Most festivals accept movies shot on miniDV. Most festivals are looking for great stories, great ideas, great directing, great acting. Very few are interested in what camera a movie maker uses.

Yes, you can do a film like this. So stop thinking about getting a camera and get one. Start making movies right away.

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

When you go shopping for a camcorder, there are two features that don?t immediately come to mind, but are really important for a filmmaker.

The first important feature is Firewire Input capability. All MiniDV camcorders have a Firewire Out, but the really low-end camcorders (the Canon ZR series, for example) cannot accept Firewire In. What does this mean? It means you can shoot your movie, load it into your computer, edit and add post-production effects, and then ? you can?t output it to DV tape for submission to festivals.

The second important feature is an external microphone jack. The built-in microphone for any camcorder is frustratingly limited. If you have an external jack, you can plug in a shotgun mic, tie-clip mic, or just about anything. Since most MiniDV camcorders have the capacity to record the audio at CD-quality, it?s very disappointing when the built-in microphone will not provide sound at anywhere near that level.

Hope this helps.

Dan Rahmel
Author: "Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking"
Free scripts, templates, film glossary, and know-how,
check out: http://www.cvisual.com

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Most festivals are looking for great stories, great ideas, great directing, great acting. Very few are interested in what camera a movie maker uses.

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Sadly, that doesn't seem to be true of British festivals: from what I've seen they'd much rather have a crap movie on 35mm than a decent movie on VHS, particularly if the 35mm short had a recognisable actor.

Maybe they'd take a great movie on VHS if you brown-nosed around the festival organisers, but I've seen such a depressing number of crap shorts at festivals where I know they turned down much better movies that were shot cheaply... movies which actually had a plot that made some sense, characters you could care about, and decent ideas behind them.

Dan - in my opinion I'd switch the two. External mic input first, firewire in second. Almost all festivals will accept a dvd as the screening copy so a miniDV tape isn't really needed - burn your movie to DVD. Being able to hook up an external mic is essential.

No argument from me, Mark. The festival circuit isn't what it was 10 years ago. More people with inexpensive cameras, editing software and DVD burners mean exponentially more competition - even small first and second year festivals are getting 2,000 to 3,000 submissions.

They're looking to put butts in the seats. And people will pay to see a movie with a name at a festival, while indie movies without name stars play to houses that are 40, 20 even 10 percent full.

A movie shot on VHS using available light and edited in camera made by Lars Von Treir and starring Bruce Willis would get screened. And you can forget the big ten festivals here in the states. The only way to get in is brown-nosing.

However, there are still festivals that are looking for a good movie. My point to Directorcls is: make a good movie regardless of the camera you can afford. And enter it in every festival you can find.

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Originally posted by danr7

The second important feature is an external microphone jack. The built-in microphone for any camcorder is frustratingly limited. If you have an external jack, you can plug in a shotgun mic, tie-clip mic, or just about anything. Since most MiniDV camcorders have the capacity to record the audio at CD-quality, it?s very disappointing when the built-in microphone will not provide sound at anywhere near that level.

Hope this helps.

Dan Rahmel
Author: "Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking"
Free scripts, templates, film glossary, and know-how,
check out: http://www.cvisual.com

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Thanks for the info. Do you know of any consumer minidvs that carry an ex- micro jack. Or what should I look for on the miniDV to indicate it?

The Panasonic PV-GS300 is selling for $500-$600 and is nice starter 3CCD camera. It has manual settings and a mic input. The JVC GR-X5 is a terrific little camera and the higher cost is well worth it.

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Originally posted by certified instigator

The Panasonic PV-GS300 is selling for $500-$600 and is nice starter 3CCD camera. It has manual settings and a mic input. The JVC GR-X5 is a terrific little camera and the higher cost is well worth it.

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Thanks I'll see if I could purchase it. I was looking at a MINIDV JVC GR-D350US and a SONY Digital8 DCR-TRV280 at my local store. What do you think of these?

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Originally posted by certified instigator

The Panasonic PV-GS300 is selling for $500-$600 and is nice starter 3CCD camera. It has manual settings and a mic input. The JVC GR-X5 is a terrific little camera and the higher cost is well worth it.

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Also does any Minidvs have microphone inputs? If not how do I use a microphone when filming on minidv or Digital8?

I have a PV-GS65 (3 CCD, mic input, lens leaves a bit to be desired but overall a nice camera) for about $480 on B&H Photo.

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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

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Originally posted by Directorcls

Also does any Minidvs have microphone inputs? If not how do I use a microphone when filming on minidv or Digital8?

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Yes. The Panasonic PV-GS300, the JVC GR-D350 and the Panasonic PV-GS65 have microphone inputs and all are miniDV.