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Art Direction for Film and Video

April 1, 2000

Art Direction for Film and Video
Robert L. Olsen (1999, Focal Press, 225 Wildwood Ave, Woburn, MA 01801-2041, 144pp., $25)

Art Direction for Film & Video by Robert Olson, presents video enthusiasts with a virtual tour of the job of production designer/art director on a film or video set. Readers will learn tips and techniques that will help them take a video production from paper (script) to tape.

Drawing on over 30 years of experience, Olson avoids academic explanations and focuses on the tools, responsibilities and practical situations that the production designer might encounter. Olson conveniently divided the book into three parts. The first section offers an overview of the production designers role. The second walks the reader through an actual film project. And the last section covers creative and commercial opportunities. Full of useful illustrations and real-world examples, Art Direction gives the reader a practical look at what it takes to design a set.

Script Supervising and Film Continuity
Pat Miller (1999, Focal Press, 225 Wildwood Ave, Woburn, MA 01801-2041, 236pp., $25)

Have a dramatic story you plan to put to video? This book may be for you. Ensuring that scenes and shots progress logically and seamlessly from script to film is one of the least understood yet most important aspects of film and video production.

Script Supervising and Film Continuity is a must for those would-be directors, writers and editors who are long on ambition and short on experience. The author has worked with the likes of Fritz Lang, Anthony Mann and George Stevens. That kind of experience can only help you get the results you want for your own version of Citizen Kane.

You may not want to work in Hollywood, but this book can show you how to make your scenes match up when you translate your script to video. By divulging the techniques and tools of creating continuity this book is a valuable resource for the continunity conscious.

Digital Guerilla Video: A Grassroots Guide to the Revolution
Avi Hoffer (1999, Miller Freeman Books, 55 Hawthorne, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94105 362pp., $40)

Based on the guerilla tactic of using less money, time and tools, Digital Guerilla Video is designed to guide and inspire those who dream of using digital video to express themselves creatively and commercially in their productions.

Adopting attitudes from Marx and Che, Hoffer covers everything from preproduction strategies to image manipulation, from editing to post-production effects, to digital audio video, as well as multimedia and Web-based projects. Guerilla Video includes a CR-ROM of Web resources, footage and sample projects to illustrate key points.

If youre a digital maverick, forget this book. But if you are a beginner to intermediate level shooter/editor who needs a little direction and encouragement, Hoffer provides a surplus of ideas, anecdotes and practical approaches for creating digital video.