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"BOOK REVIEW: DIGITAL FILMMAKING 101 - An Essential Guide to Producing Low Budget Movies"
Authors: Dale Newton & John Gaspard
Book Review by Matthew Terry
Published by: Michael Wiese Productions
How many books can change your life? Lets see, there's the "Holy Bible" and, what, "Cat In The Hat" or "Catcher in the Rye?" In all honesty, I may have to put "Digital Filmmaking 101" in that category. It is a life changing book. At least for me.
Doing book reviews is often a bit of a chore. I get preview copies of the books and I see when they are about to be published and I say to myself: "Oh, four months from now, I've got time!" And then I sit around doing other things and then, at the last minute, have to read through the book and write a, hopefully, decent review.
This book could not come at a better time. On the verge of being out-sourced from my "regular" job, and once again being kicked to the curb on a script I wrote (by 20th Century Fox no less), I'm looking at my options. I have always thought I could make my own movie in the $10,000 range and this book tells you how to do for even LESS than $10,000. Try $7,000. Or maybe even less.
Having made three low-low-low budget films themselves, Dale and John go into great detail on all the things you need put together a crew, get the right camera, lights, sound and sets. They tell you about electrical wattage, bargaining, how to stretch the budget, how to wrangle money (from family and friends), EVERYTHING you need to know about making that low-low-low budget film. Even to the detail of menus of food to feed the crew.
The book is amazing in the detail it goes into including legal aspects, where to get processing done, how to distribute the film yourself and so on. Honestly, I do not see where they left anything out.
They also include a highly comprehensive appendix with contact information for various organization websites, release forms, samples of cast lists, screenplays and other information.
If I had any complaint, and okay, maybe comparing the book to the "Holy Bible" and "Catcher in the Rye" is a bit of a stretch - it is that I would have liked a few more graphics. They talk about how they used a living room for three locations; show me how. Or a break-down of the equipment they used so I can quickly do research instead of going back through the book to see what cameras they suggested, or software they recommended.
I would also caution that, though the book is "filmmaking 101" some of the concepts and ideas were a bit more advanced for my feeble brain. It may take another read to fully grasp what they are talking about or concepts they are trying to get across.
One last note, Dale and John are upfront in the fact that there is a lag time between putting websites in a book and those websites becoming obsolete. If you go to their website: www.graniteproductions.org there's a page on "articles and resources" plus they encourage you to e-mail them.
Get this book and start making films today! (Okay, maybe tomorrow or next month or...)
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