DISQUS

CJ · 2 years ago

Would you recommend a good camera for beginners, something not too pricey, yet still useful. Also, is there anything specific we should look for in the camera?

-Thanks

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

If you have the money and you think it's a good investment (eg you're going to do lots of movies) then absolutely yes. You can use it whenever you want and don't have to constantly be getting a camera from someone else. I'm not shooting on anything super fancy. The camera was probably a grand 4 years ago, and I'm still using it.

There's a few things you want to look for.

The more manual controls you have the better. Probably the most important being the focus, but exposure and other settings would be good too.

I like having a viewfinder so if I'm shooting in bright light I can still see what I'm shooting.

Of course if you have a few thousand, I would recommend shooting in HD, but that's probably not a possibility, so just shop around and read reviews and try to find the best camera for your price point.

Sorry I'm not more helpful. I haven't bought one in awhile (4 years, and even then it was a gift).

Anonymous · 2 years ago

is the canon xL1 a good camera to use in short movies

DANNY BOYLES SON · 2 years ago

IM A BIGGENER WHAT CAMERA WOULD YOU RECOMMEND SOMETHING THATS NOT TO PRICY

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

To both Anonymous and Danny Boyles Son, I don't have a lot of experience in picking cameras like I mentioned above, so I don't really feel comfortable picking a camera as a recommendation. I can say that Canon definitely makes good stuff Anonymous and looking at the Xl1, it looks like a good camera. Although I can't suggest any cameras, I ask that anyone who does know about cameras post some stuff here if they have recomendations. It looks like a lot of people would appreciate it.

smashing pumpkins fan · 2 years ago

how much is the average cost of a 10 ninute short

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

Well the cost of our movie was maybe 15 bucks for the one time the crew went out for pizza. This takes into account that I've had the camera for many years and it's not an explicit cost of production. Other independent films of short length (like 10 minutes) can be in the millions of dollars I assume. If they are shooting on film with good cameras and high production costs it can definitely get up there. I think cost really depends on what type of film you are making and what budget cuts you are willing to make.

JOSH ZOMBIE FAN · 2 years ago

do you know the types of cameras were used in the moviES '28 DAYS LATER' AND EL MARIACH IF YOU KNOW PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW MUCH THEY COST

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

Unfortunately I do not. I would assume that they would be film cameras so your looking at a pretty expensive camera (thousands of dollars) and also lots of money on film.

JOSH ZOMBIE FAN · 2 years ago

WHAT ARE GOOD NOT SO EXPENSIVE CAMERAS TO USE IN HORROR MOVIES

Nick · 2 years ago

Josh Zombie Fan -- Consider the Canon GL2 or the Panasonic DVX-100a/b -- these are both really good quality cameras that shoot great video (3ccd, panasonic can shoot 24p). Unlike the XL2 or the XL1, they are handheld and will be a lot more flexible with movement/action shots.

Scruss · 2 years ago

I am a beginning filmmaker(indie) and have little money. I spent a good 3 or 4 weeks deciding what camera i wanted to buy. I finally made my mind up and went with the panasonic pv-gs320. The camera is of 3ccd design. 3CCD is a three chip camera, each chip handles a different light, which makes for crystal clear video. I spent 430 dollars for a brand new camera from amazon. The camera is beautiful and is minidv, which means its small. I would recommend this camera to anyone starting out with little money. The dv tapes are cheap as well, and you can film for about 70 minutes depending on the play length you choose.

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

I'd just like to add that Scruss is very right about MiniDV. My camera uses it as well and it a lot of advantages. It's very tiny so you can get really small cameras, and you record pretty long on it. I just hook up my camera to the computer through firewire and then capture the footage on the MiniDV tape through FinalCut and I'm ready to edit. The tapes are also very cheap, so you can buy a lot and shoot lots and lots of footage on a tight budget.

Aaron Haynes · 2 years ago

on the subject of in and out points what should you do when you want the audio of the next seen come in before it starts/or when the other person's voice(in the case of people conversing) comes in when the shot is on the person not talking.

Dustin Bachrach · 2 years ago

To do that Aaron, you need to trim the video portion of the clip but not the audio portion. In FC, you can use the slice tool and then select only the video portion of the clip and then delete. It's really just a matter of realligning which audio is under which video track.

Sam Anderson · 2 years ago

How do you do underwater shots?

joe pro · 2 years ago

it was the canon XL1 on 28 days later, two of them.

thirdbase · 2 years ago

If you're ever going to be serious about film, don't waste your money on a on a chep camera. Save your dollars and get the Panasonic HVX200. (around $5,000.00) It is an HD camera that records to flash memory cards. With that camera, a Mac, Final Draft screenwriting software, and Final Cut Pro film editing software, you will be able to create incredible films!

MRB · 2 years ago

$5,000 is way too much for the serious film hobbyist. If people are trying to sell movies, than the better camera is an investment, but for most of us, we want to spend less than $1,000. In 99% of all independent films, the quality of the camera is the smallest factor in determining if the movie is any good or not.

some guy · 1 year ago

I have cheap camarea that runs out of batery in five minutes and I stiff make films easy the camera makes almost know diferanc (unless theres know on button)the story and on rehersal make all the diferance

dyroy · 1 year ago

i am looking to host my short film on the internet. i was wondering if you know of any good sites that host short films that arent full of garbage like youtube

Anonymous · 1 year ago

http://www.budgetfilmmaker.com/

I didn't watch many of them or read up on the fine print, but I'm pretty sure you can get them to host it for free. People can download them to watch them. There may be a better site, but it's good to look at what other people are doing.