Charles House

Any thoughts on the Canon Scoopic 16?

Couldn't the camera be for sale after they purchased and resold it? Just playing devil's advocate.

I checked em out. Definitely not gonna happen. Looking like it's time to return to my XL-2 days.

I've been on two projects where we rented from AbelCine. I'll check them out. If anyone on the forum has one they would rent out, send me a PM.

I'm assuming that, by the 10/1 ratio spoken of previously, they meant getting 10 times the footage than the final product? Where would I find a 2-perf camera rental? I think the rental is going to kill me more than the cost of film, considering my location (East Coast, WV).

That's definitely a price tag I can't afford. Maybe film isn't for me. Thanks for the responses, I guess I'll stay digital.

Thank you for the response, I have no means to cut actual film, I don't think our school has ever done film, only digital, so I was going to have it transfered to DV or HD so I can edit the film footage with the DV and HD footage, as I'll use other cameras for the same project.

Thank you for the response. To respond to what you said about using a tripod, I almost never go handheld. So many students do it and I don't know why. It's never well thought out, and even in motion shots, one or two tripod shots can do the same as a handheld shot. There are uses for handheld, but when it's used for no other reason than "I'm a student videographer, this is how it's done, right?" it just looks poor. Thank you for the information on sync sound and film stocks. I assume I'd go looking for a sync sound camera first and, since I'm led to believe they haven't made film stock with the added strip for sound in forever, I'll run another sound recording source, maybe even a DV camera with a boom mic so they're easy to sync, next to the film camera. I planned to shoot one segment in black and white and another in 70ish color. My only real concerns are lighting (since the lighting I have access to is more for DV cameras, so I can probably get 3 lights at 300-500 watts each on one set, and that may not be enough), and digital effects in post (I usually do practice effects, but there are a few I can't do on set, light small meteors and shooting stars, so I'd have to do post digital effects, which make me wonder how they'll look coupled with grainy, real film).

Thank you for the response. Maybe I should be a little more specific on distribution I'm looking for. I'm certainly not looking for anything theatrical unless I were to take it to local, small-time theaters and get them to screen the DVD. I'm just looking for a DVD distributor that will PAY for the product, enough for me to make back what I spent on it so I have a credit, a finished film, and am not in debt for it. I know there are plenty of distributors who will TAKE your film and sell it if they think it'll sell (genre films especially), but they don't pay anything for it. No percentage of sales, no backend, nothing. My friend is in that sort of a deal with 7 or 8 of his films. They're out there, you can find them in the video store, but he made nothing on them. He just did it to get his name out there. I'd prefer to do that while still being able to make enough back to pay for what I've made, and he's suggested that DV and HDDV movies won't do that. Mixed media maybe.

Thank you for the response. 16mm was my original idea, but for this project, I certainly can't afford it. There aren't too many rental houses within a considerably distance. I'm in West Virginia. I know how to use a light meter, however. I've used them with DV cameras just because I wanted to learn the craft. EDIT: I looked up the Scoopic on Ebay and they're pretty cheap. I assume there are other semi-professional level cameras in 16mm that can be had cheap. The upcharge in film, however, I may not be able to handle.

I was going to shoot a project, a feature length, fully digital, a mix of Canon XL-2 DV and another camera with HDDV, but I had been poking around and saw that very few distibutors buy DV or even HD DV movies anymore. Because everyone and their mom is making them for next to nothing, they won't even watch them. It's a period piece, somewhat, with a segment for five different periods, so for the more modern settings I figure DV is appropriate, but for the 60s, 70s, 80s, I think Super 8 might be the best way. I'd need to either rent or purchase a camera. If I purchased, it would have to be fairly easy to understand, and quiet enough for sync sound so I could get sound on set. It would also have to be cheap and reliable, as I've never shot film before. Super 8 is attractive because of the cartridges, as I've never had to load and unload film before, and don't trust doing it myself, so having the cartridges that can be loaded and unloaded in daylight seems great. Any ideas on what I should look for?