Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a definitive must have book list for shooting, lighting and etc for video/film on a beginner/intermediate level (like 5 C's, etc).

but first a little background on myself and skills....been playing with mini-dv for 2+ years now, first on an sony vx1000 and have just bought an XL1s with all the trimmings (Ma-200, wireless mic, shotgun mic, video light, lowell G0-94 light kit) to start an workforce development company. The goal of the company is to train new employees by a visual and textual interface showing them with the most experienced worker as their guide to bring them further along the learning curve much more quickly.

what i have learned to date is all experince based - lots of very bloody trial and error, but i have a working knowledge on basic lighting & filming, but i know i have a lot to learn yet. I'm looking to learn more about how to properly light and film/record a scene in an industrial setting. Also, how in the hell to use most of those shinny buttons on the XL1 that i paid for! The instruction manual left alot to desired on acutally using those features and techniques of shooting.

I know that there is no substitute to just going out and shooting, but before i go and wear out my camera heads, i'd like to have an idea of what i could be doing better!

thanks for your help!
~Mike

Search through this section of the forum and you'll find some great book reviews, often with links to more info at amazon.com.

If I were to point someone such as yourself to one good starter book it would have to be "The Little Digital Video Book" (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2427)

For a somewhat more addvanced work: "Digital Filmmaking Handbook" by Ben Long & Sonja Schenk

Here is my list of must have books:

- In the Blink of an Eye
- Rebel without a Crew
- The Filmmakers Handbook
- The Five C's of Cinematography
- Painting with Light
- (film directing) Shot by Shot

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Search through this section of the forum and you'll find some great book reviews, often with links to more info at amazon.com.

If I were to point someone such as yourself to one good starter book it would have to be "The Little Digital Video Book" (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2427)

For a somewhat more addvanced work: "Digital Filmmaking Handbook" by Ben Long & Sonja Schenk -->>>

Certainly can't disagree with this assessment. Whoever first posted about Rubin's book (or at least the first post I read) certainly did us/me a great favor.
Sandy

I kinda like Setting Up Your Shots by Jeremy Vineyard and Jose Cruz for its conciseness and illustrative approach. Very good stuff.

For cinematography, an often praised text, also full of great pictures (as a book about cinematography should be!) is Lowell's Matters of Light and Depth. (Lowell founded Lowel light company. So the legend goes, the irksome loss of an L was the result of a printer's mix-up on their first batch of marketing materials.)

For sound, check out Sound for Film & Television, by USC professor and former Lucasfilm engineer Tomlinson Holman. (Tom Holman is the TH in THX.) It has a very useful audio CD. This book is used to teach beginning cinema students, but the whole text takes the scientific/engineering approach sure to please the tech-head. For more advanced texts on audio, cf. Sound, Signals, and Sensation by William M. Hartman and The Science of Sound by Rossing, Moore, and Wheeler (latest edition is 3rd).

I'd also check out

"Lighting for Digital Video & Television" by John Jackman.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1578201152/qid=1040183370/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-5116362-9602238?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

A good solid book with straightforward advice.

Cheers
Aaron

thanks for all the recommendations!

have added a few new things to the x-mas wish list now :-)

thanks again everyone, and as always any other suggestions are welcome!
~Mike

"Cinematography" by Malkiewicz is a very good book for anyones library.
Informative without being over the top.


A.

Personally, I would forget about The Little Digital Video Book. It's too elemental e.g. this is the record button, this is the standby button, etc. The Digital Film Making Handbook has lots of stuff for beginners and lots more for when you advance.

Don't dismiss that little book so quickly. No, it's not for pro's or wannabe pro's. But it's actually not a dum-dum work, either. It features some excellent tips for 1-man-crew work and hobbyists. That is, the vast majority of our visitors.

Take a look at my remarks from two years ago. (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2427) Better yet, take a second look at the book.

For me, I would never really have understood about cameras and exposure without:

- The Camera
- The Negative
- The Print

all by Ansel Adams.

Basic.