Search - Punk Rock Film School on DVD

Good for beginners, lacking for everyone else

Roach McKrackin | Boston, MA USA | 12/27/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Knowing that Darren Doane is a professional in the field, and has made some good videos for various famous bands, I was expecting a video chock full of tips on how to achieve different effects, lighting, visuals, etc. Unfortunately that was not the case.

The hour long video, shot in Darren's father's garage, is slowly paced, taking you step by step through each of 6 takes of a band playing the same song. Each take is shown being filmed for the full 3-4 minutes the song lasts, quickly eating into time that could have been better spent elsewhere. Then editing and post-production are touched on slightly, showing you incredibly basic editing and color correction techniques. After that the completed video is shown. While the video itself is not a bad video (if somewhat generic), it is obvious that techniques (such as slow motion and reverse shots) were used in the final product that were never touched on during the tutorial.

All in all, I'd say that if you are someone who's in a band that's looking to make a video, but has never done anything more than use a camcorder to film home movies, you might get something out of it, as it is certainly geared toward beginners, and will provide you with a good jumping off point for you to expand on.

However, if you are like myself, with at least some rudimentary film making experience under your belt, you are best off looking elsewhere, as everything in this video will be common sense, and of little value to you."