Book List for Adobe Premiere class.



Editing with Adobe Premiere 6.0, 6.5, and Premiere Pro 1.5:

1. Prmiere Pro Editing Workshop. CMP Books publishes as part of their 'DV Expert Series' a very good treatment of Premiere Pro 1.5, written by Marcus Geduld. Because this series is directed toward professional usage of non linear editing software, the content is solidly based in good editing practice with a detailed chapter on color correction for TV broadcast. The user level is novice to intermediate and the book is very readable with useful suggestions on such topics as viewing output on a TV monitor for accurate color correction. Well worth the $40 price and published in 2004 this book is a valuable addition to a video editing library.

2. Video Editing with Adobe Premiere 6.5. Dave Peck runs a graphic business in Nashville, Tennessee. He has written this book about Premiere 6.5, shortly after its release in August, 2002. His approach is aimed at people in production environments. He does not assume any previous experience with video. This is one of the best books I have seen for quickly learning the complex activity of video production. Published by Delmar Learning, 2003. Priced at $40 and includes a CD-ROM with materials for the tutorials.

3. Adobe Premiere 6 Bible. Authors Adele Droblas and Seth Greenberg (also the authors of the Photoshop 6 Complete Reference, by a different publisher and listed below) have written probably the best all around references for Premiere 6, covering all of the tools and menus of Premiere. They also present chapters on using Premiere with Photoshop, Illustrator, and, After Effects. This is not currently available for 6.5, but two versions are very similar. Published by Hungry Minds, Inc in 2001. Priced at $50.

4. Premiere 6 for Macintosh and Windows. Anthony Bolante is the author and it is published by Peachpit Press. $20. This is an inexpensive and very good intorduction to Premiere. Any advanced use of Premiere will use the Timeline approach to editing and this book gives a good start in that direction, with chapters on video effects, superimposed video tracks and animated motion.



Creating content with video, Super 8mm and 16mm film:

1. The Filmmaker's Handbook. Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus are the authors. Published by Plume (Penguin Putnam, Inc.). $19. If you plan to pursue the use of Premiere or any other software for Non Linear Editing of movies, this book should be in your library. It is the standard text used in many university film and video departments for movie production. This book covers it all from cameras (8mm, 16mm, and 35mm film as well as DV and Hi-8 video camcorders), lenses, shooting, sound recording, lighting, film and video editing, and film-video transfers.

2. American Cinematographer Video Manual, 3rd ed. This is the most comprehensive collection of technical information about all aspects of digital videotape formats, video cameras and lenses, CCDs, filters, and, care and storage of videotape. ASC Press, $50. You can order this and other books on the art of cinematography from American Cinematographer magazine.

3. Shot by Shot, 3rd ed. Authors John Cantine, Susan Howard, and Brady Lewis are teachers at The Pittsburgh Filmmakers' School of Film, Video, and Photography. They wrote this book as an introduction to the craft of filmmaking. This book has been adopted by many schools and universities. This is an easy way into using film, either Super 8mm or 16mm. Film is more expensive than video, but the look is great. Published by Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Price is $15.



Additional topics of interest:

1. The Animation Book. Kit Laybourne is the author and it is published by Three Rivers Press (New York). This book originally came out in 1978 when all animation was film animation. This is the third edition with computer animation added to the existing material on traditinal film animation. A thorough treatment of both the digital and the traditional techniques side by side. This is probably the only book to take this approach since it was an established authority after its publication in 1978.

2. Photoshop 6 The Complete Reference. Authors Adele Droblas Greenberg and Seth Greenberg create one of the best reference books for the graphic twilight zone of Photoshop. If you are interested in learning skills for animation, the Photoshop/Premiere combo is the best intro to this world. Published by Osborne Press and priced at $50. I always recommend this to Photoshop students.

3. Film Lighting. Kris Malkiewicz is the author; the publisher is Simon and Schuster. $21. The final of the four books at the top of my list is about lighting. This topic is also covered in both The Filmmaker's Handbook and in Rick Schmidt's book, so it is more of an optional nature. In general, the more you can learn about good photographic techniques the better. This applies to using both video and film cameras. Ansel Adams' book 'The Negative' also covers artificial and natural light photography.

4. The Elements of Screenwriting. A classic by the late Irwin R. Blacker. This writer and teacher puts it to you straight away: nobody has improved upon the basic concepts that Aristotle came up with when he analized the playwrights of his day - Euripedes and Sophocles knew how to tell a good story. Published by Longman Press and priced at a modest $10. Published in paperback 1996.

5. Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices. Rick Schmidt is the author and this book is also published by Penguin Books. $17. Here is one of the review quotes that summarizes the approach: "An intriguing book that takes on Hollywood with a healthy, 'do-it-yourself' attitude." - from 'Cinaste' magazine. The author draws from his own experience of creating independent film features to write a a detailed cookbook from the story concept and script outline through the production in film/video to having a distribution copy printed for under $15,000.

6. The Ultimate Filmmaker's Guide to Short Fiilms by Kim Adelman. This book, published in 2004 by Michael Wiese Productions, aims specifically at those interested in producing film festival quality short films. The logic and pacing for short films is very different from feature length filmmaking. It is also more demanding and requires a much greater level of skill mastery than does the purely personal documentary style of family movies. This is an important category because it is the only realistic entry point into a professiona level of filmmaking.

7. Grammar of the Film Language. Daniel Arijon wrote this book in 1991 and it has become a classic, published by the Silman-James Press. This book details the camera techniques we have become accustomed to seeing every time we view professionally made films and the editing style that has become invisible to our conscious minds as we are absorbed into narrative and documentary filmmaking.



Now that you have had a look over the book list, I've saved one of the best for last:

In the Blink of an Eye, 2nd ed. The author is Walter Murch, best known as the film editor of The English Patient, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather part III, The Conversation, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. This book is a good read for anyone interested in the filmmaking process; it is very insightful and gives a glimpse into the mind of someone who has had a major impact on some great films. Published by Silman-James Press, 1995, 2001. The price is $14. The English Patient was the first digitally edited film to win an Academy award - that was 1996.



These books reach beyond the use of Adobe Premiere software, but if you are editing your own video/film, the process will make you more aware and more critical of the source material coming from the camera. Editing makes you a better photographer. Editing is what makes a movie a coherent piece of art. A well edited movie made from poor source material can be more compelling and more interesting than a poorly edited movie that has great photography. A well edited movie can turn defects into positive attributes.

Return to the Premiere pages