If you want to make a movie and you need unbiased help, direction or advice, you've come to the right place. I'm assuming that you've either read one of my books or are in the process of reading one now. If not, you're still welcome here although my unorthodox view of Hollywood conventions might not make a lot of sense.

PixelMonger.com is never going to be as slick as the professional movie sites because I'm not a webmeister. I'm a filmmaker, and I'm busy making movies. No Shockwave, no cookies, no Flash, no obnoxious banners, not a single paid placement of any kind. This site is entirely created and funded out of pocket. Just for the record, with well over 5,000,000 visits per year, and literally gigabytes of data downloaded monthly, this site costs me far more than I'll ever make from the book.

What you will find here is an environment that is committed to fostering independent moviemaking of all budgets without any hidden agendas.

A good story, well told, takes craftsmanship. Some storytellers have a greater familiarity with the tools and methodology and can sculpt out their movie faster or more efficiently than others. Digital tools allow us to tell stories with relative ease on one level, but to tell a story well takes a collaboration that transcends the toolset.

On the most professional level there is no great saving on shooting digitally. I've shot an entire movie in HD on the back lots of MGM. No savings. I've shot a major international commercial on miniDV. Again, no savings. The expense of production is in paying the people that bring their hard learned craft to you to use, not in the acquisition equipment. Many people who buy a miniDV camcorder, get their friends together and shoot a "movie" for very little money. The reality is that another log gets thrown on the bonfire of mediocrity.

MiniDV moviemaking is not about introducing content into the conventional motion picture distribution stream. It never was. It never will be. It is about people going out and self-starting a project, involving others who might or might not find that they have a flair or interest in making movies, and then moving on.

It is about an affordable, entry level acquisition and post production environment that gives people an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. You get something good down on miniDV and then you show it around. If someone likes it they might give you a crack at a real project that will then be shot on a professional acquisition format like film or HD.

My intention with my book is to kick your professionalism, your toolset and your image quality up a notch so that you can compete in the real world of cinema. I get a lot of criticism from people who think that my methodology is too hard. This is a good thing.

My book is geared to professional minded people who have hopefully had prior experience in some aspect of production and understand the fundamental difference between a hobby and a career. There are no simple solutions, secret tricks, instant remedies or gizmos that will turn you into a moviemaker.

Be forewarned, my book's intent is to talk you out of using NTSC and FireWire based production environments. There are more than enough well written books out there that cater to the miniDV user ... we just don't need another one.

The multi-billion dollar consumer electronics industry is heavily vested in getting you to believe that if you buy the latest consumer camcorder, or software, or computer that you are automatically granted entrance into the moviemaking industry. Just consider all the ads and articles in all the magazines you read that further propagate this popular myth.

The motion picture manufacturing process was developed by a couple of our country's greatest industrialists, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. It is a highly refined methodology that has served us well for more than a century. The process is not an art form, although finely crafted motion pictures occasionally attain that status.

Motion picture production is about industrial manufacturing on the most fundamental level. It is built on a foundation that is firmly rooted in both qualitative and quantitate standards. Standards that do not change merely because some smarmy manufacturer decides to upgrade the claims of their equipment rather than actually making a better product.

Having worked in this business on a daily basis since 1975, I've seen thousands of well intentioned people come and go. They all bought into the commercialised myth, and few if any realised the true reasons for their lack of success.

The by-product of my experience in this industry is that I've already made damn near every mistake possible. I've worked professionally at every job in the conventional motion picture manufacturing process from writer to grip to DP to Producer, and the longer I work at this, the more I realise there is to learn. Now I don't mean that in the self-deprecating, socially-correct, polite kind'a way. I really mean that after twenty five years of hands on production, I continue to screw up on a fairly regular basis.

I've made millions and I've lost millions and then made'em back again. If you're looking for a secure livelihood, go to dental school. If you're looking for steady income, get a government job. If you're looking for a outlet for your boundless creativity, raise some children. This is an industry that will chew you up and won't even bother to spit out the pieces.

My point is that I didn't just make some miniDV festival movie and then decide to write a book about my experiences 'in the trenches'. Nor am I an out of work videographer, embittered by lack of acceptance in the greater filmmaking community.

I enjoy a rather consistent level of success in this industry and feel fortunate that I can give something back to it.

I have always been directly accessible through this site and have personally answered thousands of e-mails from readers around the world. I've counciled literally hundreds of readers through their projects both large and small and spend several hours a week answering questions from readers around the world.

The second edition to my book is a major revision, and directly addresses the majority of questions that were raised by the first book. It is an honest attempt at helping you break through the myth structure that surrounds this industry (and cut down on my e-mail time).

No matter how glamorous it appears, the moviemaking process is hard and often unrewarding work. The odds are against you for a number of reasons. Some we can do something about, some we can't. My only promise to you is that by the time you've finished my book, your odds of success will have improved greatly.

Now, come on in, pull up a chair and get to work!