I purchased this book understanding that there was no way machinima production could be properly covered in 160 pages. This book touched on the various production subjects such as scripting, storyboarding, video editing and so on, but not near enough to do much with the information. Rather I was interested in machinima history, which this book did an excellent job covering. I presume that it was no easy task locating the many machinima examples the authors cited throughout the book. But if the authors had these various machinima examples to pull screen captures from, they could have provided them on a DVD included with the book - this would have brought the value of the book up to par with its current cost.
I moved through the book from the start enjoying the history of machinima. Naturally I was getting excited about producing machinima myself. The authors pointed out that its relatively easy to get started, that it requires little or no budget and that it can be a lot of fun. Then, wham, on page 98/99, it's seemingly all over. Here the authors quote several lawyers who give dire predictions of what happens to those who violate intellectual property rights, with machinima authors having no special privileges. Even Fair Use as an option is shredded. Then, one lawyer is quoted "Check with a lawyer...". Well, there goes the benefits of fun and low budget - any contact with Legal Man is neither fun or inexpensive.
I think it was a critical mistake for the authors to have quoted these lawyers (What did the authors expect them to say?), yet give very little discussion to viable options for avoiding copyright infringement. Ironically these two copyright pages illustrated the popular Red vs. Blue which the author originally attempted to fly under the radar of Microsoft's Halo copyrights, but for whom it worked out. Should I expend 10-100 hours on a machinima piece and hope it works out on the legal front? Prior to pages 98/99 I read every page enthusiastically. Thereafter I was haunted by the thought that my machinima hobby may in some way be an illegal activity.
But, other than the unfortunate turn of events I reluctantly cite above, the book "Machinima" is well written and illustrated and is a great read within its introductory scope.