This is another excellent book by David Pogue. It has an overwhelming amount of knowledge encompassing a wide range, encompassing all levels of proficiency It covers everything from choosing a camera (in different price ranges) to the most esoteric nuances of joining the resultant footage into a DVD or VHS tape.

Throughout the book we are shown alternative methods of accomplishing desired results. Starting on page 152, the discussion of "THE EFFECTS PANE" begins with "... the effects button summons a panel full of additional visual effects that you can apply directly to your footage. And if these don't satisfy your hunger for effect, other software companies have had a field day dreaming up new special effects that you can buy and install as plug-ins."

This section goes on to show how to select the footage on which you will apply the selected effect, and gives suggestions as to how this effect can best be manifested in in your project. Interspersed with the main text are Tip(s), which are special addenda to the information being discussed at that point in the book. He informs us as to how an effect can be removed or adjusted.

The next section catalogs the eighteen effects that come with iMovie 4. This information is accompanied by a series of illustrative "before and after" scenes, showing clearly what the original looks like next to the resultant affected one.

Then he gives a list of companies that can provide you with other special effects, together with URLs and some information about some of each company's offerings. This information is on pages 152-166, with significant text and graphic information, clearly spelled out.

The index seems very responsive responds to the curious reader's needs. Almost every time this reviewer sought an answer, the index came through. It can't get better than that. In the upper outside corner of each page there is an inch and a quarter black band, with white letters, in which is printed a summation of the information found on that page. Stringing these notes together, I came up with: meet digital video; get the shot how iMovie organizes its files; setting up a title; creating still images from footage; posting a movie on your on web site; and DVD slide shows. It's like having a secondary flip-through index, a nice addition to a book already packed full of practical information. This section is typical of all the chapters and sections of this book.

The iDVD section was written by Erica Sadun. Her name does not appear on the front of the book, but she is credited on a page titled "The Missing Credits". She has a PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has written, co-written or contributed to two dozen books. The transition between the iMovie and iDVD parts are seamless and consistent in both tone and content.

Reviewer: Fred Slavin No bio was submitted to accompany this review, but Fred Savin was MLMUG's member of the month for February 2003. Read that piece at mlmug.org/MoMFred.html.

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© 2004 by Fred Slavin & MLMUG
Posted 12/23/04
Updated 1/7/04