The digital editing systems offer a tremendous number of tools that open up a myriad of creative possibilities for the film and video maker, but are as a result difficult to master. Designed for students using Avid Xpress or Media Composer for the first time, this text has been organized to help beginning students understand the work they are doing in the classroom and to guide them through an editing project. The accompanying CD-ROM contain short narrative footage to download for immediate hands-on practice.


Additional assignments appear at the end of some chapters to guide students through important tasks and increase their editing skills. A CD-ROM containing footage for a short narrative scene accompanies the text, providing all students with material to download into the machine to begin work almost immediately. The script for the scene appears at the end of the first chapter, providing the students with a blueprint to follow. The book is illustrated throughout with screen shots referring to the same scene, so that the student is able to follow the steps outlined in the book directly on the machine, thereby gaining the confidence required to work on his or her own projects.