I like the new JVC GZ-HD7. I?ve seen these on line for as
little as $1,200. A really nice Fujinon lens makes a huge
difference and full manual controls is important. Three
1/5? 16:9 progressive scan CCD?s are pretty impressive
for a camera in this price range. It records directly to a
built in 60GB hard drive.

Close is the Canon HV20. It records in HDV (1080i) and
24p (60i), has a mic input and manual controls of white
balance and focus but it uses one 1/2.7? CMOS sensor
rather than 3 CCD?s. For me the jury is still out on the
CMOS. And it?s so small the handling is difficult.

The next price range is in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.
Time to get serious. A camera in this range should have
is XLR mic inputs and, of course, manual controls. The
bigger the CCD?s the better. There are about a dozen
cameras in this range but not one of them has XLR inputs.
The four I like:

The Panasonic AG-DVC60 is the only shoulder mounted
cameras in this price range. Controls are more consumer
oriented. Movie-Like mode inferior to true progressive
imaging; no built-in XLR ports but it has the essentials.

The Canon Gl2 is in my opinion the best in this price range.
Still no XLR inputs and the "frame mode" is inferior, but
this is a really nice camera for the price.

The Sony DCR-VX2100 really gives the GL-1 a run for the
money. It?s really small so no XLR inputs, but it does have
a headphone jack.

The Sony DCR-TRV950 is a terrific camera with all the
essentials. Again, no XLR input.

AUDIO
What you're looking for is a good shotgun mic. That in itself is
a generic term that means any long barreled mic. You want a
good condenser (externally powered) mic with a ?lobar? pick
up pattern to put on your boom pole. Lobar pick up means the
mic focuses its audio pick up to a narrow area. This is why you
want to use a boom pole to get the mic as close the the actor
as possible - you?ll get clean dialogue tracks with less ambient
noise.

?URL? http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/?/URL?
Sennheiser is the mic most used by professional sound recordists.
They are expensive and worth it. Check out the ME-66 and the
ME-67. The MKH60 is the best if you can afford it.

?url? http://www.audio-technica.com/?/url?
Audio-Technica is cheaper. Check out the AT835B. It?s a workable
mic, a little muddy and not as directional as it should be. The
AT835ST is a good mic for the price, but it, too, sounds a bit
muddy - the vocals don?t sound crisp enough for me.

?url? http://www.azdencorp.com/?/url?
I?ve never used Azden mic?s. They?re inexpensive and I don?t
hear too many good things about them, but if that's all you
can afford it's MUCH better than using the camera mic.

A good mic is an investment. It will last longer than your
camera - why skimp? A great place to check prices and purchase
is B&H Photo
?url? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/?/url?

The further away the mic is from the actors, the higher the volume
needs to be. The higher the volume, the more ?noise? you get.
Your goal is to have a very high signal to noise ratio - more signal
(the dialogue) less noise (the background). Even a very good,
expensive Sennheiser mounted on the camera will pick up a lot
of background ambiance because it?s far away from the actors.

So you need a boom pole. This can be as simple as a painters
pole with a microphone shock mount on it - or a 3 or 4 section,
expandable Carbon Fiber, Graphite Fiber or Aluminum boom pole.
The lighter the pole the better. Expandable is also very convenient.
A pole that?s a fixed six or eight feet (painters pole) can pose
problems if you?re shooting in a small space like a bathroom or
small apartment or if the boom operator needs to be twelve to
fifteen feet away to be out the the lights.

A good Graphite, five section boom will be light, range from two
feet to nine feet and cost $500 or so. A pro boom-op will invest
in a good pole. No need to spend that kind of money if you?re
making one or two shorts a year.

LIGHTING
Lowel makes nice kits. Tungsten lights with stands, barndoors
and hard case. You can also check Arri lights - more expensive
and worth every penny. Not the Lowel kits are bad - I have a 6 l
ight kit with the Omni?s and Tota?s that I bought new in 1990
and am still using it 17 years later.

This ?URL="http://www.darkcrimes.com/images/lowbudgetlighting.jpg"?example?/URL? kind of puts all the following links in perspective.

For a nice beginning light kit I recommend:
A couple of ?URL="http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=9401794&PMT4NO=0"target="?work lights?/URL? with stands from any home improvement store.

Five or six ?scoop lights? - those ?URL="http://www.doityourself.com/icat/clamplights"?clamp on work lights?/URL? with the
silver reflector.

Three or four pieces of ?URL="http://www.artsupply.com/brand/foamcore.htm"?Foamcore?/URL? from any art supply store to use to
bounce the light.

Two or three ?URL="http://www.cherryblossomgardens.com/paper_lanterns.asp"?paper lanterns?/URL? that you can get at Ikea. I hook
each one to a dimmer (home improvement store again) to
get better control.

Some colored gels (check on line or if there is a small theater
in your town they often have extras) and some black wrap.
Check ?URL="http://www.studiodepot.com/store/"?Studio Depot?/URL?

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

If you will be doing most of the shooting in two or three days why don't you rent the equipment?

I agree with renting the equipment and I have to wonder if 2 to 3 days is really enough. Even if you're not getting the same kind of coverage and moving lighting and stuff like you would with a regular production you're slamming out a lot of stuff in that time if you're talking feature length (are you talking feature length?). Sound issues and the quirks of the set (a case of the giggles) can cost annoyingly long stretches of time.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I am very inexperienced. I just shot a 5-10 minute short and it took me about 3 days. If I wanted to I could have done all shots in 1 day over the course of a few hours. Moving locations, day/night, wardrobe, breaks etc.

I am just wondering why you are rushing this? I'm sure you have everything planned out well, but working 14 hour days, crew/actors might get irritated. Depending on experience.

Also, what if it rains and you need sun. What if your shots don't turn out well and you need to reshoot. What about re-recording audio. "Looping?"

Just my opinion/comments. I wish you the best of luck.

Yes, this is a feature length film we will be shooting.

I guess I should clarify that half the movie will have to be shot in 3 days because we will be filming at a location that we will be paying for by the day. The 3 days alone will cost about $1000. I will also be needing about 100+ people made up of family and friends, so I knew I was going to be only able to shoot this part in a few days.

Yes, as a first time filmmaker I know I am biting off a huge chunk and that it will probably be the most stressfull three days of my life, but that is just one of the crosses I will have to bear.

And those 3 days will be made up of the first two days as being almost rehearsals, where we are actually filming in a way that we are getting coverage for the shots that dont show large crowds. The final day, we will have around 150 people there are we will be shooting hopefully the best shots, but again, we will have coverage of those shots from the 2 previous days to fill in rough spots

I will be getting my main actors together many times before the 3 day shooting to rehearse and get as ready as possible. And as I stated in my original post, in the end, I want people to think that what they are seeing is actually real and not staged. Thus, certain screwups and what-not may actually help push this feeling.

I will be scheduling those 3 days to the last second, yet I know there will be problems that will arise while shooting. I will have to make it work in the editing room though. Since those 3 days will probably only end up being 45 minutes of the actual movie, I think that shooting with two cameras for like 10 hours a day each for three days, will give me 50-60 hours of footage to use to cut down to 45 minutes.

This also explains why renting wont work, since I will be filming more over a longer period.

Any other advice would be appreciated. Good ways to schedule shooting especially.

You could always buy one camera and rent a second or third during the three day crunch.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Woh man you got 10k, thats awesome. I am beginning a film, and I am currently trying to gather funds. Did you save up your money, or did you find sponsors, car washes, etc.?

If you found sponsors, how did you approach them, and who did you approach?

Yes thats interesting how do you raise the money if you are producing and directing it yourself.

Thanks
Rob - UK

My co-writer and I raised $2000 as we wanted to have a decent portion of the film paid for ourselves. That way, when we approached the people we were hoping would pay for the reast of the film. they were a bit more open to the idea, since we had already saved up for 1/5th of the film.

Those people who paid for the rest are my grandparents, who are financially stable. Again, though, we had put 1/5 of the films cost so that our grandparents would only have to put up 4k each and not have to worry about it that much if things dont end up taking off.

We most certainly will pay them back, though, right away if we do sell the film to someone.

Sounds like a steady cam shoud def be on your shoping list, as if your going for the office type camera work then you def need to have free flowing camera work. Which is easily achived by use of steady cams. Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

Dude, I'm impressed...you're either Robert Rodriguez or you're insane!

But seriously, obviously you've gotta have your equipment covered, and you've gotten lots of great suggestions on that (one more would be to buy used and plan to resell at the end) -- but the bottom line is your story tight (and it goes without saying: great), and get your shots lined out in advance so you know you're covered. I recommend you go through and put a shot list on paper, and then play the whole thing through your head a bunch of times until you're sure what you need and what you don't.

BE your audience when you do that...it's also good if you can shoot it yourself, so you know exactly what your audience will be seeing. Stay tight and keep the camera moving so it's dynamic!

And try to get everything you possibly can for free -- and once you've jumped off the cliff, don't look back but enjoy the ride!

Is a steady-cam necessary if I want it to seem as though it is being shot by someone with a handheld camera? I guess I dont know if actual handheld is too much for most audiences to sit through, even if it supposed to actually be film shot by someone actually holding the camera.

I would probably have to buy or make a steadycam if this is the case, but I am hoping that if I hire someone who is able to shoot most shots, especially if we set them up in advance where they will have to move with the camera handheld, we can practice the shot beforehand so that they can shoot it without it seeming to rough.

Hello. $10,000 is a spectacular budget for a first short, you should be able to make something totally equal in every way to the Office.

Hire everything, you can afford to hire HD cameras and a bunch of other stuff so why buy totally incomparable con/prosumer HDV? If you're planning on shooting a lot of stuff ongoing it is worth buying something like the Sony Z1 (anything else you'll be unhappy with by your third film) and hiring everything else, but otherwise don't buy anything for just a 3 day shoot, that's nuts.

Your steadicam depends on your cameraman, the Office is probably shot shoulder mounted but if you're not used to doing it it can come out too shaky, they're quite a big expense when you're looking for something with a little shake to it. If you do use a light camera like a Z1 you can make a counterweight glidecam really easily.

Leave yourself a few hundred $ contingency as well, you will have made mistakes and forgotten things.

Good luck!

Steve
www.coffeefilms.com

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