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DIGITAL VIDEO AND FILMMAKING


KaBar2

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Since I finished my screenplay, I've done a lot of reading about digital video. There's a lot of debate about it, but I think DV is hot shit. I figure that within 10 years, regular emulsion film moviemaking will be about as "current" as silent film is now--kind of old fashioned and quaint.

 

I want to shoot my film with DV, because it is very inexpensive compared to shooting film. Even Super16 costs about $40 per hundred feet of film, and processing adds up. Shooting in DV, then blowing it up to a full 35mm for film festivals is definately the way to go for an indie, in my opinion.

 

Does anybody here have indie experience, and/or film school experience?

 

What are some of the best DV cameras?

 

What's the best? Middle-of-the-road? Low end/ best-cheapest?

 

I also considered shooting it in 16mm, using the grainy, documentary style as part of the movie (al la "Blair Witch Project") and going "guerrilla filmmaker", without permission, etc., etc. I have some great locations, all here in the Houston area, and I'm looking for a crew, for actors etc. kind of half-heartedly, because the script is still being edited by a college instructor buddy of mine.

 

A guy told me that the Canon XL-1 is the hot shit guerrilla camera.

 

Opinions?

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please believe i should be the main character! :D

 

or maybe an extra in the background....

 

youve got mail as well.

 

and i to want to write a screen play, that would be tight... you could drop a breif description about yours in my email when you reply if you want/trust me or whatever, id like to get an idea...

 

good luck buddy...

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Yeah, but Rage. . .

 

DV camera + online editing = a minute fraction of the cost of Super16.

 

I could make my film for about $10,000, I think, including equipment, food, etc., etc. The people that invested in indie films like Blair Witch Project made thousands of dollars back on their investment.

 

There's a big debate right now about whether or not to try and "make DV look like 35mm." The older guys who cut their teeth on 35mm films love the $$$ of DV, but they hate the look. The younger guys in Hollywood love DV because of the unlimited special effects and editing possibilities (go see "Spy Kids"--all done in the computer), and the real DV digital outlaws and guerrilla filmmakers are like "Hey, it looks fine--the question is does it transcend the limitations of the medium?"

 

I guess a minimum shooting budget in 35mm would be around $400,000. Ain't nobody going to give that kind of money to somebody like me. But for the price of a decent used pick-up truck, I'm in the movie business! At least, I'm in the filmmaking business. Getting it distributed is another whole deal.

One film student I met online says "Shoot pornos--they always make a profit--and then you can use the exact same cameras, crews and everything to shoot your own projects." Shit, cool idea.

 

(No, I'm not taking any volunteers for any pornos, so just forget it, LOL.)

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Start saving up your bucks, Tease. You can get a FIRST CLASS used DV camera for about $3,000. Brand new, a Canon GL-1 is only about $2,500. That's dirt cheap. A XL-1 with all the bells and whistles is about $3,700. And a Panasonic AG-DVX-100 around $7,000, I think.

 

The really expensive shit is all the stuff that goes with it. Look up your local university and see if they have a film school or a radio-TV-film program. Here in Texas, we have a bunch. University of Houston has a good program. UT at Austin has a Hollywood level program, with sound stages, full post-production, the works. There are 75 video production companies in Austin.

I wanna go. I don't wanna stay here and work hard. Working hard sucks a great big dick.

 

If you go to a film school, you could use all their shit to make your own movies. Hell, yeah.

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Don't Tell Me--It's probably some kind of felony

 

Tease--Yo, underage homemade pornos + old guys = Federal prison sentence, LOL. No thanks, but let's talk about shooting regular movies, seriously. But no pornos, okay?

 

Hey, ELEPHANT--I did not get any email, neither in my hotmail account or any 12 oz. PM's. What's the deal? I closed my AOL account, and put in a DSL. It's fast as lightning.

 

rsaxon50@hotmail.com

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Re: Yeah, but Rage. . .

 

Originally posted by KaBar2

(go see "Spy Kids"--all done in the computer)

 

Yea, Robert Rodriguez has some skills. Ever seen El Mariachi? It was his first film at the age of 23.

 

He gathered $7,000, wrote his scrpit, directed and edited the film on 16mm.

 

The coolest part is that he recorded ALL audio with a handheld cassette recorder and mic.

 

 

 

So, good luck with whatever you do bro. If you want a place to screen it, in any format; 35mm, 16mm, DV, etc., I have a theater.

 

:D

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Guest BROWNer

i'm about 2-3 months from camera access heaven, then

it is SOOOOO on it will be ridiculous. my problem is i

need shit NOW, i hate waiting to get ideas and things out

of my system.

 

kabar, an idea might be to look into a film co-op or

something..usually mid-large cities have one where you

pay some membership fees and in return have access

to practically most of what you would need. surely

you could parlay something from that, either through

the equipment potential, or just talking with the nerds

that hang out there.

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Guest BROWNer

also, membership fees for film co-ops, as far as i know, should be/are

fairly reasonable..especially if you take it as an investment

type of angle. i could be wrong but i'd say it's worth reconnoitering.

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you will be very fucking glad you went with DV.

 

Most cameras out there are good quality, well most 3chip cameras. Thats the only thing i would recommend is sticking with three chip. It's all preference after that, but i would nude you toward canon stuff.

 

My collage has a digital video program that just rips man. They bring you from I movie to final cut pro in two semsters and also teach you how to produce your own professional dvd. You could just audit a class like that in your area, use your access to equipment and make your film that way. the reason that is good is because they have all the 'extras' that seem to really make you poor. like external mics, light stands etcetera..

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Re: Don't Tell Me--It's probably some kind of felony

 

Originally posted by KaBar2

Tease--Yo, underage homemade pornos + old guys = Federal prison sentence, LOL. No thanks, but let's talk about shooting regular movies, seriously. But no pornos, okay?

 

yea no doubt man.... but my girls werent underaged though.... ;)

 

we got to meet up one day... i just went to houston like 3 weeks ago...

 

i got family on both sides so maybe next time i go...

 

did you get my email...

 

ibtease@hotmail.com

 

dont throw it out! haha

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Guest BROWNer
Originally posted by chicken bone

BROWNER! You never replied to my mail a while back? Por que?

 

shit, sorry bro, i'm not much of an email responser, plus i don't really bother

checking much. i'll check it out and hit you off.

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I talked to a guy online today who is going to Florida tomorrow to start shooting a feature-length DV movie. He promoted his idea and successfully pitched it using scraps of DV and VHS footage he had pieced together from some film workshop he did, shot with a borrowed Canon GL-1.

 

Packaging and attitude are everything.

 

This guy recently acquired a Panasonic AG-DVX-100. He says it is far better than the Canon GL-1 he used to make the promotion clip.

 

I love stories like this. I want to go be famous too!

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my old room mates cousin used to work for BET and has made a few indie movies. He also wrote a book about DV. I can't for the life of me remember what it is called but the authors name is Maxie(maxxie) Collier. I think his book has a lot on various cameras as well as how to budget your money and scheduling.

 

Be lookin out for dudes new movie coming out some time soon called Paper Chasers. Its a documentary style movie on the rap industry and i think it'll be coming to theatres.

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Originally posted by KaBar2

If you go to a film school, you could use all their shit to make your own movies. Hell, yeah.

 

that's what I did, then I got a real job in the industry and I do full time.

Kabar- check the email.

 

 

 

and just to add some usefull content to this thread...

Progressive Scan! is the catch word you should all be shouting about. Instead of shooting 60 interlaced video frames per second it shoots 30 (or 24) full frames per second so you actually get a filmic look to your content. A progressive frame rate and a higher video resolution is all that seperates high definition video from standard definition. There are cameras that are out there now that can be rented at a decent cost to shoot standard-def progressive scan video. These camera are perfect for going back to a film print because there's no interlace video pull-down (the process of squishing 30 frames in 24 frames) so your content wont suffer in the transfer. check this

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oh and on another note....

 

dont go with FinalCutPro.

 

well I suppose you could go with it if that's all you can find,

but if your purchasing software then go for Avid Xpress DV. link

 

why?

 

Well the biggest thing is that you need to figure your project will be rough cut by you or a peer at home on a small system then brought to a post shop for online finishing (that's if you want to really distribute a quality product). FCP doesn't make a very good quality edit decision list which is the key to regenerating your project at a higher resolution. Man.... I'm ranting.

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Guest imported_sofarok

I went to film school for my BA, when I started I had the option of doing the traditional route (using film) or the ‘new media’ route, I opted for new media, most of the course was identical, theory was the same and so was a lot of the practical stuff, most people who shoot on film edit digitally etc. I love the freedom that digital gives, your not tied down, don’t need a big (or any) crew, you can edit on your home pc, no lab costs etc but I have never been totally happy with the aesthetics, I’ve had my own mini dv stuff printed to super 16 and it does look pretty good if you get a nice transfer and grading from a good lab but unless your going the high de route (and I doubt you can afford that) it looks like pretty regular 16mm stuff. Im really confused at the moment about weather or not I like the aesthetic of video, ive always had a punk diy ethos to which dv etc is well suited but im not sure if my love of grainy nasty video is a love of a real aesthetic or a love of something that I can archive and hence I buy in to it.

 

Don’t know if that makes sense but anyways, im in an odd positing at the moment because im now teaching film and video.

 

If you need any help kabar drop me a line!.

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Guest imported_sofarok
Originally posted by Kilo7-

oh and on another note....

 

dont go with FinalCutPro.

 

FCP doesn't make a very good quality edit decision list which is the key to regenerating your project at a higher resolution. Man.... I'm ranting.

 

i have generated edls from final cut that have transferred over to avid and soft image with no problems, seems no worse than premier or avid dv express to me…

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^ it really comes down to the nature of the cut.

 

If it's a simple cut piece with little effect work, no compositing

and no motion effects then you are fine, but otherwise you will hit

kinks. Just for background sake, I'm running an Avid Unity network

with 2 Symphony (v.4) suites, 4 MediaComposers (v.11) and a few

xpress and xpressDV systems scattered around. We've taken projects

from FinalCut and Media100 lists and have had issues with recreating

things as simple as speed effects. The Symphony is the standard for

television onlines and non-avid cutting systems just can guarantee a

total conform (which saves a heap of time and money in the online).

 

there is one product that can help all this.

 

automatic duck uses the avid / digidesign standard OMFI system to offer total conforms from FCP.

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Guest WebsterUno

I just bought myself a Sony DV camcorder.

Its the shit! Its the one with touch screen.

I got it with a discount. The camera, would

have costed me, around $750, but with my

discount, I got it for around $600. So far,

I have 2 tapes loaded with graff, cruising footage,

and girls gone wild-The Webster Edition.

 

Anyway...Im still in my baby learning stages

of film editing. Youre doing a bigger thang

that what Im trying to do. So good luck to you!

Im going to use iMovie, or/and Final Cut 3

I hope your film makes it out there. If I was in

your area, I could lend you a helping hand.

Ill be learning a few things in the

weeks to come, if I learn anything of use to you,

I will gladly share. I would love to be an extra

in your flick! I could be Water Bed Web! lolzz...

:lol:

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