For internet distribution the type of camera doesn't matter so much but for festivals it could be a big deal, depending upon the festival that is.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Of course you can always tell them it was shot on 35mm and you used fancy effects to make it look like consumer video in post :).

If you're shooting a moderately serious project and it's a day when I'm free I might be able to drive down the M3 with my Z1 and mike.

Hey, if a festival rejects you because you're not shooting on professional equipment and doesn't take into account the actual storyline of your film, they're probably not worth entering anyway.

And if they really give you trouble about not shooting with an XL1, just come up with some BS artistic reason as to why you chose the aesthetic of consumer video. If they're art snobs, they won't understand you and they will start calling you a genius auteur. But that's just me being pessimistic.

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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my vodcast on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=96931870
and my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com

Thanks for the offer MarkG, may well take you up on that!
I'm just hoping that the content of the film will outweigh any technical shortcomings. I have access to After Effects with Magic Bullet anyway, so I can always manipulate the footage to look better?

I think you can get away with a single CCD as long as you take the time to properly colour grade in post, de-interlacing the footage, whilst most technical purists seem to dislike it, also gives it a more "filmic" and less "video" look. Content is important though, if you look at DOGME films they universally looked camcorder-esque but won stacks of awards, there are so many festivals all looking for something different.

Steve Piper
Coffee Films
www.coffeefilms.com
www.myspace.com/coffeefilms