Digital Cinema Filmmaker's Training Course review (25 DVDs)

What's perfect? Nothing human made? Only God and Mother Nature can create perfection. But we have to celebrate human's effort to reach that goal. Unreachable by humans, we can perhaps call human perfection her or his best attempt to reach it known to date.

That is the reason why I give the 'Digital Cinema Filmmaker's Training Course' a perfect 10. Because it is in my opinion, the best 'Filmmaker's DVD Course' known by humankind up to this date (December of 2009).

It comes in two versions: 'DCT-MP / COMMAND' or 'DCT-MP / COMMAND-FULL'. I've got the 'COMMAND-FULL' which comes with:

DCT-MP/COMMAND Course (20 DVDs)

DCT-COMP Compositing (4 DVDs)

DCT-A102 Audio (1 DVD)

DCT-FM1 Field Manual

DCT-PCL Production Checklist

DCT-PCD Pre-Production CD

DCT-NP Notepad and Pen

For more detailed information, you can visit their website at www.digitalcinematraining.com

I am trying to become a filmmaker, and of course it is tons to learn. In my research, I went to surf the web in search of 'the best' filmmaker course in DVD. I've got about 4 names from my friends of dvinfo, but the reviews at imdb and amazon convinced me of getting this one. People kept writing things like: 'I have a friend in film school, and he still didn't learn what I have learned in this course', 'Best filmmaking DVD course ever', 'Don't waste your money going to film school, get this course', etc. So, I decided to give it a try. I went to check the price and my first reaction was: 'Wow!!', but after all I read I thought, well, maybe it is worth the money. And it certainly is. Books are great, but you have to read them and if you want to learn them well you have to read them again, and if they don't come with 'video' examples on a CD or DVD; you cannot 'see' what they are talking about. Obviously, when you own the DVDs, you can watch them over and over and over again. No need to imagine what the book's writer is saying, you can only imagine how you can apply what you are learning on the work you will be doing. No need to read again (and nobody reads for you most likely), only lay on your puffy chair and watch again as many times as you wish.

I understand that the series was made with the intention that you can watch any of the DVDs at wish, without any order since you can skip whatever you don't want to watch or whatever you are not interested on. But to me, the series lack of an index. A 'suggestion' guide to where to start. What to watch first specially if you are a 'wanna be' such as myself. I believe this is not just only a personal preference, I think this is a need for the type of audience the series aims at. And because of this I was going to rate this series with a 9 instead of a 10. But, since no better 'filmmaker's DVD' series exist at this current time, this DVD series deserves a 10. It will be also nice to have some kind of 'informal' (or formal why not?) test (on line maybe?) where you can at least prove yourself (theoretically) how much you learned. One or two hundred multiple choice questions and 80% correctness to pass type deal. Just a thought.

My favorite DVD is called 'Audio Intermediate Guide'. A sound expert talks about what you at least need to know about audio recording and microphones. He uses 'most used' brands on each type of microphones and it is very clear and knowledgeable about what his is talking about. Great value for me since I am trying to decide now what wireless microphone I am going to purchase. Dvinfo has great advice too!!

I also enjoyed 'Movie Production Series'. Super well done.

I did not complete 'Digital Compositing Series' since they are 4 DVDs about blue screen and lighting for blue screen. I quit after watching the first one since I do not need it at this time. However it is a great value if I ever do use blue screen. It is surely a great treasure for anybody exploring those endeavors.

The 'Gear' DVDs are also great and a very valuable value. I skipped some features, since I am currently unable to for example buy a stabilizing mount (body-mounted camera support system) or use different lenses since my HMC-150 does not allow me to do so.

The movie is for instructional purposes only, but it was fun to watch and had two cool nice actors. Both guy and girl very professional and patient (specially the guy but the girl was great too) on those long days of shooting and holding on for the director to explain what he is doing (nice casting Rush!).

Rush Hamden has passion for what he does, and you can sense it (and see it) on his work in this DVD series. I think he did a wonderful thing bringing this DVD series to life and help people who have no clue (such as myself), some clue or lots of clues about filmmaking because even they can learn from his vision, his art and his point of view.

Overall I am very happy with my choice on this investment. I am going to refer and watch them again in the future as needed I am sure several times. I was actually 'teaching' my wife what I have learned from the series. She was fascinated to learn about 'weight' on the screen, composition (gravity and reading direction), triangles, law of thirds, etc. It is fun, it was a lot of fun to me!!

HIGLY RECOMMENDED to all of you who are also 'wanna bes' and for most of you that are already filmmakers because it'll certainly and most likely teach you something perhaps you did not know.

Verdict: Perfect 10.

Thank you for your passion Mr. Hamden, your creation is very much appreciated!!

Warning about switching to an Apple Mac: You may never, ever, EVER switch back to a non-Mac PC

I heard more than one person say: Once when you switch to a Mac, you will never switch back. In fact, after the sister of a friend knew about my new iMac, she said “Welcome to Mac, now you will never ever switch back!” And so far I must say... she is right.

Researching about which personal computer would be the best option for video editing, I came to the conclusion the best option is a Mac. Why? Well, I bet most of us know Macs are the best machines in the market since about 2 decades for photo and video editing. But when you are considering doing the switch yourself (in my case from a Windows PC); you kind of think about the switch twice. I had experience with Macs at work, and I always loved them (since supporting them is in my 'job description'); but I did some more thorough research since these are my own files built for years on a Windows PC. Don't get me wrong, I do like Windows PCs and that is why I invested more research time before I made the decision of 'converting' to a Mac.

I had a new need, editing HD video film like shot in 24fps (24p). And all I read is the best machines for such task are Mac Pros. I did consider them, but a good Mac Pro system is about 5k. I did not want to spend that much money because of two reasons: 1) I do NOT have that kind of money, 2) I am NOT a big movie/TV studio. So, then my second question was about which software do I want to use.

I heard Avid Media Composer 4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Sony Vegas Pro 9 were the best on the Windows side. And Final Cut Studio was the best on the Mac side. So, basically I decided to go with a Mac because:

#1

Final Cut Studio ONLY runs on a Mac (with an Intel chip) and therefore WILL NOT run on a Windows PC.

And Avid Media Composer 4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Sony Vegas Pro 9 run on a Windows PC and ALSO on a Mac.

#2

I can also run Windows on my Mac if I decided to do so, using for example a software like 'Parallels Desktop 5' which we have at our Mac Book at work and runs flawlessly.

#3

Industries' standard for big movie studios in terms of editing software, is Avid (for the most part) for what I read. But it is just too pricey for my budget. Plus, I also heard and read that Final Cut Studio has been gaining a lot of that 'standard' field from its first release and since then millions of editors around the world use it. In fact, several big movies were edited with Final Cut Studio (you can check out wikipedia or Apple's website for more information).

In terms of pricing, as of today (December of 2009), they rank (from priciest to cheapest):

Avid Media Composer 4

Final Cut Sudio

Adobe Premiere CS4

Sony Vegas Pro 9

Which Mac then? Well, I did not go with a Mac Pro mainly due to budget limitations. But I went with one of those newest cool 27' iMacs. In my particular situation, it is I believe the best deal. Because, even though an iMac is not as upgradable as the Mac Pros (you also need to buy a monitor for a Mac Pro when iMacs are machine and monitor together); the power you get and the coolest monitor (ever made?) you get for the buck, makes it worth the investment. I did get one of the 'QUAD-CORE' models tough (2.66GHz Intel Core i5) with 4GB or RAM , 1TB hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of video RAM.

All that said, this is the gear I believe is best for my particular situation. Macs are great, reliable, stylish, beautiful, remarkable, fun, safe and rewarding. I would recommend you the same configuration or a very similar one if you are on a similar situation. But be warned! Once when you switch to a Mac... you will probably never, EVER switch back!