Movies and DVD are closely linked for obvious reasons and it is appropriate to cover both iMovie 4 and DVD 4 in the one text. It is all about capturing digital video, processing it to get a professional-like result, and using DVD for distribution of the finished product.

The book pays attention to using the camera: composition, lighting, lighting, audio, and so on. Part 2 of the book covers editing in iMovie: importing footage from Camcorder and non-DV sources; building the movie; transitions and effects; titles and captions; overlaying audio (music, narration); importing still images and QuickTime movies; and professional editing techniques.

Part of the book is a iDVD manual that shows how to prepare video for transfer to DVD, hand-build and iDVD project, and do all sorts of other things. The flexibility of DVD enables adaptation to multiple presentation formats, which is why users need a manual such as this.
 

David Pogue: iMovie 4 & iDVD ISBN 0-596-00693-4 Published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly, 484 pp., RRP $49.95 incl. GST