Contents -- Introduction -- chapter 1 Getting the 24P Mindset -- What's the Catch? -- A Painterly Analogy -- The Camcorder Revolution -- Why Bother with 24P? -- Old Mindsets: News Style and Film Style -- What's Changed? -- The New Mindset -- chapter 2 The Essence of Film Look -- What Makes Film Look Like Film? -- Excitement of Motion Blur -- Vividness of Contrast Range -- Rich Rendition of Color -- Depth of Field and Focus Control -- Shape of the Viewing Screen -- Sharpness and Detail -- Texture of Imagery -- The Theatrical Viewing Experience -- What Are the Options? -- Shoot in 24P -- Shoot in 60i -- Shoot in 30P -- Shoot in PAL -- Putting the 24P Mindset to Work -- chapter 3 Thinking Like a Producer -- Film Out or Film Look? -- Thinking Through the Film-Look Factors -- Motion Blur -- Exposure Latitude -- Color Rendition -- Depth of Field -- Aspect Ratio -- Resolution -- Grain and Jitter -- Camera Movement -- Producer's Checklist -- 1. You need a crew -- you can't "run and gun" by yourself. -- 2. Turn off automatic camera controls. -- 3. Support the camera. -- 4. Paint with light. -- 5. Move the camera as you shoot. -- 6. Capture clean dialogue. -- 7. Build rich audio environments in post. -- 8. Don't overdo transitions and special effects. -- 9. Plan ahead for distribution. -- Shoot Test Rolls -- chapter 4 Thinking Like a Cinematographer -- A DP's View of Camcorder Design and Operation -- 24P or Not? -- Lenses -- Viewfinder and LCD Screen -- Automatic Controls and Ease of Use -- Exposure Control -- Monitor Support -- Achieving White Balance -- Focusing and Zooming -- Shutter Controls -- Other Auto Features -- Achieving Film-Look Lighting -- The Ideal of Three-Point Lighting -- Applying the Three-Point Principle -- Motivating the Light Source -- Achieving Acceptable Contrast Range -- Establishing a Mood -- Lighting Guidelines for Film-Look DPs.

Favor Softer Light -- Solve Lighting Problems by Reducing Rather Than Adding Light -- Control Color Temperature -- Watch Overhead Lights and Reflections -- Reduce Light on the Background -- Add Interest and Glamour with Extra Lighting Touches -- Other Techniques for Leading the Eye -- Color -- Motion and Exceptional Objects -- The Purpose of It All -- chapter 5 Thinking Like a Sound Designer -- DME: The Three Ingredients -- The Hyperrealism of the Movies -- What Music Can Do -- Concentric Regions of Effects -- Getting Good Production Sound -- Matching Microphones to the Setup -- Rigging and Using a Boom Mic -- Rigging and Using a Shortie -- Rigging and Using Lavs -- Rigging and Using Wireless Mics -- Using Dual-System Sound -- Eliminating Unwanted Production Noise -- Avoiding ADR -- The Audio Postproduction Process -- Planning Layered Soundtracks -- Cleaning and Separating Dialogue Tracks -- Covering Audio Mistakes -- Recording ADR -- Creating a Spotting Table -- Where to Get Music -- Music Editing Tips -- How to Get Sound Effects -- The Mix-Down Process -- Wizards of Audio Know This -- chapter 6 Thinking Like a Director -- Selecting Material -- Fewer Locations, Fewer Actors -- Less Talk, More Action -- Production Planning and Scheduling -- Planning Your Shots -- The Elements of Shot Design -- Blocking the Action -- How Much Structure? -- Graphic Tools for Visualizing the Story -- Storyboard -- Shot Plan Drawing -- Deriving the Shot List -- Preserving Continuity -- Stage Line -- Screen Direction -- Time Dependencies -- What's Your Shooting Ratio? -- Improvisation, Casting, and Rehearsal -- Transportation, Setup, and Logistics -- Controlling the Set -- Slating and Timecode -- Getting Elements for Digital Effects -- It's All the Director's Fault -- chapter 7 Thinking Like a Veteran Editor -- An Overview of NLE -- Technical Editing Issues in 24P.

Timecode -- Pulldown -- Pulldown Removal and Deinterlacing -- Interlacing and Tearing -- Rendering and Prerendering -- Converting from 60I to 24P in Post -- Using an Edit Decision List (EDL) -- Editing Hollywood-Style -- Split Edits -- Jump Cuts -- Speed Ramping -- Match Cutting -- When Is the Final Cut Final? -- chapter 8 Thinking Like a Special Effects Wizard -- Applying Film-Look Filters -- Manipulating Time and Space -- 2D Images -- 2½D Imagery -- 3D Space -- Applying the Same Effect to a Sequence of Frames -- The Art and Craft of Combining Imagery -- Improvising Effects with Luminance Keying -- Using Analog Video and Film Sources -- Color Correction -- Fine-Tuning Color for Broadcast Television -- Tweaking Color on Film -- The Color Correction Process -- Primary Color Correction -- Secondary Color Correction -- Spot Color Correction -- Achieving Smooth-Scrolling Titles -- Cooking Up Some Eye Candy -- Time Bending -- If They Asked Us, Could We Write the Book? -- chapter 9 Thinking Like a Distributor -- We Ask Once More: Do You Really Need Film Output? -- The Economics of Commercial Theatrical Distribution -- Using a Sales Agent to Approach Distributors -- What Deliverables Do Distributors Require? -- Sample List of Deliverables -- Copyright: A Crucial Issue -- Preparing Video Output for Different Distribution Media -- Printing to Tape -- Copying a DV Cassette to VHS Tape -- Videotape Mastering for Duplication -- Burning a CD -- Creating a VCD -- Creating Video Files for the Internet -- Authoring a DVD -- Levels of DVD Players -- DVD Structure -- Disc Manufacturing Considerations -- Archiving Your Project -- Submitting to Broadcast Television Networks -- Producing for a Corporation -- Working with a Film Recording Service -- Kinescope -- Flying Spot -- Laser -- Summary of Film-Out Technical Requirements -- Welcome to Showbiz.

chapter 10 Thinking Ahead -- Seven Predictions About the Future of Digital Filmmaking -- Digital projection in theaters will eliminate the need for distribution of film release prints. -- Shooting on film will be around longer than film projectors. -- Camcorder and NLE technology will follow Moore's Law. -- When some precise requirements are met, controversy will end. -- The theatrical experience will be the same, yet different. -- Big studios and big networks will continue to exist. -- But no one has the faintest idea how the democratization of video will change the world. -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q-R -- S -- T -- U-V -- W -- X-Z.