Appendix A. The Pit You Throw Your Money Into

I told my publisher this chapter was required, kind of like a warning label if the film-and-DVD-making bug bites you, I hope your pockets are deeper than mine. This is a heck of a hobby, but it can get real expensive real fast. I speak from experience. I find myself lusting for bigger, faster, better, and cheaper hardware and software to satisfy my near-insatiable need.

Of course, you can spend a small fortune on the toys for actually shooting your video your cameras, lights, microphones, tripods, Steadicams, and all those other accoutrements of more professional shooting.

You absolutely don't need to spend a lot of money on software to make good movies and videos for your DVDs. But you could, and it wouldn't be hard. Software for this particular slice of heaven comes at a cost.

Fortunately, you have everything you need to make a movie or burn a slick DVD already. You don't need any of what follows.

But you'll probably want at least some of it.

Figure A.1. There are Web stores like www.videoguys.com, devoted entirely to the latest and greatest gear you can buy for your camera or your Mac.

I know one guy who actually bought a little trolley-thing that runs on rails, to use for those smooth tracking shots you see in "big" films. And another guy who had to have his living room floor reinforced to hold all the video and audio gear. But I digress.

Since my specialty is the Macintosh, I'll spend the rest of the chapter showing you new and exciting ways to empty your pockets directly into your editing and DVD mastering studio (a.k.a. your Mac's hard drive). I've already covered hardware you can spend your dough on in several places in the book, but software has gotten short shrift.

This appendix is the antidote to that. Get out your MasterCard and get ready to spend some quality time spending quality money for quality software.