Organization of this Bibliography

Access to Books, to Magazines and Trade Papers and to WWW sites is through a Book and Web Site Table of Contents, below.

Books

Although it began in 2003 as a collection of links to books related to videography, this bibliography has expand to include cogent works about film, the source of most of the craft and artistry in video production, as well. It is only through the study of the art and craft of film editing, for example, that one can become adept in editing video, and the same may be said of lighting, audio and production practice. At the very least, it seems imprudent to ignore nearly one hundred years of experience accumulated in the older medium.

Most of the book titles have been linked to the source at which reviews, description of the contents, the table of contents and reader comments can be found. In many instances this is at www.amazon.com, from which the majority can be purchased. An occasional title is out of print, but will be well worth the search to own.

Magazines and Trade Papers

Because of their sheer volume I have omitted print magazine and trade journal articles, including instead a list of magazines and trade publications which I have found to be valuable resources to a student of the art and craft of videography.

Web Sites

I have included resources on the World Wide Web as a separate category. I have omitted WWW sites that relate to specific products, including instead a list of Forums whose links point not only to user groups, bulletin boards and chat groups, but may point to manufacturers and products as well.

• Caveat: The content of web sites changes at an alarming rate. What is relevant one day may be old-hat the next, or removed entirely by the web master. So don't be too upset if you reach a site that is no longer of value. I try to keep current, but can't visit every site regularly.

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Please feel free to copy this to your computer and modify it as needed and necessary. I hope it proves useful.

Books

Audio-Vision, Michel Chion, Claudia Gorbman, with an introduction by Walter Murch (1994) The theory of audio in film (and implicitly, in video). Review and comments.

Audio Postproduction for Digital Video; Jay Rose (2002) Comes with CD-ROM examples. Review and comments.

Producing Great Sound for Digital Video; Jay Rose (2nd ed. 2002) Comes with CD-ROM examples. One of the most thorough works on the subject. Review and comments.

Professional Microphone Techniques; David Miles and Philip Williams (1998) Review and comments.

Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema; David Sonnenschein (2001) Review and comments.

Sound for Film and Television; Tomlinson Holman (2nd Edition) Comes with CD-ROM Holman is the developer of the THX Sound System and, as such, writes with considerable authority on the subject of audio in film and video. Review and comments.

5.1 Surround Sound - Up and Running - by Tomlinson Holman (2000 Edition). Review and comments.

Business

Desktop Studio Video Bible: Producing Video, DVD and Websites for Profit; George Avgerakis (2002) This recent work covers just about every aspect of the business of video, from seeking clients to managing production crews and collecting on outstanding invoices. Review and comments.

How to Make Real Money with your Video Camera; Raymond G. Hutchins (2003) The implications of this, that anyone reading the book can go into business and succeed as a video professional, are frightening: Review and comments.

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Copyright

Clearance & Copyright: What Every Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know; Michael C. Donaldson (2003). Copyright and rights clearance issues for film production, including boilerplate contracts. Donaldson is the author of several books on copyright and trademark law. Review

Media Law for Producers ; Philip Miller, an attorney (4th edition, 2002) Review

DVD/CD

CD-R/DVD: disc recording demystified; Lee Purcell (2002) Review and comments.

DVD Authoring and Production; Ralph LaBarge (2001) Review and comments.

Compression for Great Digital Video: Power Tips, Techniques, and Common Sense; Ben Waggoner. Comes with CD-ROM. (2002) A very thorough discussion of compression, from production and editing to streaming and animation. Review and comments.

Editing: Practice and Theory

Behind the Scenes: Walter Murch on Feature Film Editing, Final Cut Pro, and the Future of Cinema, Charles Koppelman. Reviews

Color Correction for Digital Video; Steve Hullfish, et al (2002) Comes with CD-ROM Review and comments.

Conversations, The: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film; Michael Ondaatje (2002) Review and comments.

Digital Compositing for Film and Video; Steve Wright (2001) Detailed and technical. "Compatible with Adobe Photoshop. Written by a senior compositor with over ten years of digital compositing experience." Review and comments.

Digital Nonlinear Editing: Editing Film and Video on the Desktop, (2nd ed. 1998) The author, "Thomas A. Ohanian, is a Chief Editor, Director of Product Design for Avid Technology in Massachusetts and a designer of the Avid Media Composer." Seven years old, and therefore not entirely current, but an excellent and extensive treatment of the subject nevertheless. Review and comments.

Early Cinema: Space, frame, narrative; ed. Thomas Elsaesser (1990) Review and commentary.

Editing Digital Video: The Complete Creative and Technical Guide; Robert M Goodman, Patrick McGrath (2002, with CD-ROM) The guide is platform and edit system neutral. Review and commentary.

Film Editing: history, theory practice; Don Fairservice (2001) Review and comments

Films of Akira Kurosawa, The; Donald Richie, Joan Mellen (1999) A detailed analysis of each of the great film maker's films, majors and minors. To study these films is to study the work of one of film-making's greatest artists. Review and comments.

Five C's of Cinematography, The; Joseph V. Mascelli (1965, reprinted 1998) "Camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups, and composition." Often called "the Bible" of cinematography. Content description and Reviews.

Grammar of the Edit; Roy Thompson (1993) Review and comments.

In the Blink of an Eye Revisited; Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola (2nd edition, 2001) Review and comments. Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries of Real Events; Barry Hampe (1997) A summary, but with solid basics and worth a look as a starting point. Review and comments.

Nonlinear - A Field Guide to Digital Video and Film Editing; Michael Rubin (2002) Review and comments.

Non-Linear Editing: Storytelling, Aesthetics and Craft; Bryce Button (2002) Comes with CD-ROM Review and comments.

On Film Editing; Edward Dmytryk (1984) One of the greats. Hard to find, worth the search. Review and comments.

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos; by Alan Rosenthal (3rd ed., 2002) Highly regarded work, first published in 1996. Review and comments.

Video Editing, Steven Browne (2002) a post production primer. Review and comments.

Video Editing and post production: a professional guide; Gary H. Anderson (1993) Review and comments.

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How to Create a Video Family History: The complete Guide to Interviewing and Taping Your Family's Stories and Memories, Rob Huberman, Laura Huberman (2003) Reviews and comments.

Keeping Family Stories Alive: A Creative Guide to Taping Your Family Life and Lore, Vera Rosenbluth (1990) Reviews and comments.

Recording Your Family History: A Guide to Preserving Oral History with Videotape, Audiotape, Suggested Topics and Questions, Interview Techniques, William Fletcher (1989) Not a lot of material on video, but regarded as an excellent work book for those interested in family interviews. Reviews.

Lighting

Lighting for Digital Video and Television; John Jackman (2002) Jackman is a contributing editor to DV Magazine Reviews and comments. This is an very fine book, touching all aspects of the subject.

Lighting for TV and Film; Gerald Millerson, BBC. (3rd edition, 1999) Excellent handbook for lighting displays, people - groups and action - guerilla lighting and lighting styles. At $62.95 it's pricey, but a great addition to the library. Reviews and comments.

Method of Lighting the Stage, A; Stanley McCandless (1958), a book long out of print but worth its weight in gold if you can find a copy. This is one of the earliest texts (first edition in the 1930s) to articulate the theory that underpins all theatrical, film and video lighting, a truly seminal work. A search of the web will produce the occasional copy for sale.

Motion Picture and Video Lighting; Blain Brown (1995) Reviews and comments.

Placing Shadows: Lighting Techniques for Video Production; Chuck Gloman (2000) The emphasis here is on location lighting. Reviews and comments.

Plus An extensive catalog of lighting books. The site has more than 6,000 titles, with categories and links for lighting; film production; professional recording; recording videos and DVDs; audio production; video production; sound effects and libraries.

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I have found the magazines and trade journals listed here to be of value for several reasons. Some provide an excellent overview of what the consuming public has come to expect, both in equipment and in entertainment values, information of value to videographers in their efforts to stay current as artists, technicians and marketers. Others present some of the most forward-looking thinking in the profession of videography and film making. Finally, they provide an excellent resource for technical reviews and specifications of new equipment.

Some of these magazines and journals can be yours, as video professionals, free for the asking. It's always worth a try. Check out individual web sites for criteria.

• Mix, Professional Audio and Music Production Can't-do- without resource for the audio world. Not specifically related to video, but filled with ideas and information that are readily adapted for our profession. Excellent in-depth reviews of new products.

• Sound and Video Contractor Useful because of its reporting on the latest equipment and installation methods, both for professional use and for home entertainment. Know what your clients are watching their video on. Issues containe articles on equipment ventilation, video format converters and TV One's new universal video/RGB scaler, for example, and have included theatre sound systems, surround sound speakers, wiring for clean audio, and projection equipment. Up-to-date and state of the art.

• TV Technology A biweekly trade journal aimed primarily at the broadcast video industry, but often offering equipment reviews of value to the event videographer, along with articles on lighting and shooting. Has an excellent classified ad section. Great place to locate good gear at a reasonable price!

• Videomaker Magazine. Probably the best source on the newsstand for keeping in touch with what's going on in consumer video and for understanding what the consumer public has come to expect as a minimum in video production.

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Credibility is always an issue with material on the WWW. Although a site may look good to me, you will have to judge its value for yourself. The commentary which accompanies each entry is my own, reflecting my reaction to the site.

Quite a few of the entries are "portals," sites that provide access to multiple videography oriented links. In some instances these portals are associated with a specific manufacturer, and often are cluttered with advertising. Nevertheless, they provide access to so many links that braving the flying banners and pop-up windows seems a small price to pay for this access.

Virtually all equipment manufacturers are represented on the web by readily accessible sites, so none have been included here. Only in two or three instances have sites been included that are product specific and these appear because of the unique aspect of the product. Their commercial nature is clearly indicated.

To Web Site Index

Applied Microphone Technology Musical instrument-specific microphone selection. A commercial site, but excellent information.

Audio Engineering Society "Audio related WWW Indexes Link." Huge collection of links to audio resources. See also their "Additional Audio and Music Related WWW Links."

"Audio Masterclass: Basic Repairs" From the UK's Computer Music site. An 18 part tutorial on making basic "repairs" - "mistakes and glitches" to audio. With lots of wave forms illustrating each event.

Rane Corporation Pro Audio Reference plus a great deal of other audio related information, including an excellent Support section. The site is updated regularly.

Film Sound, "dedicated to the art and analysis of film sound design." Up to date information on current film audio, and excellent links to assorted audio topics. Glossary of audio terminology.

The Minidisc Community Portal. Links to just about anything associated with minidisc recorders.

PcMus: Audio Recording Tips. Numerous articles, tutorials and links associated with music and audio recording and audio gear.

The Walter Murch Articles Links to major articles and interviews on sound and film/video editing. Comprehensive, forming a bibliography of articles and books by and about this outstanding editor and sound designer.

Business of Video

To Web Site Index

Books and Tutorials

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Monitor Calibration A tutorial by Thomas Niemann. Calibration instruments shown on line, so you can calibrate as you go. Deals with black point, white point and monitor gamma.

Calibration A site maintained by Tektronix. Answers to just about anything you've ever wondered about using a vector scope and wave form monitor, TBC, genlock and color bars. Lots of other useful links on the site as well.

Camera

Color Balancing Cameras. An exhaustive discussion, with excellent illustrations. Part of the CyberCollege Internet Campus series. See also the full Television Module.

Video Camera Filters for Removing Compression Artifacts and Simulating A Film Look A short technical discussion of filter types, warming filters and white balance.

FilmTools Camera on-board video monitors and mounts. Wide variety of unusual and imaginative mounts, sun shades, etc. A commercial site.

Chromakey

The Blue Screen Page, an extensive article on the art and craft of chromakey, both in taping and post. By Steven Bradford, "Film / Video and Electronic Cinematography," whose homepage contains numerous excellent links as well. Illustrated with photos.

Filmtools Links to all you'll ever need for chromakey work.

Replacing Photographic Backgrounds: Ultimatte and Other Great Techniques An excellent, well illustrated article by John Henshall. This article first appeared in "The British Journal of Photography", 22/29 July 1998.

To Web Site Index

Supnik.com A web site maintained by attorney Paul D. Supnik, with links to articles about every aspect of entertainment law.

Wired Law. Law links for entertainment and new media.

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Digital Products Review

Digital Video Organizations

DVD and VCD

Configuring TMPGEnc for high-quality, DVD-compliant MPEG-2, an article by Rui del-Negro, a Portuguese videographer. Valuable insight into the utilization of this tool.

How are movies stored on DVD discs? DVD 101, useful to DVD first-timers, and for passing along to your customers. Includes links to player and compatibility issues.

To Web Site Index

Digital Photo 01: Color Correction Theory. An extensive list of tips and tutorials on the subject.

"Match Frame and Jump Cut: A dialectic theory of montage in the digital age." Very heavy going, but fascinating if you're into editing theory. - Jan Speckenbach (03/2000)

"Montagetheorie des Films - Theory of Filmediting" - Gerhard Schumm. Online bibliography and numerous links to articles on editing practice and theory; in English and German.

"Notes on Digital Film Editing" . Gerhard Schumm © 02/2001. "This text - translated by Rita Pokorny - is the modified English version of a formerly published article: Schumm, Gerhard (1997) Das Filmbild im Computer - dicht und oft zu nah."

Walter Murch Articles. Links to major articles and interviews on sound and film/video editing. Comprehensive!

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Making Video Look Like Film. An article by Shawn Bockoven Although written for FCP, the article contains information of value for anyone wishing to make video look like film.

Making Video Look Like Film: The complete list. Links page from UrbanFox. High end and low end production. Not very complete!

Forums

The Forums listed here are primarily gateway sites to huge collections of links which may be hardware and software specific, of a general interest nature, or specific to some special aspect of video production. The list does not include product specific forums.

Creative Cow Media Professionals Users Forums. Great resource for just about anything hardware/software/business/or aesthetics related. Lurkers o.k., posting requires free registration. A great resource.

The Digital Media Network (DMN). In addition to numerous articles and reviews, this very fine portal site has links to more than 180 software and hardware forum groups. For a small annual fee you can utilize the site free of pop-ups and other annoying advertising, a service called "MyDMN." It's worth it!

Digital Video Forum. May require registration. Worth a (quick) look.

Lab DV digital video, a for-pay, multi-lingual site. I haven't paid the $12 for a three month access, but from afar the site looks very interesting. The site mechanics - e.g., pull down menus - are a little quirky.

Tech Forums: Computer Technology Forums. Free, but needs registration. Lots of computer and web information, including operating systems, computer hardware, etc., plus discussion of video issues as they pertain to the computer.

To Web Site Index

Film Sound Glossary of audio terminology.

Video Preservation: Glossary of Terms Developed by the Bay Area Video Coalition.

To Web Site Index

Time Lapse.com "TV Link Index," with an amazing potpourri of links. Also an excellent source for stock footage, which can be previewed on line.

Legal Videography

Legal Videography in California: Forensic Videography An excellent resource for those interested in learning about this branch of the industry. A site maintained by Whitcomb Legal Video, Long Beach, CA. Clearly specific to California, but outlining issues to be raised regarding practices in your own state.

Lighting

Walter Graff, Bluesky Media. Excellent series of articles on lighting, covering topics such as "Home-made Fluorescent" and "Beyond Three Point Lighting" and "What's in My Light Kit." Graff is a well known commercial director and broadcast producer; the articles are well written and thought provoking. There are nearly two dozen articles at this link, so take a good look.

Bill Holshevnikoff's handbook and articles on lighting. Holshevnikoff has been in the business a long time, and his instruction is first rate: clear, simple, right to the point. An excellent lighting primer, once free but now being sold by ARRI.

Fluorescent Lamps, Ballast and Fixtures;" Principles of Operation, Circuits, Troubleshooting, Repair, Version 1.90, by Samuel M. Goldwasser. Good basic information, somewhat dated.

HMI lights, an article by Steve Smith in The Digital Journalist. You'll find other articles by Steve Smith along with many other articles on the techniques and theory of photojournalism in The Digital Journalist, a monthly e-journal, described by its publisher as "A Multimedia Magazine for Photojournalism in the Digital Age," issues of which have been achieved from 1997 to the present.

Music Books Plus An extensive catalog of lighting books. More than 6,000 titles on various subjects. See full listing of topics in General Videography section.

"Step by step guide to video lighting systems;" David Martin Jacques (April 2003) in Church Production Magazine. A very sophisticated article on the use of light for church video broadcasts. Since this is hosted on a university web site and therefore subject to removal from the web at any time, it would be a good idea to download this (with the author's permission) if you have any interest.

Light -- A Detailed Tutorial, from Itchy-Animation Company. Excellent introduction to the basics of light and lighting. Good read for any level videographer or film maker.

To Web Site Index

e-Panorama.net: Video Display Technology Page A good article on fundamentals of monitor design and technology. Many interesting links throughout the article.

FilmTools. On-camera video monitors and mounts. Wide variety of unusual and imaginative mounts, sun shades, etc. A unique commercial site.

Image Resolution for the Video Monitor Screen A short but informative Wayne Fulton article, with links to a number of excellent books on scanning

MonitorWorld.com A huge list of links to monitor manufacturers and technical specifications.

To Web Site Index

Production

CyberCollege Internet Campus This is an extraordinary resource, with articles - many with excellent graphics - on just about any topic related to video production, a total of 70 lessons. This is possibly one of the best instructional sites on the internet.

Mandy's Film and TV Production Directory -- International film and TV production resources. Services (33,000 listings), casting calls, production jobs, classified ads, vendors, etc. A venerable site and service.

To Web Site Index

Ulead Learning Center: Scanning tips Not product specific. Good solid discussion.

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Stock Footage

Royalty-Free Stock Video Footage at Fotosearch. "Fotosearch Stock Photography allows users to search from more than 20 million images starting at just $3. They can also find royalty-free clipart pictures, illustrations, stock video clips, poster, prints, and more. Our database contains over 300,000 royalty-free stock video footage clips!"

Royalty-Free Stock Video Footage at Fotosearch

Streaming Media

Producing Streaming Video (and Audio) for the Web An article by Philip Greenspun. A subjective look, based on the author's experiences.

To Web Site Index

Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling A Guide for Libraries and Archives. Dr. John W.C. Van Bogart. National Media Laboratory, June 1995. Lots of good information regarding the causes and prevention of tape degradation over time.

Video and Audio Tape Restoration. A commercial site, with lots of very good information about what to do when disaster strikes your tapes, tips on tape preservation, etc.

Video History Project: Preservation An excellent discussion of restoring damaged reel-to-reel tape. (1987)

Videotape Restoration: Where do I start? A checklist and methodology for prioritizing videotape restoration with limited funds. By John Lindner of now defunct VidiPax.

Vintage Video Restoration of reel to reel tapes. DreamTime Productions, San Francisco CA. Provides a difficult to find service.

To Web Site Index

Television and Film History

Early Television Foundation A wonderful collection of television facts and memorabilia.

Television history - the first 75 years. Begins pre-1935. Superb resource for those interested in the history of production and equipment in the industry.

Underwater Video

Gates Underwater Products Good site for underwater housings, monitors, etc.

Dive Lights: Halycon HID lighting. A commercial site, with a good explanation of these high intensity lights, their performance and maintenance.

To Web Site Index

Understanding the information contained in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) can be extremely useful in digging out information on the Internet, especially when you've arrived at a poorly designed page that contains no links and no indication of its parent site.

Lets examine http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0102/videosmith.htm, to see how this works. "http" -- "hypertext transfer protocol" -- is a way of telling your computer "here comes something in the hypertext format." "www," of course, indicates that this is a World Wide Web document. "digitaljournalist.org," the domain name, is the name of a specific web site, unique from all others. It is also the name of the primary directory in which all the web site documents are stored. "/issue0102/" is the name of a sub-directory in which other documents are stored -- in this case the articles and illustrations from a specific issue -- and it is in this subdirectory that we find a file called "videosmith.htm."

Understanding this structure enables us to work backward to the parent site. If we delete "videosmith.htm" and press the ENTER key we get a listing of all the files in the "/issue0102/" sub directory. Delete "/issue0102/" and press ENTER and you'll come to the parent directory, the Digital Journalist web site.

In another example of how a little tinkering can yield a flood of information, an article about making "Demo Reels" at http://www.artyears.com/av/archives/dvd1.html, indicates that there will be two additional articles in the series, but there are no links to these articles. On a hunch, I changed the number one in "dvd1.html" to "2" and found the second installment, the number "2" to "3" to find the third.

URLs typically have a logical structure that, once penetrated, opens the way to lots of additional information. Try it for yourself. You can't break anything.