Digital Cinematography and Directing
Author: Dan Ablan
Review by Michael Sacci

This is an extremely well written book that delivers what it promises. A very comprehensive book on directing except for the advice on how to get actors do their part. Oh course this book is written for the animation and not live action, which is one of the reasons I wanted to read this even though I’m not an animator, if fact I’m not even a director. But I’m extremely interested in telling stories with images and this is what is covered in this book.

For the most part almost everything translates to the real world of filming. Great chapters on camera placement and angles, lighting – the entire story telling process is laid out and explained in great detail.

One place where my odd reasoning for getting this book pays off is in the beginning as some of the chapters he starts off with, “Thinking like a…” and this gives great insight into what needs to be in the thought process at each of those stages, not just a how to and rules but why this works the way it does.

The book also has a lot of technical information throughout its pages. Personally, I found a lot of this unnecessary but it is well balanced and by no means overwhelming.

In the end the book has a great balance of technical info, rules and reasoning to make anyone a better storyteller, whether you are an animator, filmmaker or documentary maker. It is all in here. In fact I would recommend this book to anyone in the business, in fact each of it parts are worth the book, Cameramen and editors could gain a great deal of knowledge for couple of chapters that focuses on their area.

Michael Sacci is a coordinator of the Nashville Apple Pro Video Group and an Apple FCP 6 Certified Trainer.