Transitions: Voices on the Craft of Digital Editing -- a review by Marisu Fronc

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A Creative COW "Real World" Book Review

	Marisu Fronc Milner-Fenwick, Inc. Timonium, MD USA ©2002 Marisu Fronc and CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Article Focus: Marisu Fronc takes a look at Transitions: Voices on the Craft of Digital Editing published by Friends of Ed.

Transitions: Voices on the Craft of Digital Editing written by Erik Andersen, Stuart Bass, Ben Bryant, et al. If you’re like most editors, you probably spend the lion’s share of your time working in the dark, and by yourself. This lack of interaction with other practitioners of our craft is one of the reasons this book so appealing. Fifteen editors, of features, television and animation, discuss different areas of our craft - some in broad generalities, others with a macro view down to specific keyboard commands. The material often centers around the differences between editing solely on non-linear systems and coming up “through the ranks” from film, through linear video and now to non-linear and, which ever path you’ve followed in your career, it’s eye opening to take in the other points of view. Okay, now that you have the idea, I must stop here and quote A Chorus Line and say my rating is “dance 10 - looks 3". The material is wonderful, intelligent, articulate, witty but, unfortunately, burdened with being “over art designed” to the point of head-banging illegibility. Someone failed to inform the publishers that editors NEED to actually USE their eyes to work, and printing black on charcoal and expecting that this particular audience will accept severe eyestrain and actually read the book, is assuming a whole lot. Many of the pages are virtually impossible to read without bringing on a migraine, and even the ones with a fairly good contrast between print and background are burdened with a confusing layout of articles, sidebars, headers and footers - all of which scream for your attention and make it difficult to decide which to read, and in what order. If your eyes are young and you can handle the layout, the book is well worth the read. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is just starting out. I give it 3 COWS. If your eyes are young and you can handle the layout, the book is well worth the read. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is just starting out, I only wish they made a “visually impaired” (or at least, not visually impairing) version for the rest of us. While nothing can substitute for actual human interaction, this book can help make all of us “mushroom farmers” feel more in touch, and in tune, with our profession and those who practice it.

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