Digital Video FOR DUMmIES ‰ 3 RD EDITION Digital Video FOR DUMmIES ‰ 3 RD EDITION by Keith Underdahl Digital Video For Dummies®, 3rd Edition Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8700. 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For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2003105656 ISBN: 0-7645-4114-5 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/RW/QX/QT/IN is a trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. About the Author Keith Underdahllives in Albany, Oregon. Professionally, Keith is an electronic- publishing specialist for Ages Software, where he serves as program manager, interface designer, video-media producer, multimedia specialist, graphic artist, and when the day is over, he even sweeps out the place. Mr. Underdahl has written numerous books, including Teach Yourself Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Windows Movie Maker For Dummies, Macworld Final Cut Pro 2 Bible (co-author), and Adobe Premiere For Dummies. Dedication Not all those who wander are lost. — J. R. R. Tolkien Author’s Acknowledgments When people find out that I have written several books, they usu- ally react with awe and amazement, because writing an entire book seems like a monumental task. Writing a book is a monumental task, unless you’re as fortunate and blessed as I am with such wonderful family and friends. I can’t imagine getting up in the morning, much less writing a book like Digital Video For Dummies, without the help and support of my wife Christa. She has been my support staff, cheerleader, business manager, and inspiration throughout my writing career. Without Christa’s initial encouragement and tireless ongoing support, I would not be writing. Once again I must also thank my favorite movie subjects, Soren and Cole Underdahl. Not only do they take direction well, but they are also incredibly intelligent and look great on camera! Soren and Cole are featured in screen shots through this book, as well as some of the sample video clips found on the companion CD-ROM. Best of all, because they’re my own boys, the Wiley Publishing legal depart- ment doesn’t make me fill out all kinds of model releases and other daunting forms. If someone writes Boilerplate For Dummies, I’ll buy the first copy. Of course, I was working on this book before I even knew I was working on this book, making videos and developing my skills. I’vereceived a lot of help from people in and out of the video and software business, including Jon D’Angelica, Patrick BeauLieu, John Bowne, Ingrid de la Fuente, havoc23, Linda Herd, Pete Langlois, Andy Marken, Rick Muldoon, Paulien Ruijssenaars, Steve from Hard Times, and probably a lot of other people I can’t remember right at the moment. Last but certainly not least, I wish to give my unwavering gratitude to the wonderful Composition Services team at Wiley Publishing. Basically I scribbled this whole book on a stack of cocktail napkins, and it was up to the folks at Wiley to turn it all into a coherent book. I wish to thank Steve Hayes, Linda Morris, Barry Childs- Helton, Dennis Short, and everyone else at Wiley. Keep up the greatwork, folks!