The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age

1137 Pages·2007·31.76 MB·English

by  Steven Ascher

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 - Introduction to Video and Film Systems
CHAPTER 2 - Before You Begin Production
CHAPTER 3 - The Video Camcorder
CHAPTER 4 - The Lens
CHAPTER 5 - The Video Image
CHAPTER 6 - The Film Camera
CHAPTER 7 - The Film Image
CHAPTER 8 - Color and Filters
CHAPTER 9 - The Shoot
CHAPTER 10 - Sound Recording Systems
CHAPTER 11 - Sound Recording Techniques
CHAPTER 12 - Lighting
CHAPTER 13 - Picture and Dialogue Editing
CHAPTER 14 - Editing Video
CHAPTER 15 - Editing Film
CHAPTER 16 - Sound Editing and Mixing
CHAPTER 17 - The Film Laboratory
CHAPTER 18 - Film and Digital Transfers
CHAPTER 19 - Producing and Distributing the Movie
APPENDIX A - ADJUSTING A VIDEO MONITOR
APPENDIX B - DATA RATES AND STORAGE NEEDS FOR VARIOUS
DIGITAL FORMATS*
APPENDIX C - DEPTH OF FIELD TABLES
APPENDIX D - HYPERFOCAL DISTANCE TABLE
APPENDIX E - LENS ANGLE/FOCAL LENGTH TABLES
APPENDIX F - A COMPARISON OF RUNNING TIMES AND FORMATS OF
8MM, SUPER 8, 16MM, ...
APPENDIX G - SYNCHING FILM RUSHES
APPENDIX H - SPLITTING 16MM AND 35MM MAG TRACKS PRIOR TO
THE MIX
APPENDIX I - CEMENT SPLICING
APPENDIX J - CONFORMING FILM ORIGINAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES
INDEX
A PLUME BOOK
THE FILMMAKER’S HANDBOOK
STEVEN ASCHER’s acclaimed films include So Much So Fast, which
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Troublesome Creek, which was
nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience
Award at Sundance (both films made with his wife, Jeanne Jordan). He has
taught filmmaking at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. His awards include the Prix Italia, a George Foster Peabody Award,
and he was nominated for a Director’s Guild of America Award. His website is
www.WestCityFilms.com.
EDWARD PINCUS’s films include Black Natchez, Panola, and Portrait of a
McCarthy Supporter (all made with David Neuman). His pioneering work in
personal documentary led to Diaries: 1971-76. He founded the Film Section at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later taught filmmaking at
Harvard. His awards include a Guggenheim fellowship, and he is author of the
widely used Guide to Filmmaking. He is currently a commercial cut-flower
grower in northern New England and is working on a new film, The Axe in the
Attic.
PLUME
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Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Edward Pincus and Steven Ascher, 1984, 1999
Copyright © Steven Ascher, 2007
Illustrations copyright © Steven Ascher, 1984, 1999, 2007
Illustrations copyright © Carol Keller, 1999
Illustrations copyright © Robert Brun, 1999
Original photographs copyright © Ted Spagna, 1983, 1999
All rights reserved Avid and Digidesign Photos and Pro Tools Screen Displays © 2006 Avid Technology,
Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Avid, Digidesign, and Pro Tools are either registered
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For Jordan
For Jane
PREFACE
It’s not easy being a filmmaker. It’s not easy getting the money, making the
movie, or finding an audience when the film is done. Some things never change.
But one thing is changing all the time: technology. Astonishing developments in
video and film equipment and techniques have transformed moviemaking. You
can do things today that only a few years ago would have been impossible, or
impossibly expensive. But as high technology becomes more accessible, there’s
a hidden cost— it takes a lot of energy and time to understand and keep up with
it all.
When I was writing the second edition of this book in 1998, I knew that some
of the content would become dated shortly after the book came out. That was not
the case when Ed and I wrote the first edition in the early 1980s. That edition,
about tried-and-true filmmaking on celluloid film, remained pretty current for
nearly fifteen years. Right now, the pace of change in video and computer
technology is so rapid, some things in this book could be dated before you get to
the end of this sentence.
Though a website is easier to update, a book has certain advantages. You can
take it with you to the top of a hill. From there, you can get a view of the
filmmaking world that stretches out below, and use the book to help you decide
where you want to go and how to get there. Once you start the journey, you’ll
need a lot more detailed and up-to-the-minute advice on local routes and
customs, which you’ll get from websites, online bulletin boards, user manuals,
and conversations with other filmmakers and professionals.
There have always been two worlds captured by moviemakers: the fictional
and the nonfictional. The fiction film creates a world before the camera. A story
is written and characters act out the events to make the film. In the documentary,
filmmakers attempt to show the world as it is. From the dawn of cinema, circa
1900, the French contrasted the films of Lumière, who filmed his baby eating
breakfast and a train arriving at the station, with those of his contemporary
Meliès, the magician, who created stories, costumes, and special effects for his
films. On the one hand, there is the difference between documentary and fiction;
on the other, the difference between the filmmaker finding magic in the real
world and creating it for the camera. This book is for both kinds of filmmaking.