Video Editing Books

If you have already written a screenplay or are a serious screenwriter, there is pretty much no useful information in this book. A lot of the book is filler and more oriented to your screenplay/source material/annals of television story development. Needs more examples of treatments, and more importantly, it needs to make good on its title. This book didn't tell me how to "write treatments that sell," it just explained that treatments exist, and sometimes they're bought.

The book was useful, but the service from Amazon was terrible! It took two weeks to deliver and they still delivered it somewhere else. Had to get a replacement. After all the wait, the book was surely not worth the headache.

Wow! What a comprehensive and thorough tool for creating effective treatments and how to use them. I have no doubt that the information in this book will help writers sell their work and prevent unnecessary efforts that will not get results.

I enjoyed the book on writing treatments that sell. It was in very excellent condition. It covers a lot of areas. It really help in letting you konw how the hollywood industry work.

Very well written, easy to follow, guides you in the right direction. Whether what they tell you will really work or not is up to you, but it's an awesome guide. See ya on the red carpet!

If you are a web developer with some code experience this book is for you, the samples here are easy to follow and can give you a great start up with flash. This is a good book if you are planning to dept into flash

I LOVE THE WAY THIS BOOK IS DESIGNED. I HAVE AN ONLINE CLASS THAT USES THIS BOOK AND BECASUE I CANT MEET MY TEACHER FACE TO FACE I NEED A BOOK THAT CAN TEACH ME STEP BY STEP. THIS BOOK IS IT.

This book offeres all the step by step instructions which i found very helpful for doing home works. I got pleasure for discovering a mis-step or two in the instructions. When I got stuck, that's when i really going extra hard to go back and forth to pull my self out of a jam, and I learned more in doing so.

As a teacher in Multimedia/Art at Ventura College, CA, I review and use many books as reference. Flash CS3 Professional by Todd Perkins is a step by step tutorial to a total creation ending. The fact that this "Hands on Training" under the auspices of lynda.com/ Peachpit Press is accompanied by lynda.com training videos, makes a coordinated package for the individual learner or a classroom environment. Each chapter is illustrated with examples and tips, a valuable reference for Flash enthusiasts, animators and web developers alike. Too bad the books fall apart!

Required text for a class. It is OK so far for the most part I guess. This is a totally new subject for me so I dont know what to compare it with. It is similar to other tutorial books I have used. What I find exasperating about this book is the author constantly telling you "...you will learn more about that in chapter XX..." or "...more about that later..." It isnt like it happens once in a while it is like several times on every page. Now that I am into chapter 8, the author has added "...you learned about that in chapter 4..." or "chapter 6" or... What keeps me going and not throwing the book across the room and dropping the class is that the subject matter is quite fascinating.

I call it this because although it looked great: heavy stock glossy pages & pictures-under closer examination I was disappointed-perhaps after 12 yrs of "event" video i know more than i thought- staring out with lighting vs. equipment set me back right away-a separate more in depth section on actual software use would have helped too-I'm pretty good at imovie BUT not FCP or Avid- I assume those that are are already familiar with the basics & tech tricks-I would have sent it back since I was looking for more indie film info but will probably find it helpful for a community school class I'm giving-beginners new & advanced WILL find this book helpful though.

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.

All I wanted was to quickly find out how to view my video
on screen. this is a simple task in IMovie. The book spends
lots of time on editing. How about explaining how to view the
video and select which parts to keep and which to eliminate?

Frustrating experience. this is the first Peachtree book that
truly disappointed me.

Though the book is informative and well worth the money it doesn't even begin to cover the multitude of bugs asscoiated with FCP which is what really would have helped me.

I'm befuddled by the fact that anyone would give this book a positive review. The book essentially is just a restatement of the program manual, which, itself, is worthless.

A wonderfully comprehensive index helps one go back and find that special tool or effect you're looking for and how to implement it. One reviewer criticized, and said this book requires you already have a basic knowledge of non-linear editing; if you aren't a serious editor and already have some knowledge of the basics, you shouldn't even be thinking about Final Cut Pro. That being said, this book is a fabulous tool that I have parked by my G 4 to help me "remember" what I learned two months earlier the last time I used FCP. A huge asset!

I teach Final Cut Pro at United Digital Artists (UDA.com) in New York City and this is the book that we give to all of our students. It is an excellent reference guide and by my side when I edit.

BUT

Final Cut Pro 2.0 has just been released and it comes with a 1400 page manual. I look forward to Lisa's revision.

This was one of the most aggravating books I've ever read. The book purports to explain color correction but does not guide you through the process. Instead it gives you directions like "first adjust the black levels, then move on to fine tune the colors..."

Without actually telling you how to perform any of the adjustments the book is describing it's almost worthless. The reader is left with the same questions they had before they read it.

Great book that I have been looking for. This book was written in a style that I, an offline editor trying to move up to online work, could understand. It deals with how to color correct - not just how to use a specific tool (though it does that also). Well worth the money!

I never get desappointed when I get a new book from DV collection.
This book was an excellent acquisition, it goes into details and shares the experience of the author. It is not only for the video enthusiast but for professionals who work on video as a reference book.
It shows a broad collection of tools that will help us make a better video and also correcting those shots made by consumer DV cameras.

This is a fantastic book - required reading for anyone producing video.

Everyone will have tried basic color correction and been confounded by the number of parameters that all seem to do the same thing, yet interact to produce worse results than you started with. This book goes into great detail about how luminance and color influence your image and leads you through excercises to try on your own material, and images provided on the enclosed CD.

Although it is a technical subject, it is written in a very readable way.

It is amazing the changes that happen with quite subtle adjustments. That is the key to everything. Subtlety that creates great results.

The book covers color correction to match other footage, but also correction to create special effects and drama. There are even examples of how to highlight the subject from a confused background.

A, MUST READ book that should be on everyone's shelf.

The book does a good job of being an overview for color correcting video - but unfortunately because it avoids anything application specific it fails to show you how to do stuff in your specific NLE. Training dedicated to a specific application & color correction- like my FCP training DVD by Digital Film Tree is much better because it teaches the theory AND the tool - so you cover both angles while this was just the theory. But that may be what you want - or your NLE may not have a book about color correction dedicated to it. If you're a FCP user, there's a book called 'Advanced Finishing Techniques' in the Apple Training Series that I would recommend over this one.

This is a great publication. I wish I had gotten it sooner. There are tips in there that it took me months to figure out on my own. Anyone using Vegas 6 should have it.

I have been using Vegas now for about a year, and had no formal training in editing before that. When I discovered someone had written a book which explained a lot of the in's and out's of it, I bought it in the hopes I could expand my knowledge and experience.
I did the right thing! This book is chock full of goodies, and I know I have only scratched the surface. The accompanying DVD is just what the doctor ordered! It is now next to my computer at work, to use as my "bible" for Sony Vegas, and, I bring it home every night to try new stuff out.
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in gaining new insight into Sony Vegas, as well as editing in general. I found it useful and I am sure you will too. Happy editing !!!!

I am the author of this book, and as some of the reviews indicate, I'm horribly embarassed by the quality of editing that this book received. I assure you that the manuscripts turned in are not what ended up on paper.
This is the reason I chose to not write a Vegas 7 Editing Workshop book, because of how this book was treated.
Please note that the majority of the reviews found here are regarding typographical errors, and at least one of the reviews here is significantly exaggerated, in my opinion.
My apologies to those that felt slighted by the typographical errors in the book. Although the publisher hired an editor to edit the book (which I did not see in galley or blue-line form), I am solely responsible for any errors, typographical or factual.

The 3 rating is very generous.

Although the author may know how to use SONY VEGAS 6, he certainly isn't crystal clear about telling the rest of us how to do it.

The book is very poorly organized and not well written. It's the kind of thing that appears to have been written by an artist, not a teacher.
Learning from it requires deciphering what the man has written. A co-author with instructional design expertise should have been used.

Some examples given are visually hideous or not at all worthwhile.

Some print samples in the color section are not captioned at all.

The included CD is helpful.

I'd recommend absolute beginners cut your teeth on Windows Movie Maker or iMovie or similar entry level app. Get some successes and gain a comfort level with the workflow and basic editing techniques. Later, graduate to Vegas, Premiere or Final Cut for more advanced capabilities.

Video editing (like you see in TV) requires a fair amount of learning. As a result this book is not geared for beginners, as the app IMO is not for beginners either. If you are determined, go for it, it's a great creative outlet!

Even with Vegas 7 release, this book is still very relevant and worthwhile if you want to get full use out of Vegas. DSE's knowledge goes beyond the manual. He helps explain WHY, and what tool to use, which the manual does not. The book is right by my side during sessions and it's a great reference.

As for the book, yes does need a good proofreader and some of the illustrations could be ommitted - all fair enough comments. What is off base are complaints about the price. Apparently they have not bought any technical books lately. Keep in mind the years of specialized knowledge you are getting... it's really a bargain.

Book used as an owner's manual before starting program. Once the program has been tried, the book serves as a reference guide, even though it repeats the wording of the help references. Tips are beneficial.

The original order was lost in shipment. It took a long time to resend the book. Longer than necessary. I had a five day shipment and had to wait another five days to have the shipment considered lost then had to wait another fives days because of a holiday. That was entirely too long of a wait. With the upcoming holiday the company could have cut the waiting time to four days and got the book to me a lot earlier.

I like APE for preliminary formatting but I never ordered or received this item. However, having used and recommended other "... for Dummies" it would probably be a good learning resource.

Great book for someone new to the software. It was a huge help. Excellent index for the beginner.

Good Tech Manual. Received expeditiously.
Excellent 'general' manual.
Addresses a version of Adobe Premiere Elements
which is older than that which I have.

Consider this book well-researched, but written by an outsider. As such, if you follow it religiously you'll find your scripts always smell a little bit like heartland spec.

You're better off with a book written by someone who's worked in Hollywood with scripts, in the trenches, reading till his eyes bleed. There are other guides written by such industry insiders -- decorum prohibits me listing them here, but they're easy enough to find.

Put it this way: do you really want a screenwriting guide written by a guy who lives in Massachusetts? :-)

This book is so incoherently and terribly written that I only got through the 3rd page of the intorduction out of morbid fascination. Consider a sentence from the author's biography that illustrates, simultaneously, his lack of grammatical ability and credits:

"Awarded a Playwriting Fellowship by the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, he is a former Boston and Washington D.C. editor, reporter and photographer."

That is, by the way, the most specific sentence of his four-sentence bio, besides "He graduated from Boston University".

A few sentences from the introduction:

"There will be some repetitious information on these pages. But, there are no wrong examples to remember. The Elements of Style for Screenwriters was not written to teach screenwriting, or to give you an insight into the dramatic art, although it might come close and I beg your forgiveness."

I accidentally bent the cover, but I am sure Barnes and Noble will take it back out of shame.

Yes, you'll use this book fewer times as you keep writing screenplays simply because you'll commit more of it to memory. Yes, you'll want one for your shelves, one for your briefcase, and one for your office. Yes, they'll all be well used. And yes, this will be as invaluable a tool to you as your best loved dictionary and thesaurus. I require it of all my screenwriting students who are discouraged from ever selling it back to the bookstore, especially if they plan to take an advanced class with me. I also recommend this to all my workshop participants.

Get this book, read it through cover to cover once, and then flip through the alphabetized screenwriting terms when you need to refresh yourself as you write your script. Good luck with your project!

This book is basically an extensive glossary of screenwriting terms, and will help the beginning (and the experienced) screenwriter make sure that his or her screenplay is formatted correctly and that it uses the correct terms. The book is arranged alphabetically, so if you need to look up "Fade In" or "Margins," you can turn right to the correct pages.
The book lists a lot of terms, however, that you should never use in a spec script that you just want to show to producers and investors. Use this in conjuction with other screenwriting books to get a better idea of this.
The book is not always perfectly written either--and don't let its title fool you into thinking it has anything to do with Strunk and White--but it is helpful, and when I'm writing a screenplay, I use it often.

If you're into writing screenplays, this is THE Essential Screenplay Writer's Guide. I used it to write a couple of screenplays for Triggerstreet.com. In all of the feedback I received, not one person knocked the style of my works.

In the couple of weeks since receiving the book from Amazon, I have systematically gone thru the lessons for Adobe Premiere Elements 4. The book does an excellent job of introducing the learner to the program. What I can't remember how to do, I can go back later to refresh my memory. Problem is, I am running into program crashes now that I've begun to use PE4 with my own video. I've converted my video to AVI (huge files!) and am hoping I can eventually come up with a finished product using the nice features to which I was exposed thru the Classroom in a Book lessons. So, buy the book but don't assume learning to use the program will be the end of it. What a hassle!

When I got the product, an Adobe photoshop Software, I tried to install it on my computer. I got a message: "you need to call adobe photoshop assistace customer service". I called the Adobe and I was asked about the serial number. I gave the serial number, they told me it was a pirate copy, the serial number was unknown!
When you buy a software, make sure it has a correct serial number because Window Vista recognizes some pirate products and will prevent you to install it.
Bye.

Because Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Adobe Premeier Elements 4 do not
come with a manual then I needed to get a book to use the softwear. I
have purchased other Classroom in a book- manuals before and found that
I learned so much using them. The DVD that comes with it is very good also. Well worth the money - & time using it.

Being the sort of person who likes to show a quality slide show I decided to buy this learning tool. I had used both Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements starting with versions 4 and 2 respectively. Since I don't use these products excessively I suffer from cold storage from time to time. A little over a year ago my daughter got married and I was compelled to become proficient(using versions 5 & 3 at the time), quickly with both products and ultimately was able to author a very nice DVD covering her wedding shower, gown selection, a myriad of other little important things regarding the wedding preparation along the way, the rehearsal dinner and of course the main event, as well as, the morning after gift opening breakfast.

Needless to say when the wedding was over I presented them with their special DVD and immeditaely set the products aside. I recently purchased the current bundled versions of PS6 & PE4. I was preparing for a one-week trip to Yosemite National Park with my new Canon VIXIA HV30 HI Def camcorder. Before the trip I decided to get familiar with the new bundled versions of Photoshop 6 and Premiere Elements 4 that I had recently bought. At first blush they looked familiar, but I realized the more I played with them that the user interface had significantly changed - I believe for the better. So I decided to buy this aid, 'Classroom In A Book' for PS6 and PE4. Since the largest changes involved the User Interface for Premiere Elements 4, I started working on those exercises and immediately became familiar with all the facets of this great product again simply by working through the exercises, in the book.

I would highly recommend this learning aid, particularly if you are a casual user who needs to get up to speed quickly. For those who wish to become advanced, frequent users, there are other excellent reference and instructional/informative books, ie., Steve Grisseti and Chuck Engels.

This is an excellent learning tool for those beginning to use Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. There are very few "rough edges" in the presentation that can confuse the starting learner due to editing that was not thorough enough. (Please note, it is my biased opinion that any self-learning product should be held to a much higher level that a text book that is used in class.) In any case, I found it to be very useful and instructive. Highly recommended.

I have browsed many FCP guides and after spending five minutes with this one I found quite a few useful things I could not easily find in other books. That is why I am ordering it today. I'm not sure I will run all the editing workshops witht he suppied clips, but I think many will be useful.

This is the most confusing book on any software applicatio I have ever picked up - and I've looked at some poor books. This author has no business writing. I found several errors in this book due to misinformation on the authors part and poor technical editing by the publisher. If you buy another Final Cut Pro book it will be better because you cannot get any worse than this!

You're better off burning your $$$ - it'll be more fun.

I knew final cut pro fairly well when I started the tutorials, so I wasn't sure how much more I would learn. But I did learn more. I learned tricks to be more efficient, and now know more techiniques and shortcuts. So it was worth the time spent reading, in time saved later.

Many chapter are dedicated to non-editing stuff, like titling and compositing, which he explains are now important for editors to know. Another reviewer or 2 seemed to think the author was a poor teacher, I didn't seem to have a problem with the text, which was generally well written and logically presented.

I buy software tutorial books for something more, and Tom Wolsky's book on Final Cut Pro is a marvel. If you're new to video editing, you can use the tutorial footage provided and play along, lesson by lesson. But unlike, say, Adobe Classroom in a Book books (which I like very much), Tom uses sidebar bits to go far beyond the nuts and bolts and give you the tools to make editing decisions that will make your work... work. There is an art to editing, and with all the accessible tools and programs and software out there, Tom's instruction lets you rise above the crowd with finished videos that are elegant and communicate better than if you just competently assembled a story. If you are an experienced editor, the book is organized and indexed so that you can easily find tricks, tips and advice that you need. But if you're like me, you will find yourself reading the in-depth background sidebars and discovering that your understanding of post-production skyrockets.

When I think about this book, I inevitably end up thinking about where I'd be without it: Lost. Last year when I first got FCP I tried to read the revised, but still cumbersome 1000+ page compellation of instruction booklets. Needless to say, I got about 20 pages into: What's new in FCP? Before I made the conclusion that I'd need help. First, I tried going on forums (2pop.com amongst others) with minimal success. Finally, I came across this book, after a last ditch effort to try another instruction book. When the book came in about a week later, I was extremely surprised about how easy it was to read. It was like he was a mind reader, every question I had he answered.

In a nutshell: I'd probably still be trying to figure out how to overwrite a clip or, at best, be learning the transitions if not for this book. If you're a beginner and you're looking for the right book to guide you along the narrow path that is FCP, seek no longer; this is the solution you've been waiting for.