I’m currently reading this:
Very nifty stuff. A 300+ page book filled with direct how-to on Rodriguez-style DV filming, including a DVD-ROM filled with supplemental chapters in PDF and complete Adobe AfterEffects plug-ins for digitally-inserted muzzle flashes, ejecting brass and more.
Real nuts-and-bolts stuff, instead of theory. Fascinating, and more than a bit inspirational. Click the cover for more info.
Several cinematic concepts drifting through my skull that I might explore eventually — a 30s pulp piece, digitally graded so that it looks period; a good old-fashioned space opera; or my western-wuxia mix.
Funny enough, special effects have gotten so do-able via digital tech that my main concern isn’t the effects anymore — it’s the sets and locations (although a lot of that can be green-screened ala Sin City, but even that requires a large studio set to pull off well….).