions of one person.
*Discussion / Training - asking questions of two or more people who may be interacting with each other.

The first section of the book covers capturing audio and video, and lighting. Realizing that the reader may not have the budget of a major television network, he confines his discussion of these things to finding inexpensive solutions.

His next section covers workflow, editing and converting dv video to streaming video and DVDs. The book is not tied to one specific editing program or operating system. Specific instructions for different editors for each chapter can be downloaed from the author's web site. I found his discussion on choosing codecs for publishing to DVD or the web the best I've read. For once I have a roadmap to follow that I can understand.

Finally he covers distribution by using video in presentations, streaming and using closed captions. For those in education there is a great introduction to creating closed-caption text and why it's different from simply adding sub-titles.

It gives you practical information on such things as shot lists, lighting, audio and how to shoot an interview when you are both the interviewer and camerperson. This is a book about shooting in the field, not in the studio.

Highly recommended.

I had to read this book as part of a multimedia course that I took. The information for me as an IT educator was just what I needed. Jan takes the time to explain things in a level that we all can grasp. His pictures also are extremely helpful in reinforcing the concepts. He also adds humor (self-deprecating at times) which I enjoyed. I can appreciate that after going through a list of codecs. As a fellow college instructor I would love to take one of his face-to-face classes!

I'm not a pro videographer -- I got this book to help me take better video at my church, and at home and on some ocassional business videos. I thought I needed separate books on lighting, audio and how to shoot and edit the video itself, but this book tells me what I need to know with screenshots and illustrations that make it easy to understand. The first chapter in particular, "mastering the video shoot" illustrates some common techniques - where to place the camera, where to place the subject in the camera - that have improved my videos immensely. Highly recommended.

Libraries need to interview and archive footage from their interesting seniors, scouts need to capture their jamborees, and coaches need to focus on what is going right (and wrong) with their team. The list goes on forever, and all those volunteers out there doing the heavy lifting need to read this book, mark the pages and follow the steps! Jan Orzer's book is really saving me from a lot of errors, steering me in the right direction and giving me the confidence to try. If I follow the directions that he illustrates so well (and humorously) I expect to produce video that teaches, entertains and maybe even inspires the viewer. I have never taken a formal course and am finding my way as an amateur, but so far, with Jan's help, I am getting there with better results than I deserve to have, so this book is very good value, and I highly recommend it.

DV 101 is an easy book to get your arms around, whether you're a video newbie, or someone looking for a refresher course. The downloadable supplementary workbooks carry on the tradition of feeding you just the information you need, and nothing more. Corporate budgets being what they are today, chances are your department will not have funding for a large production staffed with pro videographers. I think you will find DV 101 an indispensable guide to real-world techniques that work without breaking the bank. From a business user's perspective, I can say Jan Ozer's book provides the information you'll need to produce respectable results that will delight both your target audience and your CFO.

Tsuburaya Eiji was the Japanese special effects director who was behind so many monster movies that came out from Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. This is a pictorial biography of Tsuburaya Eiji that proves to be very well written and informative. I found the book to be rather insightful as the author included inserts written by men who worked with or worked under Tsuburaya Eiji during his career. The book also comes well illustrated with photographs and movie posters on almost every page as it traces the life and time of Tsuburaya Eiji's career. It was interesting to note that during World War II, he made a movie made from miniatures that showed the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was so realistic that during the initial post war period, Americans thought it was the real thing. Tsuburaya Eiji was also the man who made Godzilla what he was and creator of the Ultraman series that is still going on to this day.

Overall, this book is definitely worth your time and money to read over and treasure. Tsuburaya Eiji is one of the great pioneers of motion picture industry regarding special effects and his influence help shape this industry to this day. His influence in the science fiction genre will remains pretty strong as monster movies like Cloverfield still hit our theaters and on DVD to this day. The book strongly reflects the heydays of Japanese monster movie era history and it will remind many of us, the fun and wonder these movies brought us during our younger days. And it will inform otherwise misinformed that there is more to these movies then just a "guy in the monster suit" concept.

(And yes, I am writing the subject's name in Japanese style...sur name first always...Tsuburaya Eiji is the way you would address him if he was still alive today...as you would with any Japanese national.)

This is a wonderful coffee-table size book that contains beautiful photos and interesting commentary. If you are a fan of Godzilla and/or Eiji Tsuburaya this is the book to get!

Phenomenal book. Great quality, design, and content. If you have any remote appreciation for this kind of film making and monster design, this book is an absolute love letter... A must have!

I been reading books on japanese monsters for many years. But I have to say this is the far by best book ever. Just seeing the never before pictues is worth the price alone. The only thing I could realy say is, if your into kaiju films. Don't be without this book.

A Japanese book titled The Films of Eiji Tsuburaya has become a hard to find collectors item and for that reason I have never owned it. That indicates a level of interest which this new English language book meets very well. There are lavish illustrations and insightful text written by those who were fortunate to be able to research this topic firsthand. Pleasantly surprising is the section written by the now deceased Guy Mariner Tucker. The fact that Tsuburaya had such a hand in tokusatsu and kaiju eiga enables the writing of a book that covers multiple productions from Godzilla to Mighty Jack. Well done and well priced.

Exploring Digital Video provides well-organized and reliable information. This book is quite appealing, with distinct photos and graphics, lucid text, and clear-cut chapters.

Notably, a beautiful full-color insert offers a look at Star Wars. And the DVD-ROM that comes free with the book contains surprising and useful free offers and specials and a feature on The Philadelphia Eagles! A must-have.

This book covers so many areas of digital video that I'm sure it will have what you need. It talks about topics such as purchasing video cameras and includes technical specs and quality. It also discusses bluescreen technology, capturing video and audio, scriptwriting, storyboarding and so on. And this is all just the beginning. It goes on to discuss how to edit, render and output film for the internet, television, or for multimedia presentations.

Other than just being a great source of information this book also has a lot of fun extras that will keep you interested. At the end of each chapter there is a quick question formatted review to make sure that you understood and remembered the important aspects of the chapter. There are also various inserts with profiles and interviews of some of the professionals in the field. Although all of the inserts are interesting and informative, the best was the piece about Star Wars. This particular insert is about Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) which is part of Lucas Film LTD. It discusses how one of the scenes from Star Wars was created. It's really cool to hear how they created something and made it look so amazing on film.

As if this weren't enough already, this book comes with a DVD/DVD-ROM with interviews with the Eagles Television Network and a number of tutorials. For those unfamiliar with the ETN, it is the Emmy award winning network of the Philadelphia Eagles. You get to hear about digital video from experts in the field through watching the DVD and reading the book. For such a low price it is one of the best literary investments you can make if you want to learn about digital video.

The book does a great job of offering an overview of digital video, including things like using still photos, what type of equipment would you need, and how to set-up a shoot.

Only complaint is that the author occasionally states opinions as fact example: wide screen is better than standard, when in reality, it is an artistic choice, and it is how you use the space provided that makes something like widescreen better or worse.

Finally! A book that makes a difficult subject easy to understand - creating and working with digital video (DV)! Each chapter is well laid out with great illustrations and nicely sized titles for each section and lesson. It also enhances its content by making good use of sidebars, to add relevant information.. Each chapter ends with an very useful set of questions and exercises, which furthers the reader's comprehension.

Lesson 6 was a highlight for me because I often incorporate photographs into my videos. This sometimes results in a badly distorted photo, forcing me to omit some great photos because of that distortion. Other times, I've been lucky and able to successfully place a photo without any distortion. Until I read this book, the causes were unclear; the author demonstrates the correct way to prepare a photograph for digital video in a way that I could understand and will remember. Though math and computations are a turn-off to many, she successfully covers the meaning of pixel values without confusion. The DVD included with the book contains tutorials which do an excellent job of taking the viewer step-by-step through cropping a photograph vertically and horizontally, so it is properly proportioned for video. The reader therefore has a visual and a written source for future reference at any time.

As a bonus, the author interviews Fred Meyers and Ben Snow, the makers of the Star Wars movies from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Meyers and Snow re pioneers in the DV field. She interviews several other DV professionals as well, adding their vast experience to the subject.

The DVD also includes discounts from major retailers, saving readers money on computer and electronics products.

This book is a keeper-excellent for the both the beginner and the experienced hobbyist.

The book is great. All you have to do is open it up and glance through it to see that it will be helpful.

The Companion DVD is even better with step by step tutorials. The DVD also offers discounts with retailers on equipment, stock video and a great DVD duplication offer from Action Duplication in West Conshohocken, PA (800-847-3827).

Whether you are wanting a companion to the wonderful film, to learn more about animation, to keep a little piece of the fantastic art for yourself or simply to inspire you by sitting on your coffee table, you will not be disappointed with this book. The layout and presentation are stunning and you will treasure this beatiful book for years to come.

My suggestion is to also buy the soundtrack and listen to it while flipping through the pages of this book. You will find yourself inspired - no matter what sort of day you've had.

Congratulations to John Culhane for a beautifully realized presentation.

Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope was an extremely good book. My entire family enjoyed looking at the photos. The book provides an extensive overview of every segment of the film.It helps you to understand the framework of each segment, and prepares you extremely well for the movie. The book even lets you in on hidden jokes in the movie such as where to spot Mickey and Minnie in "Pomp and Circumstance," or where to spot a hidden Nina in "Rhapsody in Blue". The book is a must have for fans of Fantasia 2000, fans of Disney, or even other people who just love these sorts of coffee table books.

This book is really spectacular. The illistrations are supurb and the writing is just great. Whether you like Fantasia/2000, or you're into classical music, or you love Disney animation, this is a really wonderful read. Well worth the price!

This was a beautiful book. Interpolated with pictures from the new Disney film it is for any fan of the new film. I did enjoy his other book on the Fantasia more. This though in detail on each of the ssegments individually there is not enough info on the overall creative process. I thimk this book belongs first for any Fantasia 2000 fan, secod for any Disney fan, and and a distant third for anyone who enjoys reading about the making of movies.

This is a brilliant companion to a brilliant film. Countless colorful stills from the film and commentary from its creators makes this a must for collectors and fans of the film. Culhane continues to be a master of Disney animation and this book is consistant with, if not better than, all of his worthwhile looks at the Disney animated films. If you like this book, you'll adore The Art of The Huntchback of Notre Dame. This oversized art book in some ways is more satisfying than the film itself. Huntchback the book provides an in depth and pictoral overview of the classic story and the development of the animated film, including beautiful conceptual artwork from illustrator Peter DeSeve and insightful character development sketches. Where the film, while almost perfectly animated, lacked heart the book makes up for. If you can find it, get it. But unitl you find that, Fantasia 2000 will more than keep you and your eyes busy.

This unique book is one of the best Film and Television Directing books that promises satisfaction and truth. Myrl A. Schreibman is an authentic and creative author that incorporates wisdom throughout the book rather than regurgitating his knowledge. Experience is another thing that this book offers which creates a pragmatic platform for the reader that ultimately functions as motivation and inspiration. This book is a powerful tool for any beginning, intermediate, and even advanced student or professional of Film and Television Directing.

The Film Director Prepares: A Complete Guide to Directing for Film and TV is a great text and resource for the beginner looking at the construct of filmmaking and the director's role as well as great advice and insight for those at intermediate and experienced levels. The added CD from Frame Forge is outstanding and invaluable for storyboarding your project. Overall an excelent resource!

This book is an entirely interactive book as it contains a CD-rom that has a 3d storyboarding software that makes it absolutely remarkable in being able to manipulate the images in the book to experiment with concepts and precepts that the author is knowingly speaking about. The Directors Guild of America calls this book the definitive book for directors and encourages not only those who are learning to direct but those who already direct to hacve this book in their library. It is told from a very easy and understandable perspective and full of practical stuff about telling stories, saving production time during production, working with talent, directing various forms of television and most of all what it means to do coverage to tell stories. This is one book that you must have!

I just finished a feature length screenplay that will soon become a feature length film. To prepare for production I decided to purchase two books: Creative Producing A to Z, and, A Film Director Prepares, both by Myrl Schreibman. Having just finished reading them both, I now know I could not have made two better choices. Buy them both, read them both, then read them both again! I promise, your film career will be well served.

Practical and easy-to-grasp, this book breaks down directing to its most essential elements: the philosophy and the process. The book is a great starting guide for the newbie. Use it to learn just the fundamental principles of filmmaking, and then go out and discover your own principles.

This book is a rich banquet of details about the films that Jeanette and Nelson made together. Beyond that are wonderful details about the stars themselves, the making of the films, tne circumstances and the other stars involved. It is the personal information which so enriches this book. Eleanor brings them to life in detail and with hundreds of wonderful pictures.. Eleanor is a fabulous writer who has brought these two to life for the reader to remember or learn about for the first time.
This is a must for every movie buff and for all those who remember the Golden Years when these two Stars ruled the musical screen.

There are no words to describe this wonderful book and Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy I always enjoy to have any thing that reminds them.

In the midst of all the wonderful detail every movie buff relishes, Eleanor Knowles never forgets a constant focus on Nelson and Jeanette, both as real people and Hollywood icons. Never bogging down in academic language, she writes with intensity, accuracy, and humor, in a direct style everyone can understand. If you are looking for definitive reference material or reflective insight on MacDonald and Eddy and those who surrounded them, it's all here. This re-edited edition is chock full of new information, and Ms. Knowles is THE authority to put it all together. Wow!

The original edition of this authoritative book provided me with many happy memories during my childhood and I was delighted to learn of its recent expanded and updated reissue. My glossy new copy has pride of place in my home!

Eleanor Knowles passion for these immortal personalities is obvious and shines on every page. She delivers a thoroughly detailed document leaving no stone unturned. The splendid THE FILMS OF JEANETTE MACDONALD AND NELSON EDDY is a landmark book in this genre and deserves to be in every public and private library. It is something one returns to to learn from the past. Profound thanks!

Eleanor Knowles' book on the films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy is the sort you keep coming back to. Each time you walk past it on your coffee table, you open at a page, read and are transported back to the Golden Era of movies. For someone who loves to find out all the little "behind the scenes" bits and pieces, this book is ideal. There is so much of interest. All the backgound information on the two stars, the cast of their films, how the films evolved - makes for interesting reading. Too many people have the misconception that once MacDonald and Eddy's film careers finished that they "disappeared off into the sunset of retirement". Not so. Eleanor presents two people who worked in various fields as long as they were able. If possible, Eleanor has improved on her original book and presents an intelligent, well-researched and lovingly crafted tome that should be on any serious movie buff's book shelf!

I doubt that I can say anything about this book that hasn't been said before but this is, by every measure, an outstanding examination of Cassavetes amazing body of work.
I go back to this book every six months or so and have for a number of years. It is a very thorough, reverent, and insightful reference book but it goes well beyond that. Though very full of information, it is personal enough that it has allowed (and encouraged) me to go and evaluate the films myself without the feeling that there is a "law" or an agenda already set with these films.
The greatest beauty of Cassavetes' films is that each one belongs to the individual; meaning that every person who chooses to lend his or her heart to the characters, stories, and subject matter(s) can get something out of it that belongs solely to that person. The films can excite, enrage, entertain, and rattle you in ways that films seldom do.

Cassavetes films make you more than an audience member as they make you more aware than ever that you just might still be human.

Great book and highly reccomended.

I'd like to corroborate Matthew Langdon's review (above or below this one). I had the advantage of having Ray Carney as a professor at Boston University. By some stroke of genius (possibly by administrative accident), all entering film students were required to take a survey course from him on film art before taking anything else. Carney started with warhorses like Hitchcock's "Psycho" and made the roomful of us (vocally) do exercises during the screening that exposed the highly polished but rather ridiculously superficial artifice of the "classic film". We all thought he was crazy. Here was this man -- that one friend described as a combination of Andy Warhol and Orville Reddenbacher -- unsubtly undermining a number of the most globally revered films. He then paraded a host of highly experimental films (many from the library of Congress that practically noone outside of a Carney class has ever or will ever see) before us that were appallingly difficult and often downright confrontational. It's pretty safe to say that practically none of us really "got it" until long after that semester, possibly years. At some point I did. Carney loves film just like we all do, however he had recognized something that we (and, most likely, you, too) had not, that film can be so much more than anything we had imagined (or yet been exposed to). That's largely what he wanted to show us in this class. Film is still a nascent art, highly immature in scope and depth. So far, Cassavetes -- one of the EASIER filmmakers Carney introduced us to -- is one of the handful of film artists that has done something deeply new with the form since its inception. If you develop an interest in Cassavetes, you will find this book essential, and you will return to it after every screening.

I originally got this book and read the whole thing, before i had seen any of cassavetes movies. This is not a recommended route. I have now seen all of his films, except for husbands, and i can't tell you how amazing i think the importance of this book is. I wonder what the ratio is between the people who disagree and agree with it's context, in respect to it's attitude towards american cinema. the book really does rewire your brain. The people who i am friends with, who are also interested in film are dumb founded when ever i casually undermine 2001 or citizen kane in a conversation. More importantly though, this book, like Cassavetes films, extends into life and actually opens you up to knew spiritual territory
you didn't think about. One last point: Does any one notice how suprisingly objective Carney is when he mentions his most hated film makers like Spielberg ? Get this book. It may feel too intellectual, but it really isn't. If you think that then you are reading it too quickly and not thinking about what it's actually saying.

I'm not sure what book the reviewer below this read, but I don't know how many times I'd have to read about films that completely re-imagine the way I (and our popular culture) see the world and my own experience before I'd feel "bored" or anything less than inspired and envigorated. In fact, I read this book very often - not just to gain information, like a dictionary or an encyclopedia, giving me facts and figure data I didn't have before, but as mental calethenics, or something like spiritual openess training. This is a much more meaningful and important activity than thematic comparison and contrsating, no matter how technically interesting that is. As the concepts and points of view on the world process thru my brain as I read them off the page, I gain new abilities to understand and see - and this takes work, and often repetition. So I reccomend anyone who reads this book and hopes to gain insight, not just into Cassavetes and his films, but into their own personal attitudes, to keep themselves OPEN, as Cassavetes explicitly did in every frame of film he exposed, and to always give the artist (or author) the benefit of the doubt before passing judgement based on arbitrary ulterior motives (which, naturally, we all have). This isn't easy (especially to the greatly film cultured), but I dare say you'll enjoy this book, and your life, a lot more.

Almost everything Carney says, you tend to utterly hate him for at first. His most recent article seemed so pessimistic that I spent an hour in my apartment, sitting in front of the TV depressed by it all.

Everything Carney writes tends to be tough at first, because, like Cassavetes, he mentions truths about life that very few people wish to confront. There is no evasion of reality in this book. People can be horrible to each other. We all die in the end. That's life.

Carney doesn't analyse Cassavetes' work in relation to other movies and cultural trends (as most film professors tend to do), but prefers to focus entirely on the performances of the characters on screen. Like Cassavetes, he never really explains the characters' motivations, but instead focuses on how they react to their environments. Everything he writes is about life -- you'll find nothing about tendentious compositions, popular culture, or auteur theory. The only important thing here is Carney's love for the characters and their creator.

One of the greatest books ever written on American film.

I love this book. It's a robust mix of exercises and software how-to, unique among all the FCP books I've read. I'm very glad to have it in my library.

I wrote this to Wolsky, might as well share it with the world:
Hi, guys. I met you at the fcpug last Weds and bought a (signed!) copy of your book. I haven't started to do the tutorial yet but I can't put the book down. It's so clear and easy to understand, and I'm already implementing the stuff I've picked up just from reading, "Now, did he say.... option X? Oh, wow, it works." It's the best book I've seen and I tend to look at everything in hopes that where one person confuses me another will set me straight. Anyway, this is a fan letter. And the writing is extraordinarily fine, literate and grammatical. Thank you.

The author is candid in his discussion about editing with Final Cut Pro. The most valuable information to me was his numerious comparisons between FCP and other editing software. For example, he points out those areas where other programs might be stronger in certain areas than FCP and specifies those programs. I read the book cover to cover and continually refer back to it as a guide and inspiratoin when editing.

Reading many, if not most, software instruction books, is akin to being clubbed by a thousand hammers...overload, overload. They are constructed as reference books, but one has to fight through tons on incidental material to figure out how to use the program.

Tom Wolsky's Final Cut Pro 2 book is, instead, a precise tool, which gets you cutting in no time. Wolsky's credits list him as an editor and a teacher, and his book make it clear he is outstanding in both regards.

At first glance you might think that this book is the same as the other FCP click-step books for the manual-adverse. You'd be wrong. Tom has crafted an excellent instructional work that richly supplements, rather than reiterates, Apple's enormous, exhaustive FCP 2 manual. Certainly he has featured many pages of clear dance-step instruction throughout the book. But, more noteworthy, Tom also incorporates a great deal of contextual insight into why certain features might be useful to the reader and draws upon his professional experience to give readers insights into the professional post-production process.

This book quickly became the mainstay of my FCP editing library. The only feature that would improve upon it is a spiral binding enabling it to lie flat while open!