GoPro: Professional Guide to Filmmaking

When I first saw that GoPro was coming out with a filmmaking guide book, I immediately wondered if it would be worth the $20+ Amazon had it priced at. The answer to that question is yes, absolutely.The book is organized into a few major sections:1. Forward, Preface, and History of GoPro:These sections are interesting if you want to hear some of the story and inspiration for GoPro cameras. I enjoyed this section, though some people might want to skip it and head straight into the meat of the book.2.. GoPro Primer:This section is where you learn about the basics of using the cameras. What resolution should you use? What mode should you use? How should you adjust the camera settings for the optimum picture/video quality? All these questions and more are answered in this section. I think this is one of the most useful sections in the entire book and one worth revisiting often.3. Mounts:This section covers some of the basic mounts that you will want or need for getting point of views. Most of the mounts covered in this section can easily be researched just by searching on Amazon or Youtube. However, the book does include a section on experimental mounts. The experimental mount section will definitely be more useful for those who are more experienced GoPro users. This section also covers "film-maker" toys like drones and gimbals. The information is by no means extensive but because of the general layout of the book, which includes links to videos, this section could prove to be very inspirational. Lastly, there is a section that covers Multi-Camera set ups like Dual and 3D as well as array and spherical.4. Angles by Activity:The function of this section is to provide a quick reference guide. If you plan to use your GoPro for a lot of different activities you will especially like this section since it guides you on what mounts and corresponding camera modes are best for capturing a specific activity.5. Capturing a Story:This section is simply awesome. The authors tell you how to prepare to tell a story with your video. This is one of the things that makes GoPro cameras unique. You have to plan out what you want to record and how you want to tell your story. This section provides an excellent guide on how to do that. It also has a list of "essentials" that the GoPro production staff always take with them when they go out to capture a story. This list is particularly useful as a guide to what you "go bag" should eventually have.6. Art of Editing:Editing is what makes GoPro videos particularly awesome. If you haven't figured out by now that you will have to do some video editing to produce epic videos, let this be your memo! Editing is a huge part of the creative process. During this section they cover everything from organizing to time manipulation (slow motion, fast motion, etc.)7. Story Analysis:This section is all about the story. They give you examples of how GoPro uses all the tools at its disposal to tell a story. Its a theoretical section in the sense that it is breaking down videos into sections and how they contribute to the videos as a whole, what type of video it is, and examples of well made videos. It tells you how to tell a kind of story.8. Share your world:This section is all about inspiration. It tells you how you can share your own content, how to get access to more content, how to export your content, forums, and epic people you should be following for more inspiration.Overall, this book provides a wealth of information in terms of the scope of what is covered. It doesn't go into great depth on any particular section, though I think that if it did, it would take away from the book. This book is meant to give you a good idea of where to start, then you just gotta get out there and try stuff. Even professionals may find this book extremely useful, if for the inspiration alone. The book is loaded with amazing pictures. Almost every single page has a QR Code/link you can follow to view a youtube video of an example of whatever it is they are talking about in that page. Its packed with visual content. Also, every picture in the book has a description of what camera settings and mount were used to capture it. The only thing I don't like about the book is that some pages don't have a page number, which can be a little annoying as you're trying to find a particular section. That is really the only complaint I have.I plan to come back and edit this review to include additional information as I read and become more familiar with the book. It is so much information it might take a while, but at least you now have an idea of what content the book has. Definitely get this book if you're a newbie looking for inspiration and more know-how. It will make the learning curve a lot faster.

I'm a film maker and huge advocate of GoPro, but before buying, I really didn't know what to expect with this book. I expected the book would only give a few tips on how to use the mounts and primarily be a selling point for the camera and accessories. I was really wrong. Within the first few pages of browsing, I realized that it was a complete case study on how to effectively tell a story with the help of your camera. Yes it explains how to use the mounts, but it goes so much further than that. It goes in depth from which settings work best for certain situations, all the way to explaining how to best approach an interview to receive the most sincere reactions, citing specific examples from GoPro's videos. It's a book on how to tell tell stories. I guarantee that no matter what level of film maker you are, you will get a lot out of this book. I highly recommend it.

This is a well-written, well-organized book. There is a lot of information in here that helps you put videos together that don't suck! The recommendations for each resolution and FOV are spot-on. About the only complaint I have is that the book focuses on the HERO4 Black. I have the HERO 4 Silver and a Session and can't get the some of the settings the author recommends. Other than that, this is the best book out there on film-making.

I found this book to be good for new and inspiring video makers. In one book, it lays out the type of shots, the kind of videos, the structure you would need, and editing style that are featured in gopro or any video maker would use. As a beginner, it was this book that launched my knowledge into orbit as other books and resources have made it too technical. One does not need a 2 page summary of how to use a medium shot - you only need a couple of sentences of what those kind of shots are used for.If you are new or an inspring video maker, this book will be useful.If you're a cinematography that understands film theory, directions, and cut scenes - you probably won't enjoy this book.

This is a rather unique hybrid. It's an encyclopedia of techniques and accessories that can be employed with a GoPro, with lots of concise explanations of mounts and accessories an dhow to use them, It is magnificently illustrated and has tons of print and QR links to external examples and other resources. There's some, but not much explanation and discussion of GoPro techniques, a limited glossary and, in all, not much beyond very general instruction. But, overall, because it is a grab bag of this and that, the book is beautiful, informative and tremendously inspiring - if someone else can do it, so can I. I love this book and will be coming back to it many times. Excellent value.Jerry

I needed a book to help decipher the GoPro "code" since I just got my first Hero4 right before vacation! This book is so much more!I know photography, and I'm an artist so I understand all the basics and theory, but I think for someone just starting out, this book is a great primer. It's a summery of what you'd learn in film school. The meat and potatoes stuff. And in a fun style.This book is the first of its kind I've seen, where you read a bit, scan a QR code (with your phone) which corresponds to the story, and you watch a historical moment unfold, packed with excitement!I enjoyed the history of GoPro. It was fun to watch how and why this camera came to be.This book is a great inspiration.

This is a good book with very detailed information about movie making and great pictures. It's not about how to get the movie from your GoPro to your computer and how to manipulate if from there. I wanted to do a time lapse and all this book has is a description on what a time lapse is and how it can enhance your movie with scanner links to YouTube to show you examples of the effect. I wanted to know how to set up the GoPro to get the best time lapse and what to do next step by step. I'll use this book for reference and the next movie I make I'm sure it will come in handy.

Am about 1/2 done reading this book. It's a great read, and highly enjoy the video links, makes a great visual to follow with. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to take better GoPro footage.

El libro es increíble, es escrito por uno de los principales pioneros de GoPro, por lo que sus consejos se ve que son de alguien que quiere y ha usado infinidad de veces su producto, te informa desde lo básico, el cómo configurar la cámara ( incluyendo el que significa cada configuración) dependiendo de cada ocasión, cuál es la diferencia entre resoluciones, que parámetros utilizar dependiendo lo que se quiera grabar y cuales son los mejores dependiendo del accesorio que queramos, una lectura sencilla pero profunda sobre cómo sacarle el mejor provecho a tu cámara que creo que ayudará a todos, mi único detalle en la versión kindle es que para ver todos los colores de las fotos, acceder a los links de ejemplos en video, etc etc, la pantalla del kindle no es 100% adecuada ni puede reproducir videos, fuera de eso yo recomendaría este libro a todos los que tengan una GoPro y quieran sacarle todo el provecho posible!

Ich habe gerade erst angefangen, mit einer GoPro HERO 3 Black Edition zu filmen (und auch zu fotografieren - aus der Ecke komme ich eigentlich). Ich lese mich in allen neuen Dingen erst einmal ein, um nicht unnötig viel Zeit mit "trial and error" zu verschwenden. Zuvor hatte ich schon unzählige GoPro-Videos auf YouTube angesehen - was mich erst dazu geführt hat, mir auch eine zuzulegen. Und nun wurde ich auf dieses Buch der GoPro-Gründer und -Macher aufmerksam. Eigentlich hat mich der Titel "Professional Guide to Filmmaking..." erst abgehalten, überhaupt da hineinzugucken, denn ein Profi-Status ist nicht was ich anstrebe. Aber dann gewann die Neugier Oberhand und ich habe es nicht bereut. Ich bin ausgesprochen begeistert. Der Buchtitel ist m.E. irreführend, denn es hört sich ja direkt so an, als ob die Zielgruppe ausschließlich Filmemacher darstellt. Das Buch ist aber für alle GoPro-Besitzer gleichermaßen geeignet - allerdings muss man der englischen Sprache doch schon einigermaßen mächtig sein, um vollen Nutzen daraus ziehen zu können. Es gibt unendlich viele nützliche Tipps und Tricks, nicht nur für Profis - und vor allem gibt es tolle Fotos und Tonnen von Links auf super-, d.h. dann auch professionelle, GoPro-Videos, die einfach nur inspirierend, motivierend und teilweise atemberaubend sind. Korrekt, diese YouTube-Videos finde ich auch ohne dieses Buch, aber dann kann ich lange suchen und das ist mir bei diesem Überfluss viel zu mühselig. Ein DSLR-Fotograf kann niemals solche Action einfangen, wie es mit einer GoPro möglich ist. Das Buch geht vor allem auf die neueren Generationen 4 und 5 ein, aber auch für die Nutzer älterer GoPros ist unendlich viel Wissen verfügbar gemacht worden. Besser kann man m.E. keine Anleitung schreiben, besser kann man nicht motivieren - da haben sich die GoPro-Gründer und -Macher wirklich toll ins Zeug gelegt. Vielen Dank!

goproは日本でもたくさん売れているはずなので、是非、日本語版を作ってほしいです。

Não importa o seu grau de expertise na utilização de uma HERO, seja você um usuário iniciante, médio ou avançado... Este livro é um "companheiro" para todas as horas, uma referência para esclarecer dúvidas e aplicação de técnicas diversas, principalmente aquelas que nos fogem à memória justamente nos momentos mais críticos. Vale cada centavo! "A MUST HAVE!".