Extreme DV at Used-Car Prices: How to Write, Direct, Shoot, Edit, and Produce a Digital Video Feature for LessThan $3,000 Books
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Rating:  -
I was excited about this book but then when I got it and read the first few pages, I was disappointed, big time.
The author is, I think, some liberal arts professor who goes on and on about how to make a movie in less than 19 days. He recommends all sorts of off-the-cuff methods, like not using a script.
OK, dude, people have been making movies like that for decades -- they're called home movies. And guess what -- no one but the person who filmed it likes home movies.
He gives lots of outdated advice like how to share your movie on "low cost" file sharing servers that just point back to your home computer and eat up your bandwidth allowance from your ISP in no time flat. He goes on and on about how great Apple is...buy an Apple...buy an Apple...buy the $1,000 Adobe editing suite...wow, this is becoming one expensive used car!
Rating:  -
Those who've read this and/or previous editions, frequently complain that there is little substantive "how-to" information in the books and that they are simply vehicles for the author's advancing his own aesthetic.
Rick and his many iterations of this book were meant to inspire as much as inform. With the DV revolution, Rick was forced to rewrite this book many times in just a few years, to keep current. Surely anyone whose dabbled at all in film or video the last 5-7 years is bound to be seasick from the many dizzying changes that have occurred in the field.
These tomes are more about getting off the couch and making your dream a reality, rather than a step by step recipe. Rick gives lots of good time and money saving advice and while it's easy to throw rocks at someone who's "never made a film of note", those who are so quick to criticize should take a look at their own lives and be honest about what THEY have produced. Rick has made a nice living for himself producing and consulting on independent works and I admire his tenacity and his refusal to sell out to the corporate mentality.
I have had the pleasure of meeting him and working personally along side him and attending some of his seminars. He is knowledgeable, experienced and "street-wise" to the ways of guerilla feature film production.
It's easy for the rich, elitists to go to NYU or UCLA and study film. What's hard is for the average, middle-class person to break into the field. Books like this one and Rodriguez' Rebel Without A Crew, are always going to meet with skepticism from the "formally trained". Yet year in and year out, Sundance, SXSW, Dallas Video Festival and countless other film festivals are full of incredible works produced by artists who've never darkened the door of a film class.
DV, DVD and now the newer Media card-based camcorders, along with bundled editing software on most newer computers, has enabled a new generation of filmmakers to realize their visions. Extreme DV At Used Car Prices is a great companion book to anyone who has ever dreamed of writing and directing their own feature film.
Thanks, Rick!
Rating:  -
Do yourself a favor and read it if you are serious about no only making a movie/video but having people sit through and enjoy your work.
Rating:  -
This book is a good intro to those seeking to make a DV film at a "used car" price. It has a chapter on everything from planning, shooting and marketing plus some of the author's experiences in each. The bad aspect of the book is that each section is very short. The chapters only basically touch on subjects. In addition, the movie is weak in the area of planning non-documentaries (i.e., very litte discussion of script - author's advice is just go out and shoot). In addition, the book is geared to the cheapest production values. For example, he spends a lot of time discussing the use of a TRV10 (a digital 8 camera!!) and the $60.00 on camera amateur mike that can be purchased for it. Little discussion is given of using even a slightly more advanced camera such as a Canon XL-1. If you are going to spend a few weeks of your life on a project does it not make sense to spend another grand and use decent equipment?
Despite these weaknesses book gives good (albiet very rudimentary) intro to most phases to indie filmaking. For somebody starting out fine. For someone who is beyond the beginner level the book will not provide much of use.
Rating: -
Don't judge this book on the typing errors (they are not noticeable anyway), but on the content. Rick has been very successful in independent film, but is a much better teacher than a filmmaker. As a filmmaker myself, this book along with Rick's original one on feature filmmaking, has inspired and taught me more than any other book on the subject. In the new era of digital and HD filmmaking, this book will breif you on everything you need to know. Great advice lines the pages and motivation to make a movie is the least you'll take away from reading even just a chapter. Buy this book because even if you breifly thought about making a movie then Rick can get you started.
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