Getting Started

Looking back, it’s rather shocking to see that 10 years ago the way films were made was very different. It’s an exciting time to be updating this book because filmmaking technology has improved so dramatically. Video image quality has become so good that 35mm motion picture film, at least for indie filmmakers, has gone the way of 35mm still photography film: no one is shooting on it anymore. Digital is easier, cheaper, and although some will argue that it lacks a quality that film has, no one can say that it doesn’t look good in its own way. Large crisp images with tons of detail, amazing low-light capabilities, a greatly simplified postproduction workflow, and prices that keep dropping make digital video the most popular choice for everyone from indie filmmakers to hobbyists. And, in addition to overall improvements in quality, working with digital video is much easier than it was 10 years ago.