iii Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Video: Digital Communication & Production fulfi the promise of its title by fills
covering both the ways in which video communicates with viewers, and the methods
by which it does so. Communication is featured because production by itself has no
purpose. If communication were excluded, this book would be like a carpentry manual
that covered sawing, drilling, and nailing, without ever explaining how to build
anything.
This book treats video as a mature medium, rather than merely a variant of television
or an alternative to fi lm. Video has become fully empowered by the digital revolution that is fi
transforming so many aspects of twenty-fi century life. first
The topics in this book have been selected and organized with two groups of readers
in mind: students preparing for careers in communications media and creators of
personal programs who expect to make videos of professional caliber. Though the text
does not pretend to include all there is to know about video, it does cover all you need to
get started.
To organize this sprawling subject, Video: Digital Communication & Production is
presented in six major sections:
• Chapters 1 and 2 help you start making videos immediately.
• Chapters 3 through 8 cover video communication—the concepts and principles behind
the hardware and production techniques.
• Chapters 9 through 11 present the crucial process of preproduction—preparing to make
successful programs.
• Chapters 12 through 17 introduce all major aspects of videography, lighting, and audio.
• Chapters 18 and 19 survey the art of directing—both the camera and the people it records.
• Chapters 20 through 23 explain the basics of postproduction.
This organization may be termed “semi-random access” because on the one hand,
it is possible to read only the chapters desired, and in any order. On the other hand,
individual chapters are generally more useful in conjunction with the other chapters in
the same section. In most cases, larger subjects have been distributed among multiple
chapters for simplicity of presentation. Since the same concepts and techniques may
apply to procedures covered in different chapters, expect to find occasional duplication of fi
material.
About This Book