As a collegue in the film industry I've read some of Ohio's writings and spoken with Her on many pleasurable occasions via telephone; she's a fountain of useful information. I'd highly recommend anything film related that She'd penned, and this book is no exception

Eight-hundred pages divided by thirty bucks is less than 4 cents a page, and it's a rare page that doesn't return its value many times over in this top-notch tour through every major (and many minor) aspect(s) of the filmmaking process.

The breadth of Denise Ohio's knowledge is astonishing--she's clearly had assistance and generously credits key sources--but her ability to boil information down and present it with effervescent wit makes "Five Essential Steps" an invaluable manual for videomakers at all levels who've heard the call to "put on a show."

Whatever your budget or level of expertise (okay, I'd say the ideal reader would be at an intermediate level, with some production experience under the belt) this book provides an overview of the various phases (Development, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production & Distribution), as well as an 'underview' chock-full of nuggets drawn from the experience of its remarkably versatile author. Even if you never intend to pitch the script, hang the lights, spot the audio, or negotiate the sync license yourself, any digital videomaker in the DIY era owes it to him/herself to understand how the process works from start to finish. For those who do intend to put on that multi-brimmed hat, consider this comprehensive primer/reference first money well-spent.

The inspiration for Five Essential Steps In Digital Video: The Do It Yourself Guide To Shooting And Producing Your Own Video sprang from a theme of five frequently asked questions posed to digital video expert Denise Ohio. The questions she typically receives are based on what she calls Five Steps: Development: Hunting and Gathering; Preproduction: People, Places, and Things; Production: Action!; Postproduction: Directing the Movie; and Selling: How to Keep Your Shirt Five Essential Steps In Digital Video is packed full of information for the novice and will serve as a superb reference for the seasoned producer. Denise Ohio covers the basics of DV technology and choosing the right equipment to planning your budget, digitizing your own music, and acquiring resources online. Selling a project has also been transformed by the Internet and Denise Ohio accessibly surveys and explains which means of distribution would be the best for the reader's project. Highly recommended with User Level classification of: Beginner to Intermediate. 800 pp.

"The Jasmine Trade" is a suspense mystery written with a lot of depth by Denise Hamilton. It's about parachute kids in the San Gabriel Valley. Eve is a reporter working on an article about prostitution, but at the same time cracking a case about who killed 17-year-old Marina Lu, who was found dead in her car. Eve falls in love at the same time and is sometimes in the wrong place.
With many stories being connected as you read the book, it all falls into one place: How are all these parachute kids connected? When you read the fictitious "Eve" narrate it, it's as if the author were there.
"The Jasmine Trade" is a lot more complex than "The Outsiders," which is also about gangs, that I just had to read for my 7th grade English class. Children who probably have not read much might like "The Outsiders," because they have nothing better to compare it to, like "The Jasmine Trade." -- Maia L., L.A.

"The Jasmine Trade" by Denise Hamilton is a wonderfully engaging and readable first novel that introduces you to the twilight world of the disenfranchised rich teenage Asian immigrants in Los Angeles. It's haunting and gripping, and is a read that should not be missed!

While covering the carjacking-gone-wrong murder of 17 year old Marina Lu, Los Angeles reporter Eve Diamond, fortuitously uncovers a subculture she had little knowledge of: the parachute kids. These are the young teenage children of recent well to do Asian immigrants, who are living in this country with little or no parental supervision. While the parents are jetting all over the world for business reasons, the kids are expected to go to school regularly, get good grades, and lead exemplary lives. Of course, left to their own resources, the kids usually drift, and frequently into gangs. Eve smells a really good story here, and an award winning one at that. Through her contacts with the school board, and the Rainbow Coalition Center, Eve manages to talk to one of these 'parachute kids' and unexpectedly stumbles onto the diary of Marina Lu. Reading bits of the diary, Eve discovers that Marina believed that her much older fiance was two-timing her, and had resolved to discover the truth. Now, Eve cannot help but wonder if Marina's death was actually a murder made to look like a carjacking gone wrong. However before she can read Marina's diary properly from beginning to end, her car is broken into, and all her notes and Marina's diary is stolen. Was this a 'real' robbery or was recovering Marina's diary the primary objective? Suddenly Eve's world seems a lot darker. Why would the diary of a 17 year old be of any importance to anyone, unless it contained something really damaging to someone? And how did this person know that Eve had Marina's diary? Conscious of the fact that she may be in danger, Eve nonetheless refuses to give up her investigation into Marina's death, even if it means putting herself directly into harms' way. What Eve's eventually uncovers will haunt her and change her forever.

"The Jasmine Trade" is a really great read. And although for the first half of the book, the plot looks as if it is teetering a little between the subplots that dealt with Marina's death and her obsessive need to know what her fiance was up to, and the parachute kids, everything does come together, so that sticking it out really does pay off! Eve Diamond is a truly plucky and engaging heroine; her character makeup, equal parts investigative zeal to discover what really happened and to deliver some much needed justice, and her own inner sense of self loathing for all the manipulation she exercises in order to get a story, makes Eve really accessible to the reader. I also liked the manner in which Denise Hamilton intersperses bits about Eve's past with the present, so that we get to better understand Eve's character, and what motivates her. The storyline was an intriguing and riverting one, and Denise Hamilton's prose style was fresh and breezy, thus making this novel easy reading. I really enjoyed "The Jasmine Trade" and have no problem recommending it as an excellent read.

It should have been one of the happiest times of young Marina Lu's life: graduating from high school, planning a wedding, shopping for bridesmaid's dresses. Instead she is lying dead in the front seat of her Lexus, the apparent victim of a carjacking gone wrong. So begins this fascinating mystery about the secluded world of Chinese immigrants living in L.A.'s San Gabriel Valley.

Debut novelist Denise Hamilton first wrote about Los Angeles' Chinese community (and the parachute kids) during her other career as a journalist for the "Los Angeles Times." There she uncovered this inner world of California's Asian Southland, all but unknown to most of the city's millions of inhabitants. She uses her skills as an investigator and writer to excellent effect, producing a work that is both compellingly readable and factually accurate. Hamilton's real-to-life characters keep the reader's eyes fixed on the page as she leads us through a mystery that is both compelling and heart-breaking.

I somehow missed this book when it was published last year, despite the fact that it received rave reviews from such gifted writers as Michael Connelly and Thomas Perry. Don't make the same mistake! Buy "The Jasmine Trade" and read it today. It was one of the best mysteries of 2001.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, MysteryInkOnline.com

This book was really cute, i picked it up at the bookstorebecause i'm a big fan of dragons of all shapes and sizes, I usuallypick up any dragon book i come across. It was really a great kids book. wonderful!