Joseph Boyd

"Grand Theft Parsons" Could have been a great movie, but Johnny Knoxville with that ridiculous beard... Even Hugh Jackman would have been a better choice. The only thing that saved that movie was Christina Applegate and the hearse. Also, "Beautiful Mind." I don't know why, but I hate that movie with a passion.

Jeremiah, I don't know where in AK you are, but UAF has excellent resources available for video production. If you have access to someone who's a student there, they have studios, editing workstations, Sony VX2100's for checkout, mics, Lowel Lighting kits, audio recording equipment and more, all available for checkout in the library- I wish they had this much stuff when I went there. And BTW, for all the others, Alaska has no sales or income tax.

Somehow I got roped into lighting for a No-Budget, Indie flick being filmed locally (I must stop answering Craigslist ads), despite my claims of knowing very little about lighting-apparently that was more than anyone else on the project. The scene they want me to light for is in a bar/club, my concern is that the natural enviroment will be too dark. The director/DP has no lights, and I'm not about to go buy them for someone elses project. I do have a number of halogen lights, ranging from small 60 Watt spotlights up to 1000 Watt Construction lights (with improvised barn doors). The big limitation here is that not only will the bar be open, there's a concert that night as well. My thought is to use a china ball above the actress and the 60 Watt halogen spotlight, run through a improvised bounce box, on the ground pointed up for a backlight. I'm not positive of the scenes yet (still waiting on the script), but do know that most will be filmed with her sitting at the bar. Any suggestions? Am I totally over my head here? Thanks

I'f you're on a budget, you could try scoring and precutting the non-visible side of the wall with a concrete saw and a grinder with a diamond blade to create smaller fragements. A modified hydralic log splitter seems like it would do the trick to take it out. Don't know how well it would work, but I do think that scoring the concrete with a grinder may produce a better fragmenting effect with the wrecking ball.

I'm new to the game, having just aquired an older Panasonic PVDV950. I'm planning to shoot at a convention held at a hotel later this year, for the purposes of putting it online. I've got a couple questions: First off is lighting. Obviously I won't have any control over lighting, although the camera so far has done decently in florecent lighting-not stellar, but not terrible. Would my best bet be to use lens filters? If so, which ones? Second, I plan on using a wide angle lens, so that it won't look like a home movie, is that the best option? Third, Tripod or monopod? Lastly, the ever important question of sound. My current plan is a shotgun mic mounted on the camera. A couple interviews will be done, but much of it will be picking up speeches. Keep in mind this will be over 2 entire days, morning to late night, so I'd like to keep my load light. Thanks

http://www.sonnyboo.com/ Has some music there, I haven't heard any of it, so I can't comment on quality.

Thanks all for the advice. Unfortunately, I got outbid on the JVC while I was in class, so I'm continuing the search. I played around with some HD's at the camera store and fell in love, but that's far off in the future as neither my budget or my computer would get along with one.

I'm looking to purchase my first camera and am looking for input onto what of these options would be the best of my choices. None are great choices, but on my budget ($500ish) this is what I can do. Bear in mind, I'm not looking for something to film a masterpiece on, merely to learn the ropes and be able to churn out a passable product. My first project to learn the camera is an industrial video for a friend's company, then a documentary. Once I've learned the camera well enough, I would like to guerilla film some projects. Choice 1: JVC GY-X3 (Or equivalant)- 3CCD SVHS Professional Camcorder. Manual everything, 60i. Also, would connecting a lower end digital camcorder as a recording deck be a feasible option? I already have video capture hardware I bought used, made by pinnacle. Choice 2: A Higher end digital, but not 3CCD camcorder. Choice 3: Non 3ccd, analogue El-Cheapo used camcorder or 2ccd old news camera and continue saving for a better digital. I'm not considering film at this point, mainly due to the cost of processing, getting it transferred to film for editing, lack of access to suitable facilities, etc. I am open to buying an old Super 8 as something to play around with, but at this point I want something I can work with in my spare time (between college and full time work, this is rare).