Digital Cinematography by Ben de Leeuw

What is digital cinematography? Well, it's the art of storytelling on the computer. In today's terms it typically means 3-D animation as described in Ben de Leeuw's Digital Cinematography. I'm pleased finally to see a book that covers this crucial topic. You'll find that my review is rather direct and critical since I like to see 3-D books that go beyond superficial explanation an actually explore the deep roots of 3-D animation. Of course, I'm usually disappointed, but in the case of Digital Cinematography I was pleasantly surprised. With the exception of the occasional light coverage on topics, I found the book to be a very informative resource.

To keep this review from becoming a book itself, I decided to provide you with a `First Impression' overview and then cover the most notable chapters in the book. While every chapter provided useful information, there were several that were especially valuable to digital cinematographers. So, what are we waiting for? Let's take a look at Digital Cinematography.

First Impression
My first impression of the book was one of disappointment, not due to the content, but rather the visuals. To be specific, the example images were less than motivational. This is a problem with nearly every 3-D book. It seems most authors focus their energy on the text, but treat the images as an afterthought. In a world of imagery such as 3-D graphics, it's difficult to take their discussions to heart when the images are disappointing. If we are to be convinced that the information they are sharing is accurate and useful we need to see practical, real-world examples that support their claims. In the case of the images in Digital Cinematography, well, I don't think anyone will ever have the need to render a stickman worshipping a temple that looks like a teapot. At least, I certainly hope they won't. The images in the book are barren and very unrealistic which tends to make light of the subject matter. It's my sincere hope that 3-D authors will soon realize the importance of providing visually appealing and inspirational images, which will make their information more credible. As viewers, we tend to assume that the author is utilizing the information and techniques described in the book to create the images. Therefore, if the images are poor, we must assume the information is also poor. This may not always be the case, but we will never know since we didn't read the book due to the poor quality of the images!

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, let's take a look at the content of the book. While the book does make several good points, it also appears to be one-sided. For example, it states that having characters recognize the camera's presence by looking at it is undesirable, but there are many cases where having the characters look at the camera is a powerful tool in drawing the viewer into the story. For instance, the movie Cuffs where Christian Slater talks to the viewer directly helps to pull the viewer in. It would have been nice for the book to share more than one view on the topic.

You'll also find that the book seems to focus on more classic cinematography rather than modern techniques. If you are interested in the classic methods it's a nice book, but if you lean towards the modern techniques you'll find yourself wanting more. However, this doesn't mean that the book isn't valuable. I just prefer to see a book that covers all possibilities, rather than the author's personal taste, even if it happens to be good taste as is the case with Digital Cinematography. Now, here's a couple of the most useful chapters.