Hi all,
This is my first post in this forum so my warm regards to everyone.
I am very keen to go into the cinema world. But I am not very rich, neither I have any film making experience. Thus I want to make my entry into big cinema through short independent films, just like Christopher Nolan did. I have decided to upload my shorts either of youtube to ask them for any feedbacks. Or I want to submit my short films into some online short movie competitions.
I have decided to make a short film followed by another short film. Scripts for both are almost ready. But one thing is really bugging me. and for that I need your help. I would really appreciate that.
I have a Kodak easy share 14MP HD digital camera. Before starting any serious shooting, I tried to do some shooting to get better hands with the camera.
I noticed that my camera was taking a lot of space when I was doing movie mode. approx 1 hour of shooting was taking 4 GB of memory. its 30 FPS. and 640x480.
questions :
Q 1) Why is it taking this enormous space? how can I reduce it. I don't want to reduce FPS nor the 640x480 to 320x240. I only want to decrease the size. How can I do it?
I dont think with this enormous size I can post my short to youtube or any online competitions.
Q 2)Then how other people are able to upload their movies on short movies online competitions if size in Digicams are so huge. Are they all using non digital cameras. means..SLRs or negative film type of cameras. please also tell me what the proper name for cameras which use negative films which editors cut with knives and then paste and make the positives.
Q 3) If its not possible to reduce size in digital cameras, The only way is to get a SLR or a negative film camera. The least expensive DV camera which I am getting is JVC DV of around US $4000. but my total budget is around US $2000. so what to do? whats the real solution regarding the size without getting its quality down.
Q 4) My other concerns are about making positives of negatives and then editing and then super imposing audio on that. I am not asking you to tell me the whole process, may be you can tell me some dummy guide available for abc of working with negatives of movies. and editing and then dubbing or editing sounds. But I will ask this question in another post, because this stage is a very late stage. First my problem is of camera.
Please Help me with the 3 questions above. I really really will be thankful to you.
Please take me as a real beginner. Please do not use any jargon or difficult language. Its a request.
Thanks a lot
Regards
Vibhor Malik
VM
1) Ok first there is no way to decrease the size of the file unless you make the video smaller. Video just takes up alot of space. Also are you shooting in HD as this will dramatically increase the file size.
Also 1 hour isn't a bad length of time for shots. If you were shooting onto DV tape you normally get about the same time. What you should do is once you have filled the memory card up, transfer the files from the card onto your computer. (I would recommend getting a external hard drive as the files would soon fill up your built in one.) Then you have got another hours worth on the card again.
Secondly, I'm not familiar with that camera but I presume it has a slot for SD cards? Could you not buy a few to take with you when shooting so when you fill up one you can move to the next.
2) The reason people can upload there films online is because they have not just uploaded the raw footage. They will have put it into a editing suite (some may have even used basic ones like windows movie maker or imovie) and then rendered it. The rendering process will turn all your clips into one COMPRESSED file. If it is going online then you need to chose a file type that will compress it alot (I think quicktime or flash) so the file size is smaller. If your film is going onto DVD a different file type will be used to give it a better quality.
Rob - UK
Rob - UK
Thanks a lot Rob for helping me out. I will try to use windows movie maker to reduce the size. And also I will try to check it there is an option for non HD video mode.
But One thing you have to help me here which is very important. and that is,
Please tell me any link or website which tells the very basic ABCs of fil making.
like if we are using those cameras which has negative films. and about the difference between 8mm/16mm etc and their properties. how to make those negatives into positives and then how to edit them. how to impose sound on them. etc etc etc.
Is there any website in this world like this?
Please help. Thanks
Regards
Vibhor Malik
I would recommend books over websites, I have got books off the internet and at the library. They help more as they are written by people who know what they are talking about and alot of time and effort has gone into making them so they are more reliable over articles posted on the internet. (in general!) I know Bryan (bjdzyak) who posts on this board has a good film website.
Unfortunately I don't know of any website that has an abc style guide. I can only suggest searching on Google.
Personally the way I would go would be to buy a couple of books on the basics of film-making, have a look a short film format first. Then try using the web for looking at specific areas as this will give you much better results.
Searching for a specific topics or questions will give you better articles/sites then just searching 'tips for film-making' for example.
Rob - UK
Rob - UK
Malik,
It is clear that you are new to the world of film and digital video.
FIrst, about the file size of digital video. Your camera seems to be shooting Standard Definition video. Since it takes 4GB for one hour of video, this is telling me that your video is actually compressed. Standard-Def MiniDV digital video normally takes about 12GB per hour. Common Hi-Def video formats all use some form of video compression, and because of that, HD video does NOT take much more space than MiniDV (standard-def video).
As far as uploading to YouTube is concerned, YouTube accepts up to 15 minutes of video, and maximum 2GB file size. This means that your SD video, compressed at approximately 8.5Mbps (Mega-bits per second) does NOT need to be re-compressed in order to be uploaded to YouTube (15 minutes of video from your camera shouldn't be more than 1GB in size, which fits comfortably on YouTube).
I am not sure what kind of advantage do you expect from traditional film vs. digital video. While there are discussions around film professionals which medium is better suited, it seems that the general trend is practically unstoppable, and even the most traditional cinematographers and filmmakers are at least evaluating digital format. For low-budget or zero-budget independent filmmakers, there is practically no discussion; the amount of expenses needed to go with traditional film far outstrip any benefits you may get from the film.
If your EasyShare is a HD model, as you say, you should be able to capture at least 720p Hi-def video, which should give you higher quality than the 640x480 Std-def video. File sizes will obviously be larger, but that is normal.
quote:
Originally posted by malikvibhor
The least expensive DV camera which I am getting is JVC DV of around US $4000.
It is not clear to me exactly which JVC DV camera you're talking about, but for your budget of $2,000, you can certainly find "semi-pro" camcorders that are significantly better than your Kodak 'EasyShare' camera.
As for your question regarding 8mm and 16mm film, while I don't doubt the value of learning about those, if you are at the very beginning of filmmaking today and want to learn by doing, much less expensive, and a lot easier path would be digital. Once you buy a digital camera (camcorder) and some memory cards, you are ready to shoot infinite amount of video. Every time you fill up your memory card, you can off-load all of the video onto your computer (and back it up onto some disc, whether hard disk or DVD), erase the card a shoot again. With film, you must buy film stock and pay for the processing. In the US, a single cartridge of Super 8 Kodak Ektachrome film can be bought for about $20. Add to that almost as much for processing, and you end up paying almost $600 per hour of silent 8mm film. 16mm film stock can be found for a bit more than that (6 cans of 400ft (2400feet = 66min) ? $80/can = $480 + Processing (2400 ft ?.16/foot=$384) = $865.
Meanwhile, a 4GB SDHC card currently goes for less than $20.
So, the only issue with digital video is what you had already discovered: file sizes are massive. Uncompressed Hi-Def video would actually be so big, the current data bus speeds on common peripherals (such as USB2 or FireWire) are not even fast enough to handle sustained throughput for real-time playback. This is why pretty much all popular formats of digital video involve some sort of video compression. It is not as much of a problem with Std-Def video, but the sizes are still massive.
One more thought regarding posting online. YouTube's limits for free user accounts are, as I said, up to 15 minutes of duration and up to 2GB in size. they also allow full HD (1080p). Vimeo, on the other hand, has lower file size limit (500MB), and allows up to 720p video resolution, but does NOT limit your movie length. So, if your film is longer than 15 minutes, Vimeo is your better (actually, only) choice.
As for your request for 'ABC of filmmaking', you may start at Vimeo's "Video School". A few short instructional videos of their own, plus many more contributions by members. Interesting and valuable stuff:
I got a sub to http://www.videomaker.com/ for my birthday and I get a lot from it. There are a ton of useful tut's and videos there.
Hi Vibhor -
Sounds like you've got a lot of energy and passion for learning the craft. Are you based in Los Angeles?
If you want to work with a talented group of actors and filmmakers doing really cutting-edge work, check out ?url? http://filmactingclasseslosangeles.com?/url?. This company is a great place to learn the ins and outs of the cinema world. Hope to hear from you soon!
Best
Mark
