DVD Home Movie Making
A Beginners Guide
Heres what the blurb tells you youll get from this DVD:
Learn to make professional looking DVDs at home! From shooting and editing
to encoding and authoring, our experts offer a step-by-step guide to creating
easy and entertaining DVDs using home videos, photos, slide shows, graphics,
music, fun menus and more.
And thats what you get, too, though ultimately its a little dry
and a little superficial. Still, its an interesting introduction not only
to DVD technology but to shooting home videos in general, even if you dont
plan to burn them onto your own DVDs.
But most of the focus is on DVDs (hence the title, we reckon!) and how
to create your own masterpieces on your home equipment. And this means you need
to think about more than just the angles and lighting of your shots. It means
you need to think about what hardware and software you need to get those pictures
into your computer, what you need in order to create the DVD itself on the computer,
and what hardware and/or software you need to get the fledgling DVD onto a disc
you can then inflict on your friends and family.
This disc covers all these topics, and more - and it includes DVD ROM components
including templates and backgrounds and other stuff you can use in your own
productions. It even throws in a freeware DVD authoring application
to get you going - or at least to whet your appetite.
The disc kicks off with the basics - basically what is a DVD? It
shows you the different types of DVD and why theyre different, then moves
on to tell you what you need if you want to create your own digital versatile
discs".
You also get tips on shooting the video, from lighting and the use of a tripod
to establishing shots and close-ups and the like. Then the disc moves onto Encoding
and transcoding the DVD (which is where you take your video footage, put it
into the computer and then work your digital magic on it), and finally authoring
(where you actually create the disc).
The information is good and its well presented - and there are plenty
of special features to sweeten the deal.
For example, you get a DVD glossary, checklists you can use to prepare for
making your DVD, as well as tips and tricks from the pros, Web links and, as
mentioned, some trial versions of DVD authoring software.
You even get a Bit Budget Calculator, which you can use to figure
out how much disc space youll need (or, conversely, how much of your valuable
stuff youll have to dump to make it fit onto the disc!).
Its a very good introduction, well presented for the most part, and on
a good quality DVD. We were surprised to see it presented in 4x3 format, which
is so old tech, but other than that the production values are low budget but
more than adequate for the task at hand.
DVD Home Moviemaking: A Beginners Guide, from DVD International
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