Description:
Digital cameras for still pictures have become pretty commonplace, but digital video remains less widely adopted. This must be purely because of equipment cost, because everyone with a recent-model personal computer has access to excellent editing software, and has all the required data ports. PC Magazine Guide to Digital Video shows how to capture, edit, and publish digital movies with the tools available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. This is a fairly comprehensive guide meant for someone who's never had training in videography, doesn't really know about the multimedia file formats Windows uses, and doesn't want to invest a lot of money in professional-grade software for editing and publishing. It's all you need to take some digital home movies, edit them so they're not too boring, and burn them to DVD for distribution to the remote parts of the family. Jan Olzer explains how to shoot video properly in the first place, offering advice on lighting, composition, and action. Then, focusing on Windows Movie Maker and (to a lesser degree) Pinnacle Studio, he walks the reader through techniques for chopping up the raw footage, disposing of the dull parts, and reassembling the rest into a coherent storyline. Titling and other production techniques get attention, too. His style is highly example driven, and easy to follow. --David Wall Topics covered: How to capture, edit, and publish (to DVD) home videos and amateur movies. There's coverage of composition, lighting, and sound for when you're filming, and explanations of how to use popular editing suites when you're back home assembling a final product.
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