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(5/17/05) Not long ago, most corporate, business, and government video content creation was done by elaborate departments full of video producers, editors and staff. Now, that?s changed. Increasingly, the job of creating video presentations falls on one or two people who aren?t familiar with the process at all. DV 101 ($20), a paperback book written by well-known author and PC Magazine reviewer Jan Ozer, is a practical guide for those who are wondering what to do with all that video equipment that?s been plopped into their laps. If you find yourself in that situation, this is certainly the book for you.
Jan Ozer is a respected name in the computer journalism industry. He?s been working as a contributing editor for the highly-regarded PC Magazine for the better part of a decade. Before he joined that publication, he was one of the first recognized experts in video compression. Now, he reviews software packages for the magazine and has written over a dozen well-received books. His new book, DV 101, should prove to be no exception because it?s well-written, easy to follow and doesn?t get bogged down in unnecessary theory. It?s a success because it gives readers concrete suggestions and practical solutions to everyday problems encountered when producing video.
A unique approach to this book addresses perhaps the most problematic aspect of publishing books in such a fast-changing environment: Video production techniques and equipment are updated and improved so frequently, how will such a permanent publication as a book move along with such vicissitudes? Ozer?s answer is a series of workbooks accompanying DV 101 that can be downloaded from the Web in PDF format that concentrate on such a specific software editing packages as Adobe Premiere Pro, Pinnacle Studio and Adobe Encore. Soon, Ozer will offer a workbook for Final Cut Pro as well. Best of all, the workbooks feature the same high quality writing and information that?s evident throughout DV 101.
The book starts by explaining to neophytes the best ways to get out that camcorder and start shooting video. A great idea to help illustrate the concepts therein is Ozer?s decision to use Frame Forge 3-D Studio to show various angles and camera shots. It?s a software package for storyboarding video productions, and serves the author well in illustrating various ways and angles to shoot video. Ozer gets all the basics right, and offers just the right information, essentials that a new video producer will need to put together a quality production even if he or she has only the humblest of equipment. The only bone I have to pick with Ozer is the way he likes to call shooting video ?filming,? which is just a pet peeve of mine that I should probably get over, since the days of film?especially in the corporate video context?are certainly numbered. I suppose the word ?filming,? with its less-violent context, sounds better than the word ?shooting.? Even so, there is no film in a video camera, so for now I would rather have it called ?shooting video.? But that?s just me. Never mind that, though, because that?s the only complaint I have about this book. Not only does Ozer tell readers how to shoot single- and multi-camera videos, he teaches them how to prepare for those productions by using real world scenarios, and urges readers to incorporate such planning devices as shot lists and storyboards to their best advantage.
Ozer doesn?t skip over the audio, either, a common beginner mistake in video production. He tells readers what kinds of microphones to use and what audio pitfalls to avoid on a video shoot. He serves up little suggestions such as don?t forget to take some gaffers tape along to tape down your audio cables so that crowds of people won?t be tripping over them all day long. For a beginner to remember that one suggestion might be worth the price of this book.
Ozer also offers great advice about lighting, explaining the basic three-point routine found in most books of this type, but then taking it one step beyond and letting us in on what he calls a ?dark secret? about three-point lighting that?s revealed only rarely. He?s right, too, because in a production on which I?m working right now, we do the same thing?and that?s called flat lighting. We want a minimal amount of shadows, low heat, and energy savings, so we?re using fluorescent fixtures (Kino Flo lights), which offer a completely flat look. It?s common to see this look on talk shows and network productions as well. Ozer knows about this, and brings this often-ignored practice to the attention of readers. Bravo. But that doesn?t mean Ozer neglects to inform readers about the variety of ways to light a scene, including tricky chromakey lighting techniques. This is a complete chapter on lighting that almost anyone in video production would benefit from reading.
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