Introduction to the second edition

Since this book was first published in its first edition in 2002, it appeared to be prepared for the brave new world of the DV revolution. But in the accelerated development of current filmmaking, it later needed much revising to reflect what could be termed the post-revolutionary DV world. Arrivals such as streaming, web film and DVD have quickly become standard features of the filmmaking landscape, and have been joined by high definition, the rise of the VJ and the multiplicity of viewing formats. The new landscape left behind by these advances offers chances but also quandaries for the emerging filmmaker. Faced with a world where there are no pre-set paths to follow, no continuous route of development in a career and more and more shifting technical benchmarks, the filmmaker of today needs a guidebook as never before.

Hopefully, users of this book will find the mix of technical and artistic guidance some help in enabling them to make the right steps in this changed landscape.

A large portion of the text has been altered and no chapter has been left unchanged, reflecting the sharp changes that have governed the last few years in DV. Significant changes have been made to the chapters dealing with how to find an audience for films. A new chapter on careers has been added, developed in part through my years as a lecturer in film and also from many interviews with filmmakers in Britain and the United States. The advice is designed to be real, practical and ready to be put into effect.

Perhaps the biggest sea change in video has been the emergence of new platforms to create video for – cell phones and email movies, for instance – and filmmakers have responded as they always have, by creating new art forms out of technical advances. But the necessity remains – as it always has – for a thread of meaning to run through all films, whether designed to create sensations, to raise political points or to make us laugh. Hopefully, the projects and text in this book will draw the filmmaker towards a closer appreciation of what is important to them and how to express it to an audience.