Product Description

For years, award-winning independent filmmaker Rick Schmidt has been teaching aspiring writers, directors, and producers how to make “no-budget” films, both in workshops and in his classic guide, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices. Now Schmidt shows how it is easier—and cheaper—than ever to make an innovative, high quality work, thanks to digital video. Filled with the latest information on equipment and software, ideas for experimenting with new techniques, and advice based on Schmidt’s own experiences, Extreme DV at Used-Car Prices offers a step-by-step tour through the making of a feature- length movie using the newest and ever-changing DV technology. Instructive and inspiring, this one-of-a-kind book is essential for filmmakers with lots of ideas but little money.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #200585 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-27
• Released on: 2004-07-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
It’s not the equipment that makes a good movie; it’s what you do with it. Rick Schmidt shows filmmakers how to use these new tools to realize their visions. (John Lasseter, Pixar Animation Studios writer/director of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and A Bug’s Life)

About the Author
Rick Schmidt has spent more than thirty years writing, directing, and producing critically acclaimed low-budget feature films, many of which have premiered at major film festivals around the world.

Customer Reviews

How to Make DV Movies at Used Car Prices...That No One Will Want to See
I was excited about this book but then when I got it and read the first few pages, I was disappointed, big time.

The author is, I think, some liberal arts professor who goes on and on about how to make a movie in less than 19 days. He recommends all sorts of off-the-cuff methods, like not using a script.

OK, dude, people have been making movies like that for decades -- they're called home movies. And guess what -- no one but the person who filmed it likes home movies.

He gives lots of outdated advice like how to share your movie on "low cost" file sharing servers that just point back to your home computer and eat up your bandwidth allowance from your ISP in no time flat. He goes on and on about how great Apple is...buy an Apple...buy an Apple...buy the $1,000 Adobe editing suite...wow, this is becoming one expensive used car!

Not a "How-To-Do-It", but a a "Just Do It"
Those who've read this and/or previous editions, frequently complain that there is little substantive "how-to" information in the books and that they are simply vehicles for the author's advancing his own aesthetic.

Rick and his many iterations of this book were meant to inspire as much as inform. With the DV revolution, Rick was forced to rewrite this book many times in just a few years, to keep current. Surely anyone whose dabbled at all in film or video the last 5-7 years is bound to be seasick from the many dizzying changes that have occurred in the field.

These tomes are more about getting off the couch and making your dream a reality, rather than a step by step recipe. Rick gives lots of good time and money saving advice and while it's easy to throw rocks at someone who's "never made a film of note", those who are so quick to criticize should take a look at their own lives and be honest about what THEY have produced. Rick has made a nice living for himself producing and consulting on independent works and I admire his tenacity and his refusal to sell out to the corporate mentality.

I have had the pleasure of meeting him and working personally along side him and attending some of his seminars. He is knowledgeable, experienced and "street-wise" to the ways of guerilla feature film production.

It's easy for the rich, elitists to go to NYU or UCLA and study film. What's hard is for the average, middle-class person to break into the field. Books like this one and Rodriguez' Rebel Without A Crew, are always going to meet with skepticism from the "formally trained". Yet year in and year out, Sundance, SXSW, Dallas Video Festival and countless other film festivals are full of incredible works produced by artists who've never darkened the door of a film class.

DV, DVD and now the newer Media card-based camcorders, along with bundled editing software on most newer computers, has enabled a new generation of filmmakers to realize their visions. Extreme DV At Used Car Prices is a great companion book to anyone who has ever dreamed of writing and directing their own feature film.

Thanks, Rick!

Awesome book!
Do yourself a favor and read it if you are serious about no only making a movie/video but having people sit through and enjoy your work.