A beginner script...

[James Steven Beverly]

Thats the attitude. In HS, film making is mostly a joke. A good time with friends and something to watch when your done. But its a ton of fun, and only gets better with time. Keep it light on set and you will get where your going.

Kind of a moot point, because 28 days later was not shot on a $5000 XL-1s. They were shot on cameras that cost upwards of 27,000 when loaded with the adaptor and lenses they were using (XL1s body, PL mount adaptor, Cine prime lenses, forgot which ones s4's I think. Each lens cost more than 4 bodies) and IN MY OPINION (should have used that qualifier earlier) that film did not look good. It looked mediocre (along the lines I was saying) I was aluding to the SDX-900 which at 27K looks pretty good for what it is, and the DVX-100 for the 4000 to look decent-to-low level range.

 

And no its not arogent, ellitist attitude I suffer from, its realism (or standards, choose one). For TV, yes an XL-1 is something that can work out. But for a film, where your trying to create atmosphere you are often fighting the limitations of the device to get it to work (I have shot movies on the DVX-100, SDX-900, HVR-ZU1 and just about any other video camera you care to name) and always am fighting the limitations that restrict very specific things I want to do. This is not to say it can't be done or its impossible to get something presentable, but if your goal is cinematography, then your doing yourself a disservice to ignore the difference between different video cameras and find what you need to change to work with both. I was pointing out that for the 5000 it would cost to buy an XL-1, you can buy TONS of S8 and a decent camera, and get that film look out of the box. I really wish we didn't have people saying that having an opinion one way or another makes you an ellitist, or arrogant. Just say my opinion is wrong....and maybe why its wrong rather than resort to cheap personal attacks.

 

and I told him to stick to the video for now, because earlier I did not realize his age. When I was pushing the s8, I was simply encouraging him to expand his knowledge base. I only practiced film with stills when I was in highschool, and shot a million minutes of video as a kid, and looking back, I really wish I had put up the money for film, if only for one film a year (I made 3-4 per year when I was in highschool) Video helps you feel good about yourself, comfortable. Not what you need when you want to find things to learn (cause its what you never thought to ask about is usually what you need to learn most)

 

Tadpole I did not see, but for open water, they spent several hundred thousand power-windowing the hell out of it, and comping in digital skies, since they blew out in most shots when it was photographed.

 

Look Micheal, Don't get me wrong. This is not a personal attack aimed at you which is why I said ' THE arrogant, ellitist attitude that you do is abserd" instead of "YOUR arrogant, ellitist attitude that you do is abserd". The fact of the matter is that there are several people who mistakenly believe that you can ONLY do good work with an expensive, overblown camera when in fact small filmmakers turn out excetional work ever year with lower end and prosumer cameras. Harmony Corine has made cutting edge, critcally acclaimed films that didn't COST 27K. Clerks cost Kevin Smith only 28K TOTAL to make and El Merichi cost what 8Kand was shot on an MOS 16? Cassevettes didn't give a damn about cinematography and would hand anyone the camera. ALL these people changed the film industry with tiny, little films that were NOT shot on high end cameras. It's not what you shoot with, it's what you shoot and THAT'S the whole point. So your "realism" doesn't really hold water. Maybe it's just been your expirence that you can't shoot anything that looks decient to you on anything less than a 27k camera. That may not be true for everyone else so when you start stating you opinion as if it were fact then you should expect to have someone challenge it. B)

[Jim Hoene]

A handy cam will do for now, just to get the hang of the workflow, but don't expect to produce anything you want to show people 3 years down the road (when video cameras are 73 generations more advanced than a handycam). I have still (and especially today) regret not doing the S8 thing, I stuck to video too long since as I was learning, digital cams and editing software kept up with my learning curve. Agood s8 camera will give you a unique look that very few early-students have, and may give you more respect for knowing what your doing, rather than tweeking until it looks good in the monitor. It also gets you used to the knowledgebase that is required when you want to advance, and keeps you honest (I know some of my early movies had WAY too much coverage, just so I could 'find the movie in post'. Over time I learned to shoot what I need and very little else for saftey, but it would have been easier if that was my focus from the begining.)

 

At least if you shoot video, keep track of your shooting ratio and work on reducing it as time goes by (once you get to a 10:1 you can stop, but try and increase your takes at that point, and reduce your coverage.)

 

Sorry to barge in here, but is a 10:1 ratio the "norm" for producing a pic in S8 too?

[Paul Bruening]

10:1 is just an industry, rough average. It can go longer or shorter. For practical budgeting reasons, you have to set aside enough money to cover 10:1. It's not just about film and lab. That ratio implies how many pages a day you can get done which translates into every part of the production's costs in both time and money.