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 A PLUME BOOK
THE FILMMAKER’S HANDBOOK

is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose films include

STEVEN ASCHER
Troublesome Creek, So Much So Fast, and Raising Renee (trilogy
codirected with his wife, Jeanne Jordan). He has taught filmmaking
at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and in workshops around the world. His awards include the
Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, the Prix Italia, a
George Foster Peabody Award, and an Emmy Award, and he was
nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award. His website is
www.WestCityFilms.com.

pioneering work in personal documentary led to Diaries

EDWARD PINCUS’s
(1971–76). He codirected Black Natchez, One Step Away, Panola,
Portrait of a McCarthy Supporter, and The Axe in the Attic. He
founded the Film Section at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and later taught filmmaking at Harvard. He has received
a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts
grants. He is author of the widely used Guide to Filmmaking and
grows cut flowers commercially in northern New England.

Pincus and Ascher also codirected Life and Other Anxieties.

 THE
FILMMAKER’S
HANDBOOK
A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
FOR THE DIGITAL AGE
FOURTH EDITION
Steven Ascher & Edward Pincus
Drawings by Carol Keller and Robert Brun
Original Photographs by Ted Spagna
and Stephen McCarthy

Completely Revised and Updated by Steven Ascher

With Contributions by David Leitner

A PLUME BOOK
PLUME
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
• Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books
Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s
Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group
(Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of
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Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New
Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue,
Parktown North 2193, South Africa • Penguin China, B7 Jaiming Center, 27 East
Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, June 1984

First printing (second edition), March 1999
First printing (third edition), August 2007
First printing (fourth edition), December 2012

Copyright © Edward Pincus and Steven Ascher, 1984, 1999

Copyright © Steven Ascher, 2007, 2012
Drawings and photographs copyright © Steven Ascher, 1999, 2007, 2012
Drawings copyright © Carol Keller, 1999
Drawings copyright © Robert Brun, 1999
Photographs copyright © Ted Spagna, 1983
All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

CIP data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-101-61380-1

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers,
Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication,
neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control
over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or
their content.

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ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON

For Jordan

For Jane
 CONTENTS

Preface

1. Introduction to Digital and Film Systems

Digital Video Systems • The Video Format • What Is
Compression? • Comparing Video Formats • High Definition
Digital Formats • Digital Cinematography Systems • Standard
Definition Digital Formats • Standard Definition Analog Formats •
Recording to Memory Cards, Drives, and Discs • Sound Recording
for Video • Video Editing • Film Systems • Comparing Film
Formats • Sound Recording for Film • Film Editing • Shooting
Digital Versus Shooting Film

2. Before You Begin Production

Getting Your Movie Off the Ground • Formats for the Big Screen
and the Small(er) Screen • The “Look” of the Movie • The Impact
of Sensor Size and Film Gauge • Color and Sensitivity to Light •
Sharpness and Focus • Aspect Ratio Choices • Frame Rate and
Scanning Choices • Choosing a Camera • Planning Your Workflow
• Managing Data in Production and Post • The Importance of
Sound • Coping with Technology

3. The Video Camcorder

Initial Settings • Viewfinder and Monitor Setup • Picture Controls
• Recording to Cards, Drives, and Optical Discs • Types of Media
• Managing Data on the Shoot • Recording to Digital Tape •
Operating the Camcorder • Batteries and Power Supplies •
Camera Sensitivity • Other Camera Features
4. The Lens
Focal Length and Perspective • The Light-Gathering Power of the
Lens • Focusing the Image • Choosing a Zoom Lens • Prime
Lenses • Close Focusing • Lens Quality and Condition • The Lens
Mount • Lens Seating Problems • Care of the Lens

5. The Video Image

Forming the Video Image • The Digital Video Camera’s Response
to Light • Understanding and Controlling Contrast • What Is
Gamma? • Gamma Options When Shooting • Video Color
Systems • Some Image Manipulations and Artifacts • Video
Monitors and Projectors • Timecode • Digital Video Recording—
How It Works • Pixels and Resolution • Working with Digital Data
• Digital Connections • Hard Drive Storage • RAIDs • File Formats
and Data Exchange • Digital Compression • Compression
Methods • A Few Common Codecs

6. The Film Camera

The Film Gate and Shutter • Camera Speed and Motors • Viewing
Systems • The Reflex Viewfinder • Camera Film Capacity • Other
Camera Features • Camera Tests and Maintenance

7. The Film Image

Properties of the Film Stock • Contrast of the Image • Sharpness
• Choosing a Raw Stock • Packaging, Handling, and Purchasing •
The Light Meter and Exposure Control • Light Meters • Taking
Readings • Exposure and Film Stocks • The Film Lab During
Production • Screening the Rushes

8. Color and Filters

Color • Color Temperature • Filters • Matte Boxes and Lens
Shades

9. Shooting the Movie

The Goals of Production • Composition and Shot Selection • The
Moving Camera • Style and Direction • Dramatic Films •
 Documentaries • Preparing for Production • Preparing the Script
and Approach • Scheduling and Planning • Organizing the
Production • The Equipment Package • In Production • Logging •
Supporting the Camera • Slow Motion, Fast Motion, and Judder •
Slow Motion • Fast Motion • Judder or Strobing • Shooting TVs
and Video Monitors • Shooting in 3D

10. Sound Recording Systems

Sound • How Audio Is Recorded • Analog Audio Recording •
Digital Audio Recording • Types of Audio Recorders • Digital
Audio Recorders • Audio in the Video Camera • The Analog Tape
Recorder • The Microphone • Audio Connections

11. Sound Recording Techniques

Preparing for a Shoot • Gathering Gear • The Sound Recordist’s
Role • Recording Technique • Setting the Recording Level •
Music, Narration, and Effects • Other Recording Issues •
Recording Double System for Video and Film • Syncing Audio and
Picture • Operating a Double-System Recorder

12. Lighting
Light • Lighting Equipment • Bulbs • Types of Lighting
Instruments • Lighting Technique • Lighting Styles • Positioning
Lights • Controlling Lighting Contrast • Lighting and Color •
Special Lighting Effects • Location Lighting

13. Picture and Dialogue Editing

Some Film Theory • Approaches to Editing • Dialogue Editing •
The Editing Process • Titles

14. Editing Digital Video

Components of a Nonlinear Editing System • How the NLE Plays
and Edits Media • Postproduction Workflow • What Format or
Resolution to Edit In? • Importing and Organizing Your Material •
Importing Files • Capturing from Tape • Creating and Editing
Sequences • Basic Sound Editing • Working with Double-System
 Sound • Basic Video Effects • Titles, Graphics, and Stills • Mixing
and Converting Formats • Working with 24p and Pulldown •
Editing 24p Footage • Finishing and Output • Managing Media •
Exporting a File • Output to Tape • Creating a DVD or Blu-ray •
Creating a Digital Cinema Package • Color Correction • Tape
Editing • The EDL and Online Editing

15. Sound Editing and Mixing

The Sound Editing Process • Sound Editing Tools • Sound Editing
Technique • Music • Some Sound Editing Issues • Preparing for
the Mix • The Sound Mix • Level and Dynamic Range • Frequency
Range and EQ • Other Sound Processing • Mix Formats •
Deliverables

16. Working with Film in Postproduction

Overview of Film-Video Transfers • Some Film-Digital Workflows •
Film-to-Digital Transfer Devices • Telecine Options and Controls •
Recording Format and Scanning Options • Image Control • Audio
Options • Film Transfer Data • Booking a Transfer • Editing Film
Digitally • Preparing to Edit • Editing Considerations for
Traditional Film Finish • When You’re Done with the Offline Edit •
From Digital to Film • Preparing for the Digital-to-Film Transfer •
Traditional Film Conforming and Blowups • Preparing the Original
for Printing • Blowups • Making Film Prints • Printing Basics •
Answer Prints • Intermediates • Release Prints • Sound for Film
Prints • Analog Optical Tracks • Digital Sound Tracks • Film
Projection

17. Producing and Distributing the Movie

Developing the Project • Funding Sources • Budgets • Business
Arrangements • Legal and Copyright Issues • Protecting Your
Work • Releases for Real People, Places, and Things • Using
Copyrighted Material • Distribution and Marketing • A Last Word

Appendices
A. Adjusting a Video Monitor
 B. Data Rates and Storage Needs for Various Digital Formats
C. Depth of Field Tables
D. Hyperfocal Distance Table
E. Angle of View in Different Formats

Bibliography

Websites

Index
 PREFACE

I f you look at how storytelling in movies changes over time, you

can see moments when new technology has made new kinds of
narratives possible. Sometimes it’s a seismic shift. The introduction
of sound in the 1920s transformed scriptwriting, film acting, and
editing. Or it may be more gradual, but just as dramatic, like the
way digital has led to documentary and fiction films that would have
been technically or financially impossible before.
As a filmmaker, you find that changes come so fast these days
that it’s really daunting to try to tell stories while having to learn and
master so much about your craft. This book, which is for beginners
and for working professionals, can help you. Inevitably, some parts
won’t be as current as the latest information on the Web, but the
book offers something most websites can’t: a view of the entire
filmmaking process from beginning to end. It will give you the
foundation and language to understand new developments as they
come along.
The Filmmaker’s Handbook started out almost thirty years ago,
and through the editions it’s become a stockpot of ingredients added
and removed. In 1984 Ed and I wrote the first edition about working
with celluloid film. After that, Ed bowed out of working on the book
and in 1999 I wrote an expanded second edition to include analog
video; in 2007 I did another major expansion to introduce digital,
doubling the size of the original book. David Leitner—a talented
filmmaker and explorer of technology—contributed his expertise to
that third edition and to this fourth edition. As of this edition, I’ve
had to jettison a lot of material about once-proud film, which is
painful. But digital is the future and the book is already a doorstop
(or the e-book equivalent).
The world of moviemaking is really made up of many separate
but related worlds. I’ve tried to address the needs of fiction and
documentary filmmakers, who may be creating work on their own or
as part of a large organization, to be shown in any number of ways,
for profit or not.
In a sense, all moviemakers start out as independents. More
often than not, beginners must become versed in all aspects of
production—shooting, sound recording, editing, raising money,
distribution—simply because there’s no one else to perform these
tasks. Learning all the facets of filmmaking has advantages no
matter what your future career is in movies. In fact, with shrinking
budgets and the growing power of technology, professional
moviemakers are often expected to have a range of skills that go
well beyond traditional job categories. This book is written with the
assumption that you may be performing all the tasks of making a
movie, or that you’ll at least want to understand them. And of
course, it’s a reference: so read what concerns you and skip the
sections that don’t.
For help along the way, thanks go to Mark Abbate, Benjamin
Bergery, Richard Bock, David Brown, Michael Callahan, Elvin Carini,
Claude Chelli, Frank Coakley, Victoria Garvin Davis, Bob Doyle,
Stefan Forbes, Sandra Forman, Patrick Gaspar, Len Gittleman, Alfred
Guzzetti, Arnie Harchik, Bruce Jacobs, Sam Kauffmann, Rudolph
Kingslake, Dennis Kitsz, Mark Lipman, Julie Mallozzi, Greg McCleary,
Ross McElwee, Matt McMakin, Eric Menninger, Robb Moss, Graeme
Nattress, Michael Phillips, Sami Pincus, Adam Schatten, Moe Shore,
Tim Spitzer, and Serena Steuart.
Thanks to Ted Spagna, Stephen McCarthy, Ned Johnston, and
Andy Young for photographs, to Carol Keller and Rob Brun for
illustrations, and to researchers Joshua Weinstein and Luke
Gasbarro.
Thanks also to the many people, too numerous to mention, who
graciously provided assistance, information, or pictures.
 Particular thanks to David Leitner for his deep knowledge and
precise mind.
Jeanne Jordan, my filmmaking partner and wife, and our son,
Jordan Ascher, both contributed to the book, my work, and my life in
more ways than I can express or possibly thank them for.

Steven Ascher

May 2012
 CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Digital and
Film Systems

T his book is about making movies, whether they are dramatic

features, documentaries, music videos, corporate videos,
multimedia projects, TV programs, commercials, webisodes, or home
videos. Actually, “movie” isn’t the right term to describe all types of
productions; no single word is. You could call them “motion
pictures,” but that has echoes of Hollywood hype (especially when
preceded by “major”). Sometimes the name we use for a production
has to do with how it’s made. For example, if you say you’re making
a “video,” people will probably assume you’re shooting with a video
camera, not a film camera. But often the name has more to do with
how the end product is distributed. A documentary shown in a
theater might be a “film,” but if you saw the same thing on television
you might call it a “show” or a “program.” A two-hour drama may
begin life as a “picture,” be called a “feature” when shown at a
festival, a “release” in theaters, a “movie” when broadcast on
television or streamed on the Internet, and a “DVD” or “Blu-ray” at a
retail store.
This confusion about names reflects how diverse the many forms
of production and distribution have become. There was a time when
a “film” was photographed on celluloid film, edited on film, and
shown on film. Though that is still possible, today a digital
production will most likely be shot in high definition video, or in a 2K
or 4K digital file format using a digital cinematography camera; then
it will be digitally edited and released in a wide variety of digital
media including professional tape cassette, DVD, Blu-ray, and hard
disk drives containing digital media files for Internet streaming and
downloading, digital broadcast and cable, and digital theater
projection.
Because movies are now created, manipulated, and shown in all
sorts of new ways, the old, hard distinctions between filmmakers,
videomakers, and digital video artists no longer apply. In the wake of
the digital video revolution, all approaches now pass through a
computer. This is why the term workflow, borrowed from IT
(information technology) to describe the careful step-by-step
management of a complex project, is now used by filmmakers to talk
about strategies for managing digital production, editing, and
finishing.
The first edition of The Filmmaker’s Handbook was about film
only. The second and third editions added analog, then digital video.
In this fourth edition, the focus is shifted even further toward digital
technologies. This is not because film is dead—it isn’t yet, though its
future is increasingly limited. Equipment manufacturers are no
longer making film cameras, and theaters are steadily converting to
digital. Nevertheless, some of the largest and smallest productions
are still being done with film. This book is written from the point of
view that media makers will reach for whatever tools suit them best
to record, edit, and display their work. Their toolset can include
digital and film technologies in any number of configurations.
Which brings us back to the problem of names. Given the
expansiveness of the media-making process, what shall we call the
work being produced? As this is The Filmmaker’s Handbook, we’ll
call the end product a “film” or a “movie.” This is for convenience
only and is not meant to suggest any limitations in terms of the
media, formats, or equipment used to make or distribute the
production.
This first chapter is intended as an overview of the moviemaking
process, an outline of techniques and equipment.
 Making a Movie
The technical, creative, financial, and social aspects of
filmmaking are tightly interwoven, perhaps more so than in any
other art form. The more you understand about all these aspects of
production, the better prepared you’ll be for the challenges of
making a movie and getting it seen.
Movie production ranges from multimillion-dollar, big-screen
Hollywood epics to a home video of a child’s birthday. Although
movies vary widely in terms of budgets, number of personnel, and
intended audiences, many of the processes used to create movies
are similar for all types of productions. Moviemaking tasks can be
divided chronologically into development, preproduction, production,
postproduction, and distribution periods.

Fig. 1-1. Moviemaking is a collaborative art.

The development phase is when an idea grows into a project that

can be produced. A topic is chosen; research is done. For fiction
projects, a treatment may be written in preparation for a script.
Documentaries may start as a written proposal outlining what is to
be filmed. The producer draws up a budget of the movie’s estimated
cost and arranges for financing. For higher-budget projects, this
usually involves soliciting investors, distributors, grants, or a
television contract. Low-budget projects are often self-financed,
often with the hope of recouping costs after the movie is finished.
During the preproduction period, preparations are made for
shooting. The crew is assembled and locations (the sites where the
movie will be shot) are scouted. For fiction films, casting is done to
choose actors, and all the elements of production design including
sets, props, and wardrobe are determined.
The production period essentially begins when the camera rolls.
This is sometimes called the start of principal photography. Since
movie equipment can be expensive, it is often rented for the
duration of production, or only on the days it is needed. Lower-
priced gear may be purchased outright. Additional photography or
pickup shots are scenes filmed separately from the main production
or after the principal shooting is done. The material that’s been
filmed may be viewed during production, on set, or elsewhere. The
traditional film term for the footage recorded by the camera is
rushes or dailies, because the film is processed and printed at the
lab as fast as possible for daily viewing (these terms can also be
used for digital video, which may or may not need processing before
viewing). Rushes are unedited, though often not all the footage that
was shot gets printed, copied, or viewed.
The postproduction period (often just called post, as in, “We’re
scheduled for eight weeks of post”) generally begins once the
principal shooting is completed. On many films, the editor works
during production, cutting as soon as each scene is shot, which can
give the director and crew feedback in time to make corrections. On
other projects, editing starts after the shooting stops. Editing is done
to condense what is typically many hours’ worth of raw film or digital
footage into a watchable movie. It is usually in the editing room that
the project can be seen in its entirety for the first time. Movies are
often substantially rearranged and reworked during editing.
Documentaries often find their structure and shape in the editing
room, not from a preplanned script. The first edited version of a
movie is the assembly or string-out (all the scenes in order). The
assembly is condensed into a rough cut, which is then honed to a
fine cut. When a satisfactory version is complete (called picture
lock), the various stages of finishing take place. This may include
scoring with original music or adding prerecorded music; sound
editing (to clean up and enhance the sound track); sound mix (to
balance and perfect the sound); and creating titles and any visual
effects that weren’t done earlier.
When a movie that was shot on film is finished, 35mm prints can
be made if the movie is intended for theatrical release. A movie shot
digitally and intended for theaters can also be transferred to 35mm
film; this process is sometimes called a film-out. Whether originated
on film or digital media, movies meant for theatrical release are also
converted to a Digital Cinema Package (DCP), a file format
standardized by Hollywood for digital projection of feature films.
(Whether or not a DCP is made, all movies, regardless of whether
they were shot on film or digitally, are eventually distributed in some
digital form.)
Finally, the movie is released or distributed—sent out into the
world to find its audience. There are many types of distribution,
aimed at different markets. Theatrical release is the goal of most
feature films. A theatrical run may take place in first-run movie
houses or smaller, specialized art houses, which are often part of a
specialty chain. Television distribution may include traditional
broadcast television, cable TV, or satellite. Educational or AV
(audiovisual) distribution usually implies selling or renting DVDs or
Blu-ray Discs or digitally streaming movies to schools and libraries.
Home video release is selling or renting movies either directly to
consumers or through retail outlets. Video-on-demand (VOD) and
pay-per-view (PPV) are cable distribution methods that bridge the
gap between television and home video sales by allowing viewers to
select and/or pay individually for programming when they want it.
Distribution over the Internet—including streaming and downloading
of movie files to laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Web-connected
TVs—is becoming a dominant form of movie distribution. Consumers
and distributors both like the fact that no physical disc need be
purchased or shipped; movies are following the model of music
downloading, which decimated the sales of music CDs.
A given project may be distributed through all of these channels
or in various combinations; moreover, because movies are
increasingly distributed in a global marketplace, issues of multiple
languages, technologies, and venues must be dealt with. Many
decisions you make while you’re producing a movie affect what kind
of distribution is possible, and you must try to anticipate distribution
goals from the very start of your project.

The Moving Image

A video or film camera has a lens that focuses an image of the
world onto a light-sensitive electronic sensor (see Fig. 1-4) or a
piece of light-sensitive film (see Fig. 1-31). This part of the process
is much like a still camera. But how do we capture movement? The
impression of continuous movement in a motion picture is really an
illusion. A film or video camera records a sequence of still images
(frames) in rapid succession (see Fig. 1-2). In film, the standard
frame rate is 24 frames per second, written 24 fps. When the images
are then displayed one after another on a screen (for example, a
theater screen or a TV), if the frames in the sequence change from
one to the next quickly enough and the differences between them
are not too great, the brain perceives smooth, realistic motion. This
effect brings the magic of motion to film, video, and flip books.

Fig. 1-2. All motion pictures—in video or film—are made up of a series of still
images that appear to move when shown rapidly, one after the other. (Steven
Ascher)

Traditionally, this illusion has been explained by something called

persistence of vision, which is based on the idea that the eye retains
an impression of each frame slightly longer than it is actually
exposed to it. According to this theory, when each new frame is
displayed, the eye blends it with the afterimage of the previous
frame, creating a smooth transition between them. There are many
problems with this explanation (for example, afterimages move with
your eyes if you look left or right; they don’t stay in place on the
screen). A perceptual illusion called beta movement describes one
situation in which viewers interpret successive still images as motion.
A static shot of a ball is flashed on the left side of a screen, then on
the right side, and viewers see it as moving from left to right. Think
of a lighted ticker tape–style sign in a store, on which messages
seem to scroll from right to left across the display as the lights flash
on and off.
The full picture of how the brain and eye actually perceive motion
is still under investigation. What we do know is that for a realistic
viewing experience we need to create the illusion of both smooth
motion and consistent illumination. If the images change too slowly
from one to the next, the illusion falls apart. Instead of smooth
motion you see jerky, stop-start motion, and instead of continuous
illumination, the screen may appear to flicker (get brighter and
darker as the images change). For more on this, see Judder or
Strobing, p. 393.
Fig. 1-3. Sony PMW-F3 camcorder. Has a Super 35 sensor and records XDCAM EX
internally and other formats to external recorders. Shown with Zacuto external
viewfinder and follow-focus control. (Zacuto USA)

DIGITAL VIDEO SYSTEMS

Camera and Recorder Basics

We’ve just seen that the concept behind motion picture recording
is to capture a series of still images and then play them back. Let’s
look at how this is done in digital video.
The video camera focuses its image on the flat surface of a solid-
state electronic chip that is sensitive to light. This chip is the
camera’s sensor or imager. There are two types of sensor chips:
CCD (charge-coupled device) and CMOS (complementary metal
oxide semiconductor). CMOS is now the most common chip used in
video cameras because of its versatility and lower cost and power
consumption. The surface of a sensor is divided into a very fine grid
of light-sensitive sites called pixels (from “picture elements”) or
photosites. Each photosite in the chip acts in some ways like a tiny
light meter that reads the brightness of the light at that spot. When
a photosite is struck by light, it creates and stores an electric charge.
The more light that strikes it, the more charge builds up (this
process can be compared to a bucket filling with rainwater; see Fig.
5-25). A given sensor may have millions of pixels in a chip that is
less than an inch across. To capture the whole picture, the charge at
each pixel in the grid is read out at an instant in time and the output
from all the pixels taken together is reassembled into the video
frame.
Fig. 1-4. Video camera and monitor. The camera’s lens focuses an image of the
world onto the sensor, which contains light-sensitive pixels. The camera converts
the image into a digital video signal, which can be displayed on a monitor. The
monitor’s surface is made up of pixels that emit light. (Robert Brun)

In the earliest days of television, the only way to preserve the

image from a live TV camera was to record it on black-and-white film
using a kinescope, basically a 16mm camera aimed at a TV. In 1956
the videotape recorder (VTR) was introduced, which records on
magnetic tape. VTRs are sometimes called tape decks, video decks,
or just decks. Later tape decks used tape in cassettes, although the
term videocassette recorder (VCR) was usually reserved for
machines used in the home. These days, video recording is also
done to solid-state flash memory media, to hard disk drives, and to
recordable optical discs. When a camera and recorder are combined
in one unit, it’s called a camcorder. Today, devices capable of
recording video include mobile phones, tablets, and DSLRs (digital
single-lens reflex cameras), which are also called HDSLRs (high
definition single-lens reflex cameras). DSLRs were originally
designed to shoot still images, but like many devices these days they
can now shoot both stills and motion video.
Video can be viewed on a display called a monitor. Types of flat-
screen monitors include LCD (liquid crystal display), which is what
many computers use, OLED (organic light-emitting diode), and
plasma. Video can also be digitally projected onto a large screen
using a number of technologies. The traditional analog TV was
based on the cathode ray tube, or CRT, which is no longer made.
For more on monitors, see p. 216.

Fig. 1-5. Videotape recorder, or VTR. Panasonic AJ-HD1400 plays and records
high definition DVCPRO HD. Can also play standard definition DVCPRO, DVCAM,
and DV. (Panasonic Broadcast)

Analog Versus Digital

Until the 1980s, video and audio production was done with
analog equipment. In analog tape recorders, continuously changing
video or audio signals are recorded as continuously changing
amounts of magnetism on tape. In today’s digital recorders, the
video or audio signal is digitized—converted to a set of numbers that
can then be stored in various ways (for more on how digital works,
see p. 227).
Though most countries have already or will soon stop
broadcasting analog TV, echoes of these obsolete, standard
definition analog broadcast standards survive into the digital era.
They include the NTSC (National Television System Committee)
standard, which was used for broadcasts in North America and parts
of Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and the PAL
(Phase Alternating Line) standard used in the UK, western Europe,
Australia, and parts of Asia and South America.1 As we’ll see below,
various aspects of digital video formats depend on whether you’re in
a former NTSC country or a country that used PAL. It’s worth noting
that the terms “NTSC” and “PAL” properly refer only to analog
formats, not digital formats that have similar frame size, even
though many people use the terms loosely to mean either analog or
digital.
Ironically, digital video equipment often includes analog
components, such as CCD or CMOS sensors (yes, they’re analog) or
analog microphone inputs on a digital audio recorder. It’s common to
convert sounds and images back and forth between analog and
digital forms when needed, though there is some quality loss each
time you do.2 Ideally, once the video and audio are in digital form,
they should remain digital for as much of the production process as
possible.
Fig. 1-6. Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR). The Canon EOS 5D Mark II played a
key role in sparking the use of DSLRs for filmmaking. (Canon U.S.A., Inc.)

THE VIDEO FORMAT

Video format refers to how many lines or pixels form an image,
the basic shape of the picture, how a signal is processed or
compressed along the way, what medium it’s recorded onto, what
broadcast standard is used, and a host of other technical aspects of
how video is captured, transmitted, or reproduced. There are many
formats in use today—so many that even professionals get confused
trying to keep track of them all. Though video formats are defined
by their key differences, they all have a lot in common. Let’s look at
the ways that video formats capture images and sounds.

How Many Pixels: Standard Definition, High

Definition, and Beyond
A digital video image is formed by a rectangular grid of pixels
(see Fig. 5-26). Each pixel represents the brightness (and color, if
any) of that part of the image. The frame is all the pixels that can be
seen in the picture (these are known as active pixels). It helps to
visualize the pixel grid as a set of horizontal lines stacked on top of
one another, since that’s how the picture information is processed.
Each horizontal line, or scan line, is a row of horizontal pixels, and
the total pattern of all the lines stacked together is called the raster.

Fig. 1-7. Pixel counts in different digital formats. This shows the number of pixels
in standard definition 480i (NTSC countries) and 576i (PAL countries), high
definition 720p and 1080i/p, digital cinema projection in 2K and 4K, and Quad HD.
Note that the number of pixels in a digital recording format is not the same as the
physical size of the sensor (see Fig. 2-7). For example, if you have an HD camera
and an SD camera, the sensor on the HD camera could have a smaller surface
area, even though the HD recording format has more pixels (it depends on the
camera). As shown here, NTSC- and PAL-based formats have different pixel
counts, but when viewed on screen, the shape of their frames is actually the same
(which is accomplished by using different-shaped pixels). (Steven Ascher)

Video formats differ in how many pixels and how many lines they
have (see Fig. 1-7).
Standard-definition television (also called SDTV, SD, or standard
def) has the smallest number of pixels of the broadcast formats. As
a legacy of the analog era, there are two flavors of digital SD used in
different parts of the world (see above for the specific countries).
In NTSC territories, today’s digital standard definition frame is a
rectangle of about 480 horizontal lines, each 720 pixels wide (this is
often indicated as 720 x 480 and pronounced “720 by 480”). In
former PAL countries, the digital SD picture has 576 horizontal lines,
also 720 pixels wide.
 High-definition television (HDTV, HD, or high def) uses more
pixels per frame. How many more? There are also two sizes of HD.
The larger HD format, sometimes called Full HD, is 1920 x 1080
(1080 horizontal lines, each 1920 pixels wide). This format has a
total of around 2 million pixels, or two megapixels (Mpx). A smaller
HD format, usually referred to as 720p, is 1280 x 720, which is a
little less than 1 Mpx. Both of these formats are worldwide standards
used in both former NTSC and former PAL countries.
Why do we care about the number of pixels? As the pixel count
goes up, so does the ability to record fine detail in the image,
allowing for a clearer, sharper picture. Formats that have more pixels
are considered higher resolution (there are other factors that
contribute to resolution, as well). On a very small screen, you might
not be able to see a big difference between SD and HD. But the
larger the screen size, the worse SD looks: there may be an overall
fuzziness or lack of detail and you may see the individual pixels,
which makes the picture look “digital” and not natural. High
definition formats allow you to display the image on a bigger screen
while still maintaining sharpness and clarity. Bigger screens give a
more cinemalike viewing experience.
Fig. 1-8. (top) When you enlarge a low-resolution image, it starts to look
unsharp. You may begin to see individual pixels and unwanted artifacts like the
jagged line on the edge of the nose. (bottom) When a higher-resolution image is
enlarged, it retains more of its sharpness and clarity. This is one reason why high
definition video looks better than standard definition, especially on a big screen.
(Steven Ascher)

When it comes to an actual cinema experience—widescreen

projection in a large theater—there are digital motion picture
formats that use higher pixel counts than HD video. Many theaters
are equipped with digital cinema projectors that can display a 2K
(2048 x 1080) or 4K (4096 x 2160) image. At these resolutions,
digital images rival or surpass the resolution of projected 35mm film.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
celebrate their mysteries with trembling and terror. Such appalling
accounts of these frightful regions, probably originated with the
Druids themselves, who wished to deter the multitude, by every sort
of dreadful description, from penetrating into the secrets of their
superstitious practices.
Plutarch informs us that a Roman commander named Demetrius
was sent by one of the emperors to an island of the Druids, for the
purpose of making discoveries, but that the Roman adventurers
were repulsed by a strange phenomenon. Immediately on their
arrival, says the account, the heavens grew black; the winds arose;
strange apparitions were seen in the sky; a dreadful tempest sprung
up, and the heavens were filled with fiery spouts and whirlwinds. The
Romans desisted from their attempt, in the dread of being destroyed
for their sacrilegious invasion of a consecrated spot. Probably all this
was nothing more than an ordinary thunder-storm, which the fright of
the Romans magnified into a supernatural occurrence.
The Druids were also addicted to the horrid practice of sacrificing
human victims. These were sometimes criminals who had offended
either the laws or the religious prejudices of the Druids. It often
happened that, when a man’s life was in danger, from sickness or
any other cause, the Druids undertook to secure his safety by a
human sacrifice to their false deities. When criminals could not be
found, innocent persons were taken for victims. Huge hollow piles of
osier twigs, bark or hay were erected, and filled with these unhappy
wretches; after which the whole was set on fire and consumed.
Under the guidance of the Druids, the people at their funerals burnt
the bodies of the dead, and threw into the blazing pile all their most
valuable property, and even their servants and slaves. Sometimes
the near relatives of the deceased burnt themselves with their
friends, in the manner practised at the present day by the Hindoo
widows.
The Druids extended their worship over the greater part of the
modern kingdom of France, which was then named Gaul, the
southern part of the island of Great Britain, and the island of
Hibernia, now Ireland. Their most celebrated abode was the island of
Mona, now called Anglesey, on the coast of Wales. In this island are
some remains of the Druidical superstition, consisting of immense
blocks of stone, supposed to have been altars. The celebrated
structure in the south of England, known by the name of
Stonehenge, is also considered a remnant of Druidical architecture,
though we are not positive that the Druids ever performed their
worship in temples.
From all the accounts transmitted to us by the ancient writers, it is
pretty evident that the Druids were possessed of considerable
knowledge for so barbarous an age, and that they made all possible
use of this knowledge to perpetuate their authority and keep the rest
of the people in ignorance of the true character of their religious
mysteries. Their influence, wherever they prevailed, was very great.
When the Romans invaded Britain, they found the inhabitants almost
entirely subject to their control. The Druids offered an obstinate
resistance to the Romans, and incited the Britons, on many
occasions, to revolt against them. The Romans perceived at length
that the subjugation of the island would never be effected until the
Druids were entirely extirpated. They therefore waged a war of
extermination against them, put them to death in every quarter, and
the last of the race having fled for shelter to Anglesey, the Romans
crossed over to that island, destroyed their idols, cut down their
groves, and burnt the priests to death, as they had been accustomed
to burn their victims. Such was the end of the race and religion of the
Druids.

Plain Dealing.—An impertinent fellow asked Lord Guilford, who

that plain lady was before him. “That lady,” said his lordship, “is my
wife. It is true, she is a plain woman, I am a plain man, you are a
plain dealer, and that is the plain truth.”
Hospital of the Invalides, where Napoleon’s body is now entombed.
Paris.
 The Re-entombment of Napoleon.

Of all the great and remarkable men of modern times, Napoleon

Bonaparte was the most wonderful. He was a son of a lawyer of
Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean sea, belonging to France.
From a humble station he rose to be the emperor of France, and the
greatest general of modern times. He hurled kings from their
thrones, and put others in their places. He dismembered empires,
and created new ones. He made the whole earth ring with his mighty
deeds. But one thing he could not do—he could not conquer himself.
His ambition led him on from one step of injustice to another, till the
embattled armies of Europe appeared in the field against him. He
was defeated, dethroned, and taken on board a British ship to the
rocky and lonely island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.
After being entombed for almost twenty years, the king, Louis
Philippe, sent out a ship to bring back his body to France, to be re-
entombed in the capital of the empire of which he once swayed the
sceptre. The hearts of many of the French people adore the name of
Napoleon; and the ceremony of his re-entombment, which has just
taken place at Paris, is the theme of the fallowing lines.
Sound the trumpet, roll the drum!
Come in long procession, come!
Come with sword and come with lance,
Children of heroic France;
Come from castle’s frowning wall,
Come from the ancestral hall,
Come, poor peasant, from thy shed,
Cowled monk and crowned head!
From the hamlet’s green retreat,
From the city’s crowded street,
From the proud Tuilleries’ door
Let the royal escort pour;
Duke and baron, king and queen,
Gather to the august scene;
In your purple pomp arrayed,
Haste to swell the grand parade.
Brow of snow and locks of gold,
Matron, maiden, young and old!
Sound the trumpets, roll the drum,
For Napoleon’s ashes come!

Sound the trumpet, roll the drum!

Let the cannon be not dumb;
Charge your black guns to the brim,
Invalides! to welcome him!
War-worn veterans, onward march
To Etoiles’ towering arch.
Let the column of Vendome,
Let the Pantheon’s soaring dome,
Champs de Mars and Elysees,
Hear the clang of arms to-day;
Let the Luxembourg once more
Hear Napoleon’s cannon roar.
Bring the eagles forth that flew
O’er the field of Waterloo,
Bring his tattered banners, red
With the blood at Jena shed,
Scorched with fire and torn with steel,
Rent by battle’s crushing heel,
When the fight o’er Moscow pealed,
And Marengo’s sanguine field;
Sound the clarion’s wildest strain,
For the conqueror comes again!

Sound a sad funereal wail

For the warrior stark and pale!
Hussar and dark cuirassier,
Lancer and fierce grenadier;
Soldiers of the Seine and Rhone,
Join the universal moan.
Conscripts who have never yet
In the front of battle met,
Join your sorrows to the grief
Of these veterans for their chief!
Veterans, raise your brows the while,
As of yore by Rhine and Nile;
Show the frequent ghastly scar
Won in following him to war;
Tell the fields where you have bled,
Left a limb, or heart’s-blood shed;
And remembering each brave year,
March on proudly by his bier——
Forth with drooping weapons come
To the rolling of the drum!

Let the city’s busy hum

Cease when rolls the muffled drum;
Let no light laugh, no rude sound,
E’er disturb the hush profound!
Only let the swinging bell
Of St. Roche peal out its knell.
Silence! on his rolling car
Comes the favored Child of war!
Not as in the olden days,
With his forehead bound with bays,
With the bright sword in his hand,
Encircled with his ancient band.
Long the sceptre and the crown
At the grave hath he laid down.
Now with coffin and with shroud
Comes the chieftain once so proud.
On his pale brow, on his cheek,
Death hath set his signet bleak,
And the dead alone doth crave
Rest and silence in the grave.
Sound the trumpet, roll the drum,
Bear his ashes to the tomb!
 What is Truth?

Truth is conformity to fact, in a statement or representation. If I

say that London is the largest city in the world, my statement
conforms to fact, and is therefore true. If I say that Boston has more
inhabitants than New York, my statement does not conform to fact,
and therefore is not true. There is one thing more to be considered,
which is, that the statement must conform to fact in the sense in
which it is meant to be understood. If I say a thing which is literally
true, but which is not true in the sense in which I mean it to be
understood, then I am guilty of falsehood, because I intend to
deceive. The following story will illustrate this.
Two boys, who had been studying geography, were walking
together one evening, when one of them exclaimed, “How bright the
sun shines!” The other boy immediately replied that, as it was
evening, the sun did not shine. The first boy insisted that it did shine;
whereupon a dispute arose, one of the boys insisting that the sun did
shine, the other that it did not. At last, they agreed to leave the point
to their father, and accordingly they went to him and stated the case.
They both agreed that it was nine o’clock at night; that the stars were
glittering in the sky; that the sun had been down for nearly two hours;
and yet John, the elder of the boys, maintained that, at that moment,
the sun was shining as bright as at noon-day.
When his father demanded an explanation, John said that the
geography he had just been studying, stated that when it was night
here, it was day in China—“and now,” said he, “of course the sun is
shining there, though it is night here. I said that the sun shines, and
so it does.”
To this the father replied as follows: “What you say now, John, is
true, but still, what you said to James was a falsehood. You knew
that he understood you to say that the sun shone here—you meant
that he should so understand you; you meant to convey a statement
to his mind that did not conform to fact, and which was therefore
untrue. You had a reservation in your own mind, which you withheld
from James. You did not say to him that you restricted your
statement to China—that was no part of your assertion. Truth
requires us not only to watch over our words, but the ideas we
communicate. If we intentionally communicate ideas which are false,
then we are guilty of falsehood. Now you said to James that which
was untrue, according to the sense in which you knew he would, and
in which you intended he should, receive it, and therefore you meant
to violate the truth. I must accordingly decide against John, and in
favor of James. John was wrong, and James is right. The sun did not
shine as John said it did, and as James understood him to say it
did.”
There are many other cases which illustrate this “truth to the letter
and lie to the sense.” Some years since, during the laws against
travelling on the Sabbath, a man was riding on horseback near
Worcester, in Massachusetts. It chanced to be of a Sunday morning,
and the traveller was soon stopped by a tythingman, who demanded
his reason for riding on the Lord’s day, and thus violating the law.
“My father lies dead in Sutton,” said the other, “and I hope you will
not detain me.”
“Certainly not,” said the tythingman, “under these circumstances;”
and accordingly he allowed the man to proceed. About two days
after, the traveller was returning, and happened to meet the
tythingman in the road. The two persons recognised each other, and
accordingly the following conversation ensued:
“You passed here on Sunday morning, I think, sir,” said the
tythingman.
“Yes, sir,” said the traveller.
“And you told me you were going to your father’s funeral—pray
when did he die?”
 “I did not say I was going to my father’s funeral—I said he lay
dead in Sutton, and so he did; but he has been dead for fifteen
years.”
Thus you perceive that while the words of the traveller were
literally true, they conveyed an intentional falsehood to the
tythingman, and therefore the traveller was guilty of deception. I
know that people sometimes think these tricks very witty, but they
are very wicked. Truth would be of no value, if it might be used for
the purposes of deception; it is because truth forbids all deception,
and requires open dealing, that it is so much prized. It is always a
poor bargain to give away truth for the sake of a momentary
advantage, or for the purpose of playing off an ingenious trick. To
barter truth for fun or mischief is giving away gold for dross. Every
time a person tells a lie, or practises a deception, he inflicts an injury
upon his mind, not visible to the eye of man, but as plain to the eye
of God as a scar upon the flesh. By repeated falsehoods, a person
may scar over his whole soul, so as to make it offensive in the sight
of that Being, whose love and favor we should seek, for his
friendship is the greatest of all blessings.
 Varieties.

A Child’s Affection for a Kitten.—A short time since, a little

girl, daughter of Mr. Alexander Rice, lost her life through her affection
for a kitten. She had followed a small boy to the river, weeping
bitterly because he was about to drown a kitten for which she had
formed a strong attachment; and no sooner was it tossed into the
water, than the agonized child took off its shoes, and, raising its
clothes, walked into the river with a firm and determined step,
towards the object of her affection; but, before reaching it, she
suddenly sank into deep water, and her gentle spirit returned to the
God who gave it.

A Musical Mouse. —One evening, as some officers on board a

British man-of-war were seated round the fire, one of them began to
play a plaintive air on a violin. He had scarcely played ten minutes,
when a mouse, apparently frantic, made its appearance in the centre
of the floor. The strange gestures of the little animal strongly excited
the attention of the officers, who, with one consent, resolved to let it
continue its singular actions unmolested. Its exertions now appeared
to be greater every moment; it shook its head, leaped about the
table, and exhibited signs of the most ecstatic delight. It was
observed, that in proportion to the gradation of the tones to the soft
point, the feelings of the animal appeared to be increased. After
performing actions, which so diminutive an animal would, at first
sight, seem incapable of, the little creature, to the astonishment of
the spectators, suddenly ceased to move, fell down, and expired,
without any symptoms of pain.

Travelling Cats.—A lady residing in Glasgow, Scotland, had a

handsome cat sent to her from Edinburgh. It was conveyed to her in
a close basket, and in a carriage. She was carefully watched for two
months, but, having produced a pair of young ones at the end of that
time, she was left at her own discretion, which she very soon
employed in disappearing with both her kittens. The lady at Glasgow
wrote to her friend in Edinburgh, deploring her loss; and the cat was
supposed to have formed some new attachment, with as little
reflection as men and women sometimes do.
About a fortnight, however, after her disappearance at Glasgow,
her well-known mew was heard at the street-door of her old mistress
in Edinburgh, and there she was, with both her kittens! they in the
best state, but she very thin. It is clear, that she could carry only one
kitten at a time. The distance from Glasgow to Edinburgh is forty
miles; so that, if she brought one kitten part of the way, and then
went back for the other, and thus conveyed them alternately, she
must have travelled one hundred and twenty miles at least. Her
prudence must likewise have suggested the necessity of journeying
in the night, with many other precautions for the safety of her young.

A Musical Pigeon.—Bertoni, a famous instructor in music, while

residing in Venice, took a pigeon for his companion, and, being very
fond of birds, made a great pet of it. The pigeon, by being constantly
in his master’s company, obtained so perfect an ear for music, that
no one who saw his behavior could doubt for a moment of the
pleasure the bird took in hearing him play and sing.

Swiftness of Birds.—A vulture can fly at the rate of one

hundred and fifty miles an hour. Observations on the coast of
Labrador convinced Major Arkwright, that wild geese could travel at
the rate of ninety miles an hour. The common crow can fly twenty-
five miles, and swallows ninety-two miles, an hour. It is said, that a
falcon, belonging to Henry the Fourth, was discovered at Malta,
twenty-four hours after its departure from Fontainebleau. If true, this
bird must have flown, for twenty-four hours, at the rate of fifty-seven
miles an hour, not allowing him to rest a moment during the whole
time.
 A Brave Irishman.—An Irishman, who was a soldier of the
Revolution, and of Warren’s brigade, was suddenly stopped near
Boston by a party, during a dark night; a horseman’s pistol was
presented to his breast, and he was asked to which side he
belonged. The supposition that it might be a British party, rendered
his situation extremely critical. He replied, “I think it would be more in
the way of civility, just to drop a hint which side you are pleased to
favor.” “No,” testily said the first speaker; “declare your sentiments,
or die!” “Then I will not die with a lie in my mouth. American, to
extremity! Do your worst, you spalpeen!” The officer replied, “We are
your friends; and I rejoice to meet with a man so faithful to the cause
of his country.”

Searching for hidden Gold.—Kidd was a famous sea robber

on the American coast, and many people believe that he buried large
pots or chests of gold, somewhere along the shore. A number of
laborers, believers of this legend, at work in a field, accidentally
discovered, upon the top of a large stone, an inscription in ancient
characters, which, on deciphering, read as follows:
“Take me up, and I will tell you more.”
Eager for the money, and entertaining no doubt of their being
close upon it, they immediately set about raising the stone. After
tugging and toiling several hours, they finally succeeded, and with
some difficulty read on the bottom,
“Lay me down as I was before.”

Ready Wit.—A countryman the other day, for information, asked

an Hibernian, who was busily engaged in the street driving down
stones, “Pat, when will you get this street done?” “How did you know
my name was Pat?” inquired the Irishman. “Why, I guessed as
much.” “Then,” replied Pat, “since you are good at guessing, you
may guess when the street will be finished.”
 Monument of Affection.—There is a monument near
Copenhagen, erected by Count Schimmelman, called “The Weeping
Eye.” That nobleman’s grief for the death of his wife was so
excessive, that he caused a statue to be erected over a spring, and
made the water spout from the eye, as a continual flood of tears.
 JACK FROST, A SONG
the words and music composed for
merry’s museum.
Andante.

Who hath killed the pretty flow’rs,

Born and bred in summer bowers;
Who hath ta’en away their bloom
Who hath swept them to the tomb?
Jack Frost, Jack Frost.

Who hath chased the birds so gay,

Lark and linnet, all away?
Who hath hushed their joyous breath,
And made the woodland still as death?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.

Who hath chilled the laughing river?

Who doth make the old oak shiver?
Who hath wrapped the world in snow?
Who doth make the wild winds blow?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.

Who doth ride on snowy drift

When the night wind’s keen and swift—
O’er the land and o’er the sea—
Bent on mischief—who is he?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.

Who doth strike with icy dart,

The way-worn traveller to the heart?
Who doth make the ocean-wave—
The seaman’s home—the seaman’s grave?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.

Who doth prowl at midnight hour

Like a thief around the door,
Through each crack and crevice creeping,
Through the very key-hole peeping?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.

7
Who doth pinch the traveller’s toes?
Who doth wring the school-boy’s nose?
Who doth make your fingers tingle?
Who doth make the sleigh bells jingle?
Jack Frost—Jack Frost.
ROBERT MERRY’S MUSEUM.
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