Thursday, September 27, 2018

Digital Filmmaking for Kids

Digital Filmmaking for Kids
© 2015 Nick Willoughby
304 pages



I am not, readers may spot, a kid.  However, when I WAS a kid, I was one given to wandering around the woods with a massive camcorder in my shoulders, attempting to make nature documentaries -- or endlessly playing around with home audio equipment to make "radio shows"  or Calvin and Hobbes audiobooks.  (None of these tapes survived the nineties to my knowledge.)     Computers renewed that old interest in  mucking around with audio and video, hence my reading this.   The title is well organized and generously illustrated, but approximately a third of the content is useful only to Apple users. These are the chapters on digital editing, which only utilize iMovie. The only obvious indicator of this book being written for kids is the fact that all of the actors in the example stills are children; there's no overt "Boys and girls, today we'll be learning about 3-point lighting! Isn't that COOOOL?" tone.   Most of the content covers the basic concepts of filmmaking, a review of equipment from a basic cameraphone to more elaborate setups including mic booms, mobile camera tripods,  and lighting systems, and film production organization, and techniques.  I think a book like this would have definitely fed my imagination as a kid and helped me an even more pretentious little David Attenborough imitator.

Related:
Making YouTube Videos, Nick Willoughby.

5 comments:

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    1. I'm still interested in playing around with AV tech, hence my occasional vacation vids here. Right now I'm trying to take various samples of footage from a game and put them together in a quick mission walkthrough, just for the experience. The game in question is 17 years old at this point, but I figured I should practice with a favorite. That way I don't tire of seeing footage over and over again..

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    2. practice makes perfect... (excuse it: the older i get the adages i seem to remember... haha)

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  2. Well, if you're going to emulate someone David Attenborough is an excellent choice!

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    Replies
    1. At the time it would have been whoever was doing the early am (5 & 6) nature shows before my Saturday morning cartoons, but Attenborough is the mark to beat these days!

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