Video Editing Books

This book helped me to put aside all doubt and really get a product. It made the process very easy and was a constant help throughout the whole editing experience. I feel a more competent and able editor thanks to this book. I hope everyone considers it when making their next purchase!

Like many new editors, I came to Final Cut Pro with no NLE experience nor any knowledge of video whatsoever. In fact when I started, just over two years ago, there was not a single book on FCP. Since that time there have been a number of excellent books published about FCP. I have bought and read all of them.

During the past two years I have learned the terminology used with FCP video. But my knowledge is FCP-centeric. I had little understanding of video, it's relationship to film or it's history.

Last week I discovered "Nonlinear/4" written by Michael Rubin. I can best describe this book as a complete reference guide to all things video. But its actually more.

Each element covered in this book is in it's own section. Each section is brief, concise and clearly written. Very simple (read: clever) analogies are employed to help the reader gain understanding. While there is technical information, the book is not overly technical. There is a great deal of art, illustrations and photos. This art furthers the learning experience and is one reason that the book works so well, the art really illustrates the
lessons being taught.

The history of film and video runs throughout the book. This history is essential to understanding how and why video is what it is today.

I learned a great deal from this book and now have a better understanding of why things are the way they are. Our modern day NLE Digital video is the result of a long legacy, going all the way back to the early days of film. This book is a great reference guide as well with a full index at the back.

I am really glad that I came across Nonlinear/4. I truly have a better understanding of what's going on with Video and how it works. This knowledge will certainly help me with FCP.

--ken

As a working (nonlinear) editor, and as an editing teacher, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Six years ago I made the switch from film to computer, with Michael Rubin's book as my constant companion. Rubin writes with a keen intelligence and an implied sympathy for both the professional editor and the student trying to make sense of the complex and rapidly-changing world of post production.

Because he IS an editor, Rubin is the only technical writer I know who is able to prioritize exactly what you need to know and to tell you why you need to know it. Like any good editor, he has the ability to think macro- and microscopically at once. His post-production flowcharts, history of nonlinear, and overview of systems and distribution are unsurpassed in the field. The down-and-dirty details of digital video- subjects like timecode, telecine and 3:2 pulldown, and compression algorithms- are clearly demystified. These are sections to which I still refer! This book is always in my cutting room as a reference, and when I teach I borrow examples from the book and urge my students to purchase their own copy.

This book contains another unique feature, which is an intellectual and practical interest in editing theory. Rubin has worked not only as an editor, but also in research and development at several companies during the dawn of nonlinear technology. Thus, he is able to pose and answer the most fundamental questions: Why do we need nonlinear technology? And how can that technology serve our creative needs? What might we see in the future?

This is a book that will be helpful for anyone who is already editing at any level, or for anyone just learning about the craft. Straightforward, well-organized, and filled with humor and wisdom, this is quite simply my favorite book about the technical side of editing.

I've read a number of books on the subject, and this is by far the best. Its clarity and concision put most of the others (such as the disorganized Ohanian books) to shame.

Ed has been doing our production for 20 years. He is truly the master. Now he has put all of his trade secrets in a book. It is truly phenomenal.

For years, Ed has added his wisdom about audio and video production to the premier events for the National Speakers Association. His advice has helped hundreds make a better living through better marketing material. The man knows what he's doing. And now his wisdom is available for the masses.

I have known and worked with Ed Primeau, the author of this book, since I started my speaking businesses in 1993. This guy is an experienced professional and knows what he is talking about. In fact, he is the first person to ever professionally audio tape my speeches, and has filmed and produced several videos for me. Together we have created both demos and products and I can say that it has been one of the most enduring friendships and business relationships I have ever had. Not only is he a great audio and video producer, he is also a great friend, an honest business person, a creative force and the ultimate cheerleader for those he works with. I could not recommend him or his new book more, and I look forward to many more years of his expertise and friendship.

The Empress of Ireland is the kind of book you don't want to finish, you feel a stab of sorrow when you realize you've passed the halfway mark. This memoir of the author's relationship with the Irish film director Brian Desmond Hurst reads like a novel. You are fully engaged with the characters and have entered another world. It is hilariously funny, deeply moving and the kind of book you will either read again or skim to reread favorite passages. The best book I've read all year.

Brian Desmond Hurst was a soldier (a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign), a film director (his best remembered effort being the Alistair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol"), and, in the end, equal parts dreamer, grifter and raconteur.

We meet up with Hurst well into his twilight years. Journalist Christopher Robbins is sent to meet the openly gay (and still quite frisky) Hurst, who is searching for a fresh young talent to pen a screenplay about the events leading up to the birth of Christ. A chance encounter of the luckiest sort. Together they travel to Morocco, Ireland and Malta. The friendship that develops, and is so lovingly documented in these pages, is obviously life changing for Robbins. Hurst understood well the business of living in the moment; and though he may have been a bit of a schemer, he opened up a new world of discovery, adventure and infinite possiblities for Robbins.

The years pass, the script gets written and bandied about, but the film is never produced (neither is Hurst's promised autobiography). What remained were the author's copious notes detailing, not only their shared adventures, but many of Hurst's ribald and hilarious stories reported seemingly verbatim. The man was the Irish Scheherazade. Along the way we are introduced to a rogues' gallery of eccentric characters, some royal, some famous, some criminal, some perverted, but all colorful and brilliantly remembered. This volume is often laugh out loud funny. However, Hurst's memories of growing up poor in Ireland, of his family struggles, and the absolute horror of his war experiences, are told with a poignant and shattering clarity.

This has proven to be one of those rare books for me. I never wanted it to end. There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to adequately discribe this uniquely rendered memoir. Once read, I defy anyone to forget Brian Desmond Hurst or "The Empress of Ireland."

I love it. Until I opened the book the name of Brian Desmond Hurst would have rung only the dimmest of bells, but apparently he was a figure of renown in the British film world of the 1940s and 1950s, and had a hand in dozens of films, most of them unreleased this side of the Atlantic, and you get the picture he was no Carol Reed over there. (He did discover Roger Moore.) But he was the funniest raconteur you'll ever read about, and we are lucky that young Christopher Robbins was right there catching all the quips and the bonhomie, and that he wasn't too shocked by the older man's rapacious homosexuality to write it all down for posterity. I haven't laughed out loud reading a book all year, and this one had me doubled over, nearly in pain. On every page you'll find something to cherish, and something to remember.

Some parts have the glory of utter bad taste. Teasing Michael Redgrave about his penchant for bondage (of a particularly painful sort), Desmond Hurst explains to Christopher, "There are a few in jokes about Sir Michael in our circle. 'Sir Michael Redgrave, I'll be bound!' and 'Sir Michael is unable to come to the phone now, he's all tied up.' Do you understand?" Christopher though straight-identified shares his patron's love of gossip and scandal. Besides naming names, Robbins also plays discreet and shrouds some of his best stories as blind items. He doesn't reveal the identity of the popular star with a drug problem that made him impossible to work with, but he gives you lots of clues. The name "Richard Dreyfuss" springs to mind.

Beyond the fun and the frivolity, there's a lot of heart in the book. Hurst's memories went way back, to childhood in Belfast, the city where much of the Titanic was built. "Brian's father proudly took him to see the great ship launched. 'When the news came back of the ship's sinking, a tidal wave of grief struck Belfast. There was not a street in either North or South Belfast that didn't have a house in it with the blinds down, because there were some four hundred technicians from the town on that maiden voyage.'" And just a little while later, World War I was launched, and Brian was sent to Gallipoli, the most heartbreaking of all WWI battles. His clear-eyed and incredibly detailed memories form the best account I've ever read of that awful siege.

Late in the book is a sort of defense of Hurst's films; Robbins makes a case for the best of the war films, but the truth is, he is an unlikely figure to be re-examined. THEIRS IS THE GLORY sounds like a truly odd movie: it's the story of the Battle of Arnhem (later immortalized as A BRIDGE TOO FAR) made shortly after World War II as a "docu-drama," in which every actor you see on the screen, and every technician you don't see behind the screen, had to have fought at Arnhem. Could it really be good? I guess it's possible. History has a way of finding the good inside the bad, and happily Christopher Robbins shares that propensity.

Down-to-earth, real-life practical advice and expertise in an area that has always seemed out of my league. This book will be helping a lot of indie filmmakers like myself, I highly recommend it!

I highly recommend this book. I come from a video editing background. This book helped me execute what I always wanted to do with audio but didn't have the knowledge. Now I do.

Mr. Scetta's knowledge of audio technology and ability to teach it in an interesting, non-patronizing way is to be respected. I look forward to using this book as a how-to guide to many projects, as well as his future publications.

This is a vast improvement over previous versions. I can't wait to get six when it comes out. I volunteer at a local TV studio and we use iMovie to edit all of our productions. We are just learning Final Cut Pro, but iMovie is just as good.

So Here I am once again everyone. Hello, this is Chris, and I first started my review project with my video camera, a JVC GDR-270 purchased at Best buy for $299 and iMovie HD, The missing manual, and started to record everything I saw. Using the camera was not difficult but iMovie HD was at first. When opening the application, seemed almost intuitive. But any assisted guidance sure helps in the production process. Having said this, I used the book as I did my work following the guided pictures. I imported my video and began my personal version of a Hollywood production studio (Watch it Warner or Paramount, I think I found my niche,) and edited my movie for final output. During the process, there are tools in iMovie HD that will help make your movie look a bit more professional. What is not there is someone to help in which the book did well. Using the iMovie HD help file can be tedious, and can be very time consuming going back and forth, but with this book in one hand and a mouse in the other, I simply glided through the pages very easily. From start to finish, it was easily explained. I had no problems finding out how to utilize the video from my DV cam. I could explain the process of using iMovie HD but that is a whole other review, my review is on the book and I am glad I did. iMovie HD, the missing manual was a well organized, color photo book with easy to use guides and tips. I am glad I had the opportunity to review it because without it, I would still be importing my video 30 days later. Following the book was easy. But it is lengthy, over 400 detailed pages to follow. But with enough patience, not only will you be able to use iMovie hd on the fly, you will be on your way to utilizing more professional applications like Final Cut express an Final Cut Pro.

Jeff Carlson's Visual Quickstart Guides for iMovie are the best software manuals I've ever used. I've been dipping into the Visual Quickstart Guides for a number of programs for 5 years and I find them easy to read, direct, and clear as a bell. It's a great series and for people who are slow learners like me, they're a pleasure. I also teach iMovie and this is the book I recommend to my students.

Bible of Film Editing
from an editor and editing professor-
editors must have it- simple as that-- would be wise for other filmmakers to read too

I found an old copy in a library and searched this out. I bought the hardcover one on amazon cheaply. It has been revised for so long you may as well buy the old. it's not just about editing and goes through how to sequence shots for action (a chase) etc, goes through some citizen kane shots. Has quite a few pictures of sequences and other stuff. I highly recommend it. It's a massive book.

First you have to find it. Incidentally, I am sure it is not extremely difficult to find, for I happen to have found it accidentally in a film book store in Hollywood. Needless to say this book provides any potential film maker with an exciting view of the craft, turning mechanics into art. It is written in a clear style and in an almost profound way it will change the way you understand cinema and editing. Reisz and Millar will teach you how to turn the art of film into film art.

Well, I've always enjoyed reading screenplays. In addition, I've loved The Princess Bride since I first saw it. I also loved Misery. However, I hadn't seen Butch Cassidy yet. Reading the screenplay made it mandatory.

Goldman's comments about the movies are a wonderful addition to the screenplays. I highly recommend this book.

An enthusiastic 'thumbs-up' to William Goldman for including four essays to accompany his wonderful screenplays.

If you wonder why the author chose the idea of using the grandfather as the storyteller in the "Princess Bride" or how beloved Andre the Giant was on the set of the film then this book is a must-read.

Want to know which major scene with Kathy Bates in "Misery" was changed over the objections of the screenwriter? It's all here, colorfully annotated by the author in his essays that preface each screenplay.

The most entertaining book I've read so far this year (1998). If you've enjoyed these movies then, by all means, read this book!

Most people have seen these four films. Far fewer have read the screenplays. Because of the diversity of the material and the quality of the writing, this book is truly essential to all writers, especially those who want to write for the screen. Goldman's screenplays are unique. In effect, he has invented his own screen language. He's that rare beast, a screenwriter who cares about style.
Prepare to be thrilled and inspired.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2JNYQ9ZYJ54TM All the folks at Cengage, Scribe Tribe, and I are quite proud of "...Retouching Motion Pictures" and we wanted to show you some of the techniques covered in this book. So we felt the best way is to post a video! Thanks, Amazon!

For someone who comes from a background in television commercials, Gary's book has proven to be nothing short of an elemental guide to performing many of the tasks we'd commission a film editor to do, all digitally, and all within the program we've used for print ads! "Retouching Motion Pictures" demonstrated to me the how-tos I needed to learn to get both analog and digital footage into my computer, how to trim out-takes, to smooth out the pacing and timing of cuts, and even how to perform compositing work. It's a highly technical book that manages to stay focused on what makes motion pictures so captivating--it's all about editing to better tell a story.



Gary's tone is one of confidence in his craft with a generous open spirit, sitting right beside you, talking to you like an adult, and his analogies truly helped me understand and tie together all the disparate issues surrounding digital video. I originally bought his book to learn how to archive and restore home movies, but after the first 100 pages, this guy had me hooked on more ambitious things such as green-screening and special effects you evidently can create using Photoshop on a personal computer. The experience (yes, it's a total immersion head trip following the tutorials) has left me with the conviction that Madison Avenue and Hollywood are just locations; you can produce slick, professional, finished work right in your den!



If you're more of a content creator than a spectator, get this book, get out a lot of sticky notes, and completely rock with this key to unlocking the video potential in Photoshop.

I was new to video editing so I decided to buy this book. I didn't have time to read through 500 pages of text. This book and CD was just what I hoped for - a visual way to jump start me into the world of video editing. The videos cover the basic techniques. There is a second video that you can purchase directly from the author at Brainsville.com that covers more advanced techniques.

The software is so complex I cannot imagine trying to learn this product just from a book alone, I recommend this method.

I've been fighting with Premiere for more than 5 years.
I've tried to learn to use it A LOT OF TIMES.
Finally, FINALLY, this book and CD got me working with it!
Thanks, Bonnie! Your approach is clever. The .mov lessons
run smootly on my laptop and you are really GOOD explainng
those details I never could grab before...!!!
I hope to send you soon a mini mpeg thank you movie
using the knowledge I've gain in just the first couple of hours!

Best regards from Caracas, Venezuela.

I have spent the last two years learning and improving my editing skills, but I have always been a little (a lot) intimidated and in the dark (no pun intended) when it came to color correction. I'm still working in FC Express, and thought that this book may be pointless, since Express lacks many of the tools discussed. But I started reading the color correction section today and have devoured every bit of it. Although I don't have the scopes to work with, I have really appreciated the clear, concise, methodical way that the book explains the concepts and procedures behind color correction. The subject is now demystified for me, and I feel confident in applying what I'm learning to the tools that are available in Express. I will eventually upgrade to Pro and purchase a monitor as well, and when I do, I'll be well prepared to take on the color correction process.

Now I am an advanced Final Cut Pro user who has made a living with it for going on 5 years now, but still this book gives me new tips and tricks that I hadn't realized, and an excellent section on color correction which is really why I got the book in the first place.