Producing Videos has been called the 'bible' of video making. A bestseller over many years, it offers a comprehensive and user friendly guide to all aspects of video production - from the first chapter on using a camera (if it doesn't go in easily, don't force it) to the chapter on distribution (no matter what happens, always hold onto your master). All the elements of video production are covered: camera operation; scriptwriting; composition; budgeting; preproduction planning; lighting and sound recording; interview techniques; field production and studio shoots; digital editing; digital postproduction techniques; video streaming and other forms of online distribution. This edition has been fully revised and updated to cover developments in technology, promotion and distribution. It includes tips from over 120 experienced video teachers from around the world, and is illustrated with over 600 photographs and 200 diagrams. Producing Videos is the best handbook available for learning the basics of video making. It is an ideal guide for students, and for anyone who has a flip camera burning a hole in their pocket and aspirations to become the next hot new director. 'Whether you are a beginner or veteran filmmaker, Martha Mollison's Producing Videos serves as a comprehensive guide to all aspects of video production.' - Greg Walters, Portland Community College 'An invaluable resource for developing my students' video journalism skills.' - Kay Nankervis, Charles Sturt University

In a new edition of this popular guidebook, filmmakers Alan Rosenthal and Ned Eckhardt show readers how to utilize the latest innovations in equipment, technologies, and production techniques for success in the digital, web-based world of documentary film. All twenty-four chapters of the volume have been revised to reflect the latest advances in documentary filmmaking. Rosenthal and Eckhardt discuss the myriad ways in which technological changes have impacted the creation process of documentary films, including how these evolving technologies both complicate and enrich filmmaking today. The book provides crucial insights for the filmmaker from the film’s conception to distribution of the finished film. Topics include creating dynamic proposals, writing narration, and navigating the murky world of contracts. Also included are many practical tips for first-time filmmakers. To provide context and to illustrate techniques, Rosenthal and Eckhardt reference more than one hundred documentaries in detail. A new appendix, “Using the Web and Social Media to Prepare for Your Career,” guides filmmakers through the process of leveraging social media and crowdsourcing for success in filmmaking, fund-raising, and promotion. A day-to-day field manual packed with invaluable lessons, this volume is essential reading for both novice and experienced documentary filmmakers.

Publisher description

"Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video, Fourth Edition, is the definitive book on the subject for beginning filmmakers and students. It clearly illustrates all of the steps involved in preproduction, production, postproduction and distribution and uses a unique two-fold approach to break down filmmaking from the perspectives of both the producer and director. Extensive examples from award-winning shorts show you how to create a successful short film or video, from script to find product. Plus, learn from real-world advice and examples from the filmmakers themselves." --Book Jacket.

Written by video experts for video experts, this resource features instruction and case studies that delve into production and implementation issues unique to the medium. A full-color presentation delivers tangible, inspiring examples of creative vidcasts.

As Alan Rosenthal states in the preface to this new edition of his acclaimed resource for filmmakers, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos is “a book about storytelling—how to tell great and moving stories about fascinating people, whether they be villains or heroes.” In response to technological advances and the growth of the documentary hybrid in the past five years, Rosenthal reconsiders how one approaches documentary filmmaking in the twenty-first century. Simply and clearly, he explains how to tackle day-to-day problems, from initial concept through distribution. He demonstrates his ideas throughout the book with examples from key filmmakers’ work. New aspects of this fourth edition include a vital new chapter titled "Making Your First Film," and a considerable enlargement of the section for producers, "Staying Alive," which includes an extensive discussion of financing, marketing, festivals, and distribution. This new edition offers a revised chapter on nonlinear editing, more examples of precise and exacting proposals, and the addition of a complex budget example with explanation of the budgeting process. Discussion of documentary hybrids, with suggestions for mastering changes and challenges, has also been expanded, while the “Family Films” chapter includes updated information that addresses rapid expansion in this genre.

This book teaches readers how to put a working system together by showing them the equipment available to them, and what it can do. Readers will learn how to create video products using the computer as an editing tool, and how to refine sound and combine graphics with video. Information on web distribution is included. With the advent of the new digital camcorders developed by Panasonic and Sony in the new DV format, professional quality video is available in consumer-level equipment. At the same time, digital editing is now available for the PC using video capture cards in the $500-$1,000 price range, and digital editing software in the $800-$1,200 range, such as Adobe Premiere. This combination enables users such as the sophisticated amateur video maker, the wedding or business presentation video maker, and people working in multimedia for educational, training, or other presentation purposes, to edit their own work and turn out competent professional-quality video.

Practical filmmaking tips, tricks and philosophies specific to the art and craft of directing commercials for television and the web. Filmmaker Jordan Brady has directed over 1,000 spots and shares his insights from over 20 years filming for advertising.

Given the increased use of digital reading and writing tools in the classroom, this book provides secondary and college English language arts teachers with activities and classroom examples for using a range of different digital tools—blogs, wikis, websites, annotations, Twitter, mapping, forum discussions, etc.—to engage students in understanding and creating digital texts. It therefore integrates reading and writing instruction through goal-driven activities supported by uses and affordances of digital tools. This book also provides a framework for designing these activities that encourage students to define purpose and audience, make connections between digital texts and people, collaborate with others, employ alternative modes of communication and gain new perspectives, and constructing identities; practices that are linked to addressing the high school English Language Arts Common Core State Standards. The book also describes ways to use digital tools to support these practices—for example, using digital tools to foster students’ collaborative reading and writing. The book also describes use of digital feedback and e-portfolio tools to foster students’ reflection on their uses of these practices.

Video Field Production and Editing concentrates on video techniques and technology appropriate for "small scale" single-camera electronic field production (EFP) and electronic news gathering (ENG). This book offers the latest material on new digital field recording and editing technologies and is written in a concise, non-technical, user-friendly format. Reorganized and updated throughout, with new sections dedicated to HDV (High Definition Video) videotape recording formats, and tapeless digital recording media including high capacity optical discs, solid-state memory cards, and computer hard drives, the book walks the reader through the video production process from initial planning through final editing.