not a shabby guide. alot of this is personal opinion but i would say two things that i dont agree with
1) i think lights should be higher up there. Just because the sun is out doesnt mean you will get good lighting from it. Plus because there is only one sun you are gonna get harsh shadows which will require more then one light to fix.
2)be careful though with the Mac comment. You are bound to piss alot of people off considering everybody eventaully moves away from imovie. PLus, i believe avid for windows is one of the most widely used editing programs in the professional field. besides that, good post.

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

Thanks. its hard to do the descending order thing... What takes precedence over what? My aunt uses Avid (she is w/ the editing guild, works on a lot of movies) and she is making the switch to FCP. It is not the editing software that is the problem, it is the OS. I mention iMovie because its free, preloaded, and far superior to Windows movie maker or other preloaded solutions. Yes, I have tried both.

_______________________
God uses a Mac.

Canon XL-1
1.67ghz MacBook Pro
www.MariposaProd.com

the OS?

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

Yes the Operating System. From my signature it is obvious who I am loyal to. I don't want this thread to turn into a computer war. The purpose of this thread is to provide newbies with a all in one guide to start making films. In my experience (and just about everyone I know, including an oscar nominated director) Macs are the way to go if one is to be in the Film/Music/Photographic industry. Once again, a PC can probably hold its own if it has Avid, but for NEWBIES a mac provides the complete filmmaking solution at no extra cost. Dollar for dollar the mac is a better value and will last longer. Google it.

_______________________
God uses a Mac.

Canon XL-1
1.67ghz MacBook Pro
www.MariposaProd.com

i wont argue with you. cause we all know that the apple PC debate could go on for lets say...forever.

but ot add to the newbie supply kit. A big piece of advice would be to try to build stuff yourself before you go and buy anything. Like there is absolutly no reason to buy a $100 boom pole if you can make one for 20 bucks. Unfortunately most of us cant build a mic so the we have to buy them and the one Mariposa suggest will work for starters.

Some DIY boom poles:
?url? http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/pole.html?/url?

i built one with a Mr. Long Arm paint roller extension, pvc pipe, rubber bands, and a piece of scrap metal. Just type in Make you own boom pole in google and your bound to come up with a bunch of stuff

Everything else seems good. Rember its not the type of camera you have, its how you use it.

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

I've always been a loyal fan of Adobe Premiere. How does it rate among other programs such as Fianl Cut and Avid?

--QD Jones

Thats what I want! Keep adding tidbits of advise to complete the guide. I really need to revise my part with more info. I typed up the whole thing with HTML and everything and then, like an idiot, quit before saving. Retyped it really quick.
As for Adobe Premiere, I have used it and find FCP to be much more intuitive. Then again, its all relative to what you know. For a newbie I think iMovie is awesome. It works like your brain does and is really easy to use without sacrificing power or style.

_______________________
God uses a Mac.

Canon XL-1
1.67ghz MacBook Pro
www.MariposaProd.com

As for Mac vs. PC / iMovie vs. Final Cut vs. Avid vs. Premiere - they're all pretty much the same. I use a Mac with Final Cut at home because I also use Final Cut at the TV station where I intern (and for the little bit extra you pay, I find Macs much more reliable and, well, fun to use). Don't forget that you can also run most Avid titles on the Mac. But it really is just a question of preference. If you're the kind of person who's willing to (or likes to) tear apart your computer from time to time to install drives and ram and such and fiddle with the BIOS, then a PC is just the ticket. I learned to edit on a homebuilt PC running Win 98 and Premiere 5 and it was overall a pretty positive experience.

I would advise any Mac users out there who are serious about learning to edit to NOT USE iMovie. It's fine for home videos, but not much else. It has some quirks that make much of your knowledge about editing unusable on any other platform. Pony up the dough and get Final Cut Express. Steeper learning curve, but a much more standard interface.

As far as production goes, my suggestion has to do more with mindset than equipment: As much as possible, you need to behave as though you are making a big-budget movie. That means planning EVERYTHING beforehand, being on-task, strict with cast and crew if need be, and treating your equipment like it's SOLID GOLD. I just got through shooting a feature-length film on about the cheapest 3CCD camera I could find, but I absolutely REFUSE to refer to it as a "low-end" camera. I treated that thing like it was a friggin' Panaflex, and I expected the same level of performance out of it. This led to more than a few disappointments, but even more amazing, professional-looking shots.

Oh, and I can't stress this enough-- HARD DRIVE SPACE. Get all you can afford. I'm just barely scraping by with 400GB. I plan on upgrading to at least 600 before I go off to college. And do as I say, not as I do--buy an external drive to back up all your work to DAILY.

agingeri, you mentioned you intern at a TV station. I was thinking about getting an intern this summer at a local station and was wondering, well, is it worth it?

Bascially I'm wondering if it's worth my time to give up a good paying summer job for a job that isn't going to pay very well (if at all)?

Your thoughts on the subject would be aweasome.

--QD Jones

I think it is ABSOLUTELY worth it. I'm a high school senior and I've been interning at my school district's TV station (not too much - just about five hours a week) for about two years now. It's certainly no NBC, but because it's so small (only three full-time employees), I've had the opportunity to not only shoot and edit, but have total control over several projects from inception all the way through to delivery on DVD. It's been an amazing experience and probably the most valuable thing I've done in my high school career.

Of course, not getting paid would be the downside, but I've gotten numerous paid jobs due to my connections.

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

Wow! I wish I had opportunities like that when I was in high school. Great list. I wanted to add a little piece of info.

For those "Low to no budget" filmmakers like me, don't hold out for that $9,000 camera before you start making you movies. Get what ever you can afford and GET STARTED!!! If your budget can hold the Canon XLGMP-1-67,000 then get that. If not, check out the bargin table at Wal-mart. Learn whatever you can about lighting, angles, sound, and directing your actors using the cheapest camera you can find. Then, once you have the money for that $9,000 camera, you'll be shooting like a pro.

It's not the camera that makes you movie great. A great filmmaker could shoot a movie frame by frame with a polaroid.

"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

I don't know about anyone else but I don't think I'd want to shoot a movie frame by frame, call me crazy.

--QD Jones