Can't find an experience DP within my budget

[Jason Chan]

Hi everyone,

 

I will be shooting an indie feature in December. We are working on an extremely tight budget, and we could not find someone who's familiar with HD to work with us within the budget.

 

The film will be released in the cinemas. We've got a strong cast.

And now, our only choice is to shoot the film ourselves. We are a team of filmmakers who has done everything in the past on our own. We figured that perhaps we'll just learn whatever that is needed and do them on our own just like what we do all the time.

 

Only thing is that we have not work with HD before. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for me. I know getting a bigger budget will help solve the problem, but it seems impossible right now.

Moreover, there is not many DP in my country who's really good in HD. Their work are just average looking, and some is just bad, so it seems no difference getting them to work in this project.

 

What should we do?

 

Any advice given will be greatly appreciated.

[Brad Grimmett]

Well, if you're worried about your project not looking good than I don't think "just learning whatever that is needed and do them on our own" is a good idea. You should certainly have a DP that has actually shot some stuff before. What country are you in? How much are you offering? I'm afraid if no one will do the job for the rate you're offering, then you need to up the budget to get someone decent.

[Laurent Andrieux]

You can also use the HD cam like any other camera... Have a good monitor on the set and open your eyes carefully. I see no reason why it should be messed up because you're using HD...

 

Otherwise, shoot it in whatever format you feel more familiar to...

[timHealy]

where are shooting? I consider doing it if the script is decent. My reel is mostly film and would love to get more HD under my belt.

 

e mail me your address and I'll send you a DVD reel. I have an online reel too but it is small and a little compressed.

 

other than that, if you shoot it yourself a good gaffer.

 

best

 

Tim

 

 

 

I meant to say:

 

"if you shoot it yourself, get a good gaffer"

 

Best

 

Tim

 

ahhhh so you can edit a post with the new format!!!!!

[Jason Chan]

Thanks for the reply.

We always work on DV previously. But since we are going to blow them up to film this time, we had to go for HD.

 

I'm shooting the film in Asia.

Tim, you can check out the more information about us from the news section in http://www.nepheshseed.com

 

Currency over here is quite low unfortunately.

 

It's has not been easy to get a good footage out from DV, but we've manage to do a decent job on dv so far. i think it should be easier on HD due to the bigger ccds, resolution, and so on. So i hope our training on dv all this while will have been useful. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Thanks for the advice so far. and if we do have to do them ourselves, any thing we should take note?