Product Description

This book offers a do-it-yourself, all-digital approach to making killer action movies on the cheap. Written by Stu Maschwitz, co-founder of the Orphanage (the legendary guerrilla visual effects studio responsible for amazing and award-winning effects in such movies as Sin City, The Day After Tomorrow, andHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), this book is a must-have for all those budding filmmakers and students who want to produce action movies with visual effects but don't have Hollywood budgets.
The Orphanage was created by three twenty-something visual effects veterans who wanted to make their own feature films and discovered they could do this by utilizing home computers, off the shelf software, and approaching things artistically. This guide details exactly how to do this- from planning and selecting the necessary cameras, software, and equipment, to creating specific special effects (including gunfire, Kung Fu fighting, car chases, dismemberment, and more) to editing and mixing sound and music. Its mantra is that the best, low-budget action moviemakers must visualize the end product first in order to reverse-engineer the least expensive way to get there. Readers will learn how to integrate visual effects into every aspect of filmmaking—before filming, during filming and with "in camera" shots, and with computers in postproduction. Throughout the book, the author makes specific references to and uses popular action movies (both low and big-budget) as detailed examples—includingEl Mariachi, La Femme Nikita, Die Hard, and Terminator 3.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14256 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
This book offers a do-it-yourself, all-digital approach to making killer action movies on the cheap. Written by Stu Maschwitz, co-founder of the Orphanage (the legendary guerrilla visual effects studio responsible for amazing and award-winning effects in such movies as Sin City, The Day After Tomorrow, andHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), this book is a must-have for all those budding filmmakers and students who want to produce action movies with visual effects but don't have Hollywood budgets. The Orphanage was created by three twenty-something visual effects veterans who wanted to make their own feature films and discovered they could do this by utilizing home computers, off the shelf software, and approaching things artistically. This guide details exactly how to do this: from planning and selecting the necessary cameras, software, and equipment, to creating specific special effects (including gunfire, Kung Fu fighting, car chases, dismemberment, and more) to editing and mixing sound and music. Its mantra is that the best, low-budget action moviemakers must visualize the end product first in order to reverse-engineer the least expensive way to get there.Readers will learn how to integrate visual effects into every aspect of filmmaking-before filming, during filming and with "in camera" shots, and with computers in postproduction.

Throughout the book, the author makes specific references to and uses popular action movies (both low and big-budget) as detailed examples-includingEl Mariachi, La Femme Nikita, Die Hard, and Terminator 2.

About the Author
Stu Maschwitz is a director, visual effects supervisor, renowned technologist and founding partner of The Orphanage, a leading VFX and film production company based in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Hailed byShoot Magazine as one of the "Ten Commercial Directors To Watch," Maschwitz has quickly gained a reputation for his ability to tackle extraordinarily complex visual challenges while injecting his signature wry sense of humor and kinetic filmmaking style. An innovator in filmmaking technology, Maschwitz is the creator of The Orphanage's revolutionary Magic Bullet software—which gives inexpensive digital video the lush look of film. Prior to joining up with his fellow co-conspirators to start The Orphanage, Maschwitz spent five years at George Lucas' Industrial Light + Magic. He is a graduate of CalArts School of Animation.

Customer Reviews

The best indie film-making book I've ever read
Stu Maschwitz is a tech-head film-maker who quit ILM to start his own production house, The Orphanage. You can see their work in Robert Rodriguez' Sin City.

The DV Rebel is Stu passing on a decade of wringing the ultimate results from consumer digital video equipment in order to make exciting and ambitious action movies on a micro-budget. It covers all aspects of the film making process in an accessible, entertaining way, but also contains the technical asides to make you understand WHY you need things like a true 24p or 25p mode on your camera.

If you are attempting any sort of Indie film-making on a small budget, I'd throughly recommend it, even if you are shooting a slow historical romance on 16mm film. If you are trying to make an action movie with a digitial video you just HAVE to read it! Maschwitz' hard won tips will save you many hours of work and improve the end quality of your film in pretty much every aspect.

I wish I'd had the book when I shot my first short film a few years ago. I'd independently reached many of the same conculsions as Stu, but there was still a great idea, a cool insight or a funny anecdote on almost every page. It is a little heavy on After Effects in places but the principles are so well explained that you can easily apply it to any film-making workflow.

If you only buy one book on low-budget film-making, this should be it.

5 stars, hands down
I just bought this book, and, what can I say that others haven't... It's absolutely fantastic.

It has more than 300 pages covering all that involves making a movie- doesn't have to be an action one- at home, by using DV cameras and PC.

It has lots of key ideas, hundreds of tips and tricks... everything is covered. Although maybe for completely starters, it might be confusing as it doesn't explain the obvious basics of filmmaking (and I mean just obvious things, such as how to capture your video on PC, or how to turn on your camera :P ). Anyone who's owned a home camera can easily get on with the book.

And it also includes a DVD with his own example movies, and with many very useful and professional projects, presets and scripts for After FX, which will make you're life easier (especially adding VFX and color correcting). And also 50 or 100 pages in pdf documents, expanding the books' own ideas.

One point, though. As the book says, it is almost impossible to make a film with 0 budget. You should almost obligatorily buy After FX (7 or greater will be better) and a DV camera (200 euro at least, mayeb Canon MVX 460 will be the minimum). If you're not willing to spend that money (500-600 euro) then, my friend, many things in this book won't serve you.

When you read it, you'll understand why you need a minimum money to spend.


Jump in and become a DV Rebel.

Excellent
I expected a book like so many others, full of theory with very little actual useful, practical information. It was the opposite, with many tips, tricks and terminology for the aspiring director.

It has a focus on After Effects for post production work but is good as a general guide to filming action movies too. It would also be pretty useful for film making in general, with sections on grading, camera work and editing

Highly recommended