The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD

The Complete DVD Book: Designing, Producing and Marketing Your Independent Film on DVD. Chris Gore and Paul J. Salamoff. Michael Weise Productions. 2005. 224 pages including appendix. $26.95. http://www.mwp.com/

With today's technology, it is easier than ever for visionaries who decide they want to make a film to actually go out and make it! Anyone with a dream and some ambition can do it - but not everyone can do it well. In order to do full justice to their dream, people simply must gather as much knowledge as possible, and that's where film-making books come into play.

There are two steps to making your movie. The first is to have a script and actors and just film it. The second is get people to see it!

The Complete DVD Book doesn't address the first part of the process - that's not what its for. But it does take you, the aspiring film maker, step-by-step through the second part of the process - how to get your work onto a medium so that it can be seen, and hopefully enjoyed, by as many people as possible.

The first thing you want to make sure of when you get a "how-to" book, on any subject, is: do the authors know what they're talking about from personal experience? And for that matter, how much personal experience do they have?

Chris Gore began his independent film making career with the cult short Red starring Lawrence Tierney. His most recent films are Straight Into Darkness, a WWII movie, and My Big Fat Independent Movie. (Need I say that this is a comedy?) He's got a whole slew of other accomplishments to his credit, and was recently named one of the 25 Most Influential People in Independent Film by Film Festival Today magazine.

Paul J. Salamoff has written scripts for The Dead Hate the Living, The St. Francisville Experiment and Alien Siege for the Sci Fi Channel. He runs his own full-service DVD company and has thus "produced" and "authored" many DVDs for other people, and he's also served as a segment producer on a number of DVD titles (for example Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 4 and 5).

The two men's skills complement each other nicely here. Paul Salamoff writes the technical portions of the book, and when the subject switches to sales, marketing, or "inspirational tidbits," Chris Gore takes over.

Perhaps even more important than the author's credentials, however, is, how easy is the book to use? Is the information easily accessible?

Salamoff and Gore do an excellent job with that most important part of a how-to book. Everything is set out in clear, chronological order. Start the book at the beginning, and carry on until the end - that's the way it should be! No need to flip back and forth looking for an obscure piece of information that grinds the whole project to a halt until you find it.

What goes into the process of putting your movie on DVD? You've seen it yourself on DVDs put out by the big studios - audio commentaries, visual commentaries, "Easter Eggs," all kinds of goodies as well as the movie itself. Attractive packaging, easy to use menus, and overall a quality product.

This book doesn't have an index, but that's all right because the Table of Contents is extremely detailed. Each section of the process is listed chronologically, with the contents of each section broken down further so that the reader can find a particular point or piece of instruction instantly.

What goes in to making a DVD of your movie?

There are two parts to that as well: assembling everything that you want to put on the disc (determining your "Assets") and then putting it on the disc ("Authoring" it).

Gore, or as it might be, Salamoff, take you through these things step by step as well. *Nothing is left out, from what DVD to choose (DVD-5 or DVD-9) and why, to whether or not you should have commentaries (the answer to that is yes, yes, yes), to making the menus and slideshows, to burning the DVD - to marketing it.

You're taken through the process with Gore and Salamoff while they put together and then market a fictional DVD project called Stranded. They tell you how to create everything,.

Of course, there's various kinds of software needed to do all this, but there are many applications out there and apart from bells and whistles they're pretty much all the same. The authors list several applications for you to think about, but, in taking you through processes step by step, they have to deal with specific applications: for graphics - Photoshop, film editing - Final Cut Pro 4, and authoring software - Apple DVD Video Pro.

Once you've got your movie on disc you have to market it. Here's where Gore takes over. Another step-by-step guide in creative marketing - from the all important packaging to publicity, press and promotion.

The Appendix lists DVD production services, authoring software, packaging services, distributors, and perhaps most importantly, DVD reviewers and media outlets.

The text is well written and easy to read and even the technical parts are easy to understand. Gore and Salamoff have devoted much care to this book...they clearly want competitors in the independent film business. And using this book as your guide, a worthy competitor you will be.

The Table of Contents (severely truncated, I only list their headers)

Section 1 - Before You Start

Section 2 - Essential Elements of a Great DVD

Section 3 - Preparing Your DVD Assets
-Determining Your Assets
-Flowchart (of all the assets)
-Bit Budget
-Preparation of Video
-Preparation of Audio
-Preparation of Menus
-Preparation of Slideshows
-Subtitles

Section 4 - Authoring the DVD
-Importing Assets
-Authoring Menus
-Authoring Tracks
-Authoring Slideshows
-Linking Elements
-Testing
Manufacturing

Section 5 - Creative Marketing Drives DVD Sales

Section 6 - Appendices: DVD Resources Section