The Best Camera & Post-Production Tools for the Short filmmaker
A couple of pertinent discussions took place in the authors’ club which I am bringing out here so those looking for a few answers may benefit.
If you are just trying to get your feet wet in filmmaking and attempting to make your own film, you often wonder what you need in order to do so. Hopefully you will find some answers here.
What camera do I use?
You always want to try to attain the best possible quality, the highest resolution of images that your budget can accommodate. So here’s assuming that you know what your budget is already. Most short films are made with little or no money. When making a short film, your arenas of exhibition are film festivals (if you end up making a good one), online (youtube, facebook etc), or DVD. Shooting on film is a colossal waste of money because you have to pay for processing, telecine, then grading, blowup (if you shoot on 16mm), printing etc. It’s money you could rather use to create content.
Most short films are shot digitally. There are a lot of cameras out there and it can get confusing as to what the right one is. So here are some commonly used for short films:
The best camera out there with minimum build, that I have seen numerous, quality short film shot on is the 
SONY HVR-Z series HDV cameras. These go from Z1 all the way to Z7 models. They can shoot HDV at 24p, which means it can simulate a film-like look (it is not an alternative for film or true HD) and shoot at a very high resolution of 1080p. The lenses are wonderfully sharp, and you can buy additional lenses too. Now at about $6,000, it is affordable for the really serious short or documentary filmmaker. Even if you cannot afford to buy it, I suggest using these because they are very easily available for rent. I rent these in Chennai for about Rs. 1,500 a day. Shoot on HDV so that in case you do end up making a really good film that can get into film festivals and such, you can do an online version of the final product for screening, and it will look decent on the big screen. Now when I say decent, I am talking in the short film arena. Most film festivals project most short films off a DigiBeta Tape using a long throw video projector. The modern trend is to exhibit off an HDV tape off an HDV deck using an HD projector. So you can exhibit at the resolution in which you shoot, albeit with some loss due to the long throw project. I would never use HDV for narrative features going for theatrical release, although it has been done numerous times.
JVC also has some very good HDV models and so does Panasonic. Sony is the best. They are available in tape based and chip based versions. Tape based is being phased out very fast. One of our authors Ram V did a little research and found excellent reviews for the Canon XH G1S, another fine camera but not as widely available on a rental basis as the Sony models.
Ok, so you cannot afford the HDV camera. So let’s take another step down. Go for the old workhorse, the Sony PD-170 or further down, the PD-150. Both are phenomenal standard definition 3CCD cameras. I made tons of shorts using them in film school. I have seen feature films shot on them. David Lynch shot Inland Empire on a PD-150. People who owned PD-170s and 150s already have or are in the process of upgrading to HDV. Therefore these cameras can be purchased used at decent price. You should be able to buy a good package with a good deal of accessories for about $1,500. These babies are not outdated by any means. In India, they are still used widely in television and news coverage.
The Panasonic DVX-100 and subsequent upgrades are another bunch of awesome SD cameras. The DVX-100 was one of the first DV cameras that could shoot 24P and became a rage. So much so that Kamal Haasan even shot Mumbai Express with it. Didn’t look ideal for a theatrically released feature, but dont go by that. It’s still a darn good camera for video finishing.
The Canon XL1 & XL2 were a rage among 3chip SD cameras around 2000-2002. The XL2 can even shoot 24p. Soderberg shot Full Frontal with the XL1. You should be able to buy a used XL2 package for about $1,500, maybe you can bargain harder.
The above cameras fall into the the prosumer category. 3CCD gives you solid images to work with and they have XLR inputs for sound. They come with a boom mic attached. All you need to do for recording sync sound is buy an extension XLR cord, tape the mic to a long pole and voila! You have a boom mic.
So that brings us to sound! Dubbing? What’s that? Don’t dub! Do sync sound. Dubbing is a concept on its way out. It has stuck on in India far longer than it should have. Will probably stick on in South India for another 10 years because of actors who cannot speak the language well.
Don’t just leave the mic on the camera, delegate someone to be a boom operator. You can do a basic mixing in camera itself. Do mic tests before each shot so you can set your levels and boom position so that sound does not distort. There are pretty accurate meters within these cameras to guage that. Get yourself a production mixer. Maybe a film school student studying sound who can borrow a basic mixer, and route your sound through that into the camera.
Ok so you dont even want to spend on the above cameras, then use any standard definition DV camera, a home video camcorder that records to Mini DV tape at the very minimum. Dont use still cameras that can shoot video or cell phone cameras. This concept may work when you are making films specifically for PFC One, but don’t only think in terms of an online exhibition. As I said earlier, do the best you can with the money you have keeping in mind a theatrical exhibition. You work towards that, you will end up with something half-decent looking on dvd at least. When you are trying to learn the craft by actually doing it, I don’t think a cell phone camera or a still camera’s video functionality really allows you to comprehend any sort of visual technique.
Ok, so you’ve shot your film. Next step is to edit it. The eternal question – What do I use?
Most of us have a personal computer running on Windows. If you have Windows XP or later, chances are you have seen a program called Windows Movie Maker. As tempting as it may be, stay away from this devil! It will put you off editing for life!
If you’re an Apple user, life is wonderful! iMovie, which comes built into most Macs is more powerful than one can imagine. In fact, I have used it numerous times in conjunction with Final Cut Pro. It’s a brilliant tool and is very easy to learn. iMovie is the best place to start learning the process of editing. You can find tons of tutorials online. iMovie can even run HD and smoothly at that!
The next step higher, go for Final Cut Pro (also only for Apple users). If you dont want to spend too much on it, there is a more basic version you can buy from apple at a MUCH lower cost. FCP also comes with wonderful sound editing features, color correction tools etc. But yes, it is expensive and so is the Apple computer you would have to buy to run it.
Usually, I used to recommend Adobe Premiere. Most professional editors, myself included hate Premiere. But for very basic needs, starting to learn the basics of editing, it is a pretty decent tool and fairly powerful at that. Tutorials are available online easily. It is expensive at $800 but cheaper than Avid and far less complex.
Haven’t you heard that one mentioned before. Avid is the most widely used editing software by professionals worldwide, followed by Final Cut Pro which is giving Avid stiff competition. Avid used to have a free version available for download before called Avid Free DV which was pretty darn good for basic cutting. But all good things must come to an end, and Avid has discontinued it. Run a search and you may find some sites still offering a download. It however does not run on Windows Vista.
The next step higher is Avid Xpress Pro HD, a very powerful non-linear editor which also beautifully supports film editing. Xpress Pro used to be a fairly economical option for professional editors, but Avid has now discontinued that too.
Avid.What is available from Avid as a starting point is Media Composer, a very very solid program that handles multiple formats very efficiently. But it comes with a steep price of $2,295 for Mac or PC based systems. In my opinion, Final Cut Pro is way better as it has better tools in the package and far superior video finishing options and RED support as well. For the sake of speed and convenience, most editors, myself included will never shift from Avid despite knowing the advantages of FCP.
Anyway, I would rule Avid out for the otherwise broke short filmmaker. During our internal discussion, PFC author Vasan Bala brought up the Sony Vegas non-linear editing software. I had briefly used the very first version of the program and ignorantly dismissed Vasan’s claim of it being a worthy editor. Then I downloaded a free trial from the Sony website and have been playing around with it for a couple of days.
I love it! So much so that I would recommend Sony Vegas ahead of Premiere for anyone and everyone. It supports almost all the video formats out there, and you can rest assured of splendid support for HD footage shot on Sony cameras. It runs smooth, doesnt require heavy system resources or specs, and does the job beautifully. For video editing, this one rocks! And what’s more, it claims to even have the capability to handle RED footage, although I personally have not tested this. It’s very cost effective at $600. I am even considering setting up my own Vegas edit suite with a powerful assembled PC with cheap Chinese peripherals.
Now, how can the short filmmaker afford $600 you may ask. Well, the trial version lasts for a solid 30 days with full functionality. So you shoot your film, and when you are ready to edit, install the software and edit. 30 days should be plenty to edit your short. There is also a more consumer level version called Movie Studio, not nearly as good, but not bad either. It comes a lot cheaper.
If you are well versed with Linux, there are a few free NLEs out there that run exclusively on Linux, so feel free to try them out, but please share your experiences with us.
For sound effects editing, you can download a free 30 day trial of Sound Forge from Sony, but most short filmmakers tend to cut their sound within their editing programs itself. What you need access to is a good sound library.
Hope this has helped. So get out there and make your movies! Start prepping for the next PFCOne! And if you have any info to add, please do share the knowledge.
Tags: Adobe Premiere, Avid, camera, Editing, Final Cut Pro, HD, Short Film, Sony Vegas
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
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Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
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Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Very informative!
I’m an AD and planning to make my show-reel and my camera guy suggested Sony Z1. Hoping a good out-put.
However, it’s proven that whichever cam you use for your works, the main factor is how you play with the ‘lighting’ to get the best result.
True. I have seen some very crappy looking films shot with the HDV camcorders and some gorgeous looking ones shot with a single CCD camera. Find someone to shoot who has some knowledge about lighting. In the US, it is very easy to find a DP for short films because there are tons of cinematography students around looking for experience. In India, I have seen that is a little tougher. One good solution for that is to find a good still photographer. A guy or gal who does photoshoots and stuff, not a wedding photographer. I have seen a keen interest in a lot of these guys to graduate to cinematography, and they usually have good knowledge about lighting. You can also hit up 2nd and 3rd assistants of working cinematographers, guys with good lighting and camera experience who are looking for opportunities to put stuff on their showreel.
thanks for bringing it up Tami
Appreciate the effort you have put into this. Thanks a ton for this!
very informative article indeed. i shot couple of short films with a panasonic 3ccd handycam borrowed from a friend. image quality is surprisingly good with 3CCD for a handycam. I love mac and FCP! works like a charm. the latest version of premiere looks very similar to FCP. the best way to get hold of a good camera is to make friends with people owning it
If your film sounds interesting, they should be on board without a doubt.
Premiere may look like FCP but it is nowhere nearly the efficient and powerful tool that FCP is. FCP caters to both, the budding as well as the professional filmmaker. Premiere only caters to the budding filmmaker.
Yes, always good to make friends with people who own camera! I once struck a deal with a camera owner to get him paid rentals. He agreed to give me one day of free rental for every 2 days of paid rental that I could get him. So about a month prior to my shoot, I began getting him some clients and was able to secure the camera free of cost for my shoot. Get creative with the bargaining.
Thanks for this nice summary! What about lighting?
Renting a lighting kit can be expensive, although there are some very nice, lightweight 3-point lighting kits available that are used for TV interviews and stuff. If you can afford this, great. Go for it. If not, there are tons of alternatives.
Check out these incandescent clamp lights available for under $10 a piece from Home Depot. I am sure one can find these in India too. I have used these not just for digital films but also for lighting super 16, and if you get creative, they work like a dream! Buy as many as you can afford. Clamp them anywhere you want! Alter the bulbs based on the desired intensity. Robert Rodriguez used only these lights for shooting El Mariachi!
http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Worklights/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5Zaqn9/R-100664506/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
China balls are another great option. All you require is a standard bulb, and the China Balls will diffuse or soften the lighting very well. Wonderful, cheap option for creating soft light, used very widely by professional DPs too.
Superb!!! Respect the effort gone into this post Vijay!!
Have an idea for PFCOne for this year, will fiddle with a few. Will take a printout of this post and keep in a safe. Thanks. Want to edit my 1 min film? ;-)
Anything for you buddy!
In the $6000 range, one of the best cameras around is the Sony PMX EX1. This is for the slightly experienced user though but this camera kicks some serious ass.
Never have professional cameramen and indie cinematographers seen such a sharpness in image quality – thanks to the three 1/2″ Exmor CMOS sensors. Completely tapeless, awesome compatibility with FCP 6, seamless post-production workflow once you figure out the basics and with a Shallow Depth of field that’s putting a lot of professional cameras to shame.
Also, it’s got slow/fast motion capture. Comes with the SxS card. Combine that with the MacBook Pro and the post-production seems effortless. Best for filmmakers that are looking into the future of true HD. Shorts, documentaries and even features. Sweet.
It is a sweet camera. It is the latest XD CAM series from Sony and is still catching on. People who have made heavy investments in the HDV cameras will take some more time before they discard them and move to these. But they should.
I saw a demo at my dealer’s in Singapore and was very, very impressed. However, few have it in India, and rental charges are very high at the moment.
For first time filmmakers, I will not recommend a tapeless camera due to more complex backup procedures of footage. Use a tape-based system so that you have tapes with timecode as your ultimate back up in case of an hard disk crash.
Tami, thanks for bringing it up.
sorry, PMW EX1…
Also, you got the XDCam Clip Browser and the XDCam Transfer tool for import to FCP. Install the latest versions.
Yeah, this is not for the first timers.
And for the icing on the cake, there’s the EX3. Super hot.
By the way, Sony Vegas comes built in with an XD CAM explorer.
Vijay- this is a superb effort yaar.a big thanks for this initiative
Splendid effor Vijay. Thanks a lot for this article. Would be of tremendous help in upcoming sojourns.
p.s i am glad you didnt mention Corel Videostudio. I have used it and it sucks bigtime.
I didn’t even know Corel had a video editing program!
May God bless you
There is one very nice HD camera called HV40. I have seen some awesome footage of the camera from hv20.com. I was going to buy this camera until I found out the Indian price, which is about the three times more than what people pay in the US. In fact, all of the above cameras you have mentioned are going to cost you an arm and a leg if you decide to buy them in India. If you do know any site or place, possibly in Mumbai, that sells any of the above equipment, please let me know. As I don’t like to rent, I think I will buy one if I can get it at the right price.
As far as I know and I can be wrong, the Z series can’t shoot 1080P on tape. I think you need HDMI or a card for recording at that resolution.
And as for final cut pro, I don’t think any student or a short filmmaker has the cash to buy a Mac, which is like the BMW of computers. Or for that matter any of Apple’s overprized computers. I would stick with the cheep pc.
Thanks
Z series can indeed shoot to 1080i and 1080 24p signals and you can indeed record to HDV or DVCAM tape. HDMI is simply an interface. You can record to tape and all you need is a firewire interface.
You are right in that when you purchase these cameras in India, they are expensive because duty is taken into account as well. But they are so widely available in India for rent, you dont really need to buy one.
If you travel to say Singapore or Malaysia, you can get a good price and just bring it back with you. You can walk right through the green channel without paying any duty, because the rules allow you to bring a video camera with you.
You are talking about the Canon Vixia HV 40, which can shoot at native 24 and in HDV. But it has limitations. The lens is not all that great to begin with so you wont have the flexibility and variety that the others offer you. Secondly, its not a 3CCD camera which will show in the final output if and when you project onto a big screen. It doesnt fit into the league of the
Z series or the G1S.
BUT, if you are particular about owning an HDV camera but dont want to pay much, at $1,000 a piece, the HV40 is not a bad camera to own.
I have an HV-20 (the model which is now upgraded to HV-40) and trust me, it works like magic. I shot a documentary on HV-20, all by myself, no professionals involved…and had hired a Z-1 just for one day of the shoot. (Rest 10 days, shot with HV-20)
Surprisingly (or not so), the results of both the cameras matched to the T! In the final cut, it can be a good puzzle to find which camera is used in which portion.
And at around 900 USD (with Zoom, wide-angle, tripod), it’s more than worth it.
*******
Big Screen output I am still not sure of, as haven’t seen the results on Big Screen, but image quality on a comp-screen or a Big Screen TV looked very good.
When you watch it on a small screen like a computer or even an HDTV, random footage quality may not look so different. But try doing a color test. Set the iris at the same level on both cameras. White balance both with the same reference under the same light. The take a color chart and shoot from both. Load both clips into your NLE and do a split screen showing half of each. Then you will see the difference. When you are shooting narrative, and are paying more attention to production design, colors, look and feel of your film and so on, these kind of tests will prove their importance.
Thanks Vijay. I will try doing that test. May be ‘meri aankhein khul jaayein’.
It’s also true that I was shooting a documentary where colors, sharpness etc didn’t matter much (plus I had lots of outdoors, night shots, low-light shots) and hence I don’t even know how to judge my camera on that.
A friend is shooting his short-film with the camera now, under controlled lighting (though HV-20 is only a back-up camera for this shoot), so will find out soon how it performs in those conditions.
hey vijay, ur contribs to PFC are the most tangible ones macha… appreciate it thoroughly! this post particluraly will be one of the best content that has come out on pfc! for our corporate films we use the PD 150 & 175, depending on the budget of the client. but surprisingly, the output has always looked similar. not an iota of difference. but anyways… i have printed this article out & am gonna make decisions based on this for my PFCOne short. Will credit you in that for this enlightenment.
While Sony claimed that the PD-170 had better image processing than the PD-150, I personally never saw much of a difference. In very low light, the PD-170 has marginally lesser video noise than the PD-150. Other than that, I never saw any difference in the image. PD-170 does however have some better options in terms of settings and so on. Most importantly the iris control is better and more diverse than the 150.
In the world of standard definition 3CCD prosumer camcorders, if you can give the PD-170 a 9 out of 10, the 150 would score an 8. Not much difference.
Once again a great contribution from your end Vijay..more power to you.
Thanks for this Vijay. I’ve saved your earlier article on editing too. Maybe someday, all this will be of great use to me!
Good post Vijay. Very useful info. I do stuff on my own in the NYC area and just wanted to share my 2c. I just upgraded to HD from good old DV.
I am putting down the rig I have. I don’t live in India so I dont’ know what is available there but I guess most of this should be. I was working on a budget so worked hard finding the right mix for HD.
I would suggest readers to just Google the model nos to view the products. Hope this info helps.
CAMERA
Panasonic AG-HMC70U Shoulder Mounted Camcorder
Panasonic HDC-TM20 camcorder
LIGHT
LED-35 LED On Camera Light
Lowel Tota 3 point light
SOUND
MC-70 Phantom Powered Shotgun Microphone
1 Wireless Lapel with receiver and transmitter
DOLLY ETC
ProVista Airlift Tripod with Pneumatic Centerpost with FM18 Fluid Head & W3 Dolly
POST
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate (comes bundled with the following)
Magic Bullet
Prodad Vita Scene
Borris Effects.
Thanks for your great effort, very informaitive.
Thanks…
Looks like a certain someone has some axe to grind with me, giving negative ratings on every positive comment made on this post. Stop being a coward, come out and say what you don’t like about what is being said here, or contribute so we all can gain from this discussion.
And by the way, your IP address is no mystery as it gets logged with every rating. We know who you are, but will save you the embarrassment by refraining from revealing your identity.
How can anyone have anything bad to say about this article? People are crazy, forget about it.
Vijay – don’t look at the comment rating. That one is probably the most misused feature since the day it was introduced. It has nothing to do with the actual rating of your article, which of course is top-notch, and one of its kind of PFC.
I wrote a thousand liner and it not go through. so here i am with my 2c again
Firstly very good post. Unfortunately we have more critics in PFC than technicians who can advise on how to put your stuff together in the real world. Please keep this going.
I am like most of us here. Big dream and empty pocket. Trying hard to make ends meet but dreaming about that big day. I do stuff on my own in the NYC area and just upgraded to HD. Since I am on a budget I looked real hard for bargains and put the rig together.
I don’t know how much of this is available in India but I would think most of it would be.Readers can Google the model number to get more info.
CAMERA
Panasonic AG-HMC70U Shoulder Mounted Camcorder
Panasonic HDC-TM20 camcorder
LIGHT
LED-35 LED On Camera Light
Lowell Tota basic 3 point light kit
SOUND
MC-70 Phantom Powered Shotgun Microphone
DAK Wireless Lapel with receiver and transmitter
TRIPOD, DOLLY. JIB ETC
ProVista Airlift Tripod with Pneumatic Centerpost with FM18 Fluid Head & W3 Dolly
Tommyjib
A basic monopod
POST
Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate (comes with the following):
Magic Bullet Looks
Prodad Vita Scene
Borris Effects.
Some other post production stuff.
COMPUTER
Intel quadcore
4 gb ram
Nvidia video card
Windows Vista
Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I am not an expert but would love to help out in whatever way I can.
Thanks
Abhra
Abhra – that’s a solid package you have put together. Can you talk about the 2 cameras you have mentioned. What has your experience been with the quality, have you projected the final output off a long throw projector, how has Premiere handled the footage. I have neither used nor do I know much about the cameras you have listed.
Could you also talk about what it cost you to put this package together? Because I can tell that a package like this may be a little more than what most filmmakers who are just getting started can afford. Filmmakers’ inventories usually grow with every subsequent project, but a basic cost breakdown will give people some insight on what they would be looking at.
OK here it goes. I am still trying them out so might not be aware of a lot of things .Please feel free to add / correct :
Panasonic AG-HMC70U Shoulder Mounted Camcorder – this is Panasonic’s entry level pro camcorder. Shoots in AVCHD, 1080i. – $1700
Panasonic HDC-TM20 camcorder – Consumer version of the 70U. NO XLR off course, but image quality is the same. Use it as a backup or second camera – $500
These cameras are no Red Ones but for that money,a good deal. 3ccd which I prefer over CMOS because of the low light capability (again thats debatable.) Biggest advantage is 2 XLR inputs so you can have external sound inputs. Theres a Zoom speed control which if set to the minimum can almost look like a slow dolly.
A word about AVCHD. Sony and Panasonic developed this technology. Extremely high quality but a BITCH to edit. You need CS4, Vegas 9 or Pinnacle 12 (and be ready for some crashes) to edit. You also need an extremely fast processor. Please look at my system specs before buying any AVCHD stuff (and mines the least you can have)
$$$$
So far I have spent about $5k. I know its a lot of money ( no one knows it better than me)..but as you said your inventory grow as you progress. The latest addition is the jib. The biggest problem here is the rentals cost a lot. So its better to buy as you go.
I am working on the website, will send you guys the link to some of my work. If anyone living in this area wants to hook up for a gig please let me know.
do you also rent out your equipment to try and recover that money?
Not yet since I’ve getting a reasonable amount of work. But I guess I would keep that option open.
Hi Vijay, which is the best external hard drive for editing purposes also cost effective:)…thinking of buying 500gb. let me know soon have to buy asap!
I am guessing you want to buy an external hard drive and am assuming you are working with standard definition video. If you are working on Avid with a Mojo hooked up, then the mojo is hooked using your firewire port. In this case, you cannot use a firewire drive off the same card. You either need to use a USB drive or pop in a second firewire card and use the drive off that. If you are not running avid or do not have a mojo, you can choose either interface.
The key is that whatever hard drive you buy, the spindle speed of the disk should be a minimum of 7200 RPM. Anything slower will not play your video smoothly. You get 500GB HDs for real cheap in India, but be careful. They maybe the 5400 rpm drives, good only for storage and back up, not for working off of.
I have had good experiences using Lacie and Western Digital / Seagate drives. Brand is not important. Spindle speed is.
If you are working with HD, you need to go for something much faster like 10,000 to 15,000 rpm drives. If you have the money, and your computer supports it, you can go for RAID or SCSI drives which are the ultimate.
I use a Western Digital 7200 Ex and cut straight from it. i would always suggest going for a 1TB since theres not a whole lot of difference in the price 500 is not a whole lot since HD takes up so much space.
Thanks Macha for you advice, got a 750 GB WD drive, which I could afford. It runs at 7500rpm. The higher speed drives are expensive in current situation.
Manjeet if you are in US, there are some really good sites like
www.deals2buy.com
www.dealsofamerica.com
etc, where if you browse once a day you will find many such good deals. The best deals, it is believed are found on Mondays.
OM, chod aaye hum woh galiyan:) the good thing is the price of computer stuff is comparable to that in the US. The only issue is the choice. I went to Lamington road all the shops had same freaking hard drive in stock… guess the wholesaler must be the same:)
Vijai bhai the stuff is too gud and very informing, dont bother about the stupid who is doing this. After a long a very informative and educative mail. Keep it up…..
Is it really possible to shoot feature on PD 170 or equivalent, and finally projecting on 70 mm screen in theatre!
How this is done!
Please tell about the minimum configuration required to project the film at 70 mm in theatre through FILM or DIGITAL FORMAT. Are such camears are compatible with prime lenses.
Once again a great article by u.
Deepak, possible to shoot on PD-170 and project on a 70mm screen, but not ideal.
When you shoot on video, there are 2 choices for exhibition. Either you go for digital exhibition, or you go for 35mm print exhibition. If you have shot on DV or HDV, you would usually have an MPEG-2 based digital exhibition or MPEG-4 which in India can be facilitated on QUBE and UFO systems. The other option is to project off a long throw video projector using a DVCAM, HDV or DigiBeta deck as is done in a lot of film festivals worldwide.
If you want to exhibit off a 35mm print, the video frames need to be upscaled to 2k, color corrected and then printed to film. It is best to talk to your post prod. house that is going to do this before you shoot, so you can get the recommended shutter speed settings and so on from them. Better also to shoot it 16:9 with an anamorphic lens, so it is easier to transfer on film with a 1:1.85 aspect ratio.
You have to use lenses compatible with the camera. A DP can explain to you what kind of lenses you can use, what adapters are available, whether you can use prime lenses etc. I am personally not that well versed on that front.
But I can tell you that shooting on HDV or DVCAM and projecting onto a large screen takes its toll on picture quality. Bigger the screen, more you lose out on quality.
I have seen David Lynch’s Inland Empire, which was shot on a PD-150, projected off a 35mm print at the ArcLight Dome in los Angeles, a massive, MASSIVE 70mm screen. You see the video noise, you see the generation loss etc. A David Lynch can get away with that kind of stuff. But others cannot.
I am guessing you are talking about the cinemascope commonly reffered as 70mm. Attended a presentation recently on a new technology in Digital Intermediate process, will be writing about it soon. If you can shoot it in 2.35 aspect ratio the new tech will enable you to make the cinemascope prints on 35mm film…but offcourse the look will depend on how you have shot your film…If shot well in HD, it does look like film!
This is the first thing that comes to the mind. Film is expensive, how can I save. This is what i think. If you shoot digital stick to digital. I don’t think we have the technology yet for a perfect transition. When you see your labor of love on a big screen looking like its been shot through a mosquito net, its not funny.
The good news is they way digital is progressing, it opens up a lot of possibilities for the little guys like us.
Abhra, we don’t have the technology yet for a perfect transition but we do have the tech for transition that comes pretty close.
The Red One, the Viper, the ARRI HD is one area. Unbelievably expensive. Move away from that into the slightly more affordable area, and there is a lot of good stuff that has been done with the F900. Watch the Turkish film Three Monkeys, and you will see what a good DP can do with the F900. I saw it exhibited off a 35mm print, and barring ONE shot, I could not tell that it was HD.
There is nothing new about this technology. This has existed for over 5 years now.
But do not confuse HD and HDV. HDV is shot in a 1080i or p res. Treat this as a 1K image. Film based DI happens at 2K or higher. So if you are shooting HDV, it is not going to look like film. It can look like its moving at the speed of film, but you wont hit the same level of resolution, color values, etc.
To be able to make it look close to film after a DI, you need to atleast shoot on a camera like the Sony F900 now replaced by the F800 which shoots at 10-bit 4:4:2 subsampling at the very minimum. The EX3 comes pretty close to this I think although the actually captured pixel resolution may be a little lower.
The EX3 is the most exciting stuff to come from Sony in the HD arena, which making higher resolutions available at smaller prices. Anyway, this is heading slowly into the professional arena, and is not very pertinent to short filmmakers per say. I wish we had a specialized pro who could write an extensive post on HD.
I have no idea what kinda equipment you guys use in India for shooting television software. Can someone tell me ?
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Thanks man
great post vijay. I don’t know much about cameras…leave it to the DP usually, but i recently shot a docu on Sony HVRS 270, and a music video on the varicam.
abhra, i’m in NYC. I’m down for making stuff. let me know if you have anything going on. cheers.
dabba – email me your no and we’ll talk. abhram@gmail.com
HVR S270 is a decent camera but bulky as hell no?
Varicam – Nice! Great for features with a good budget, especially when you want to do a DI and exhibit on 35.
I feel its way more than you need for a music video which is going to be finished for TV. But if you can afford it, hey what the hell! Why not, right?
How much did you pay for rentals for each?
HVRS270 was bulky, but it was good for a lot of the handheld things, cos it was actually more stable. had a smaller camera also for most of the candid, and spontaneous stuff, think it was the HVR S120 (could be completely off base here).
Varicam was really sweet, especially for shooting night exteriors and were able to light with just a 1K. very little noise, and looked great, especially for the kinda high contrast i was shooting for.
Rentals – as with everything else, being at the right place, at the right time, and knowing the right people meant camera rentals were nothing. the HVR for the docu was free cos it was for a school project,and the DP that OWNED THE Varicam was going out of the country on another shoot, and basically let us have the camera for 3 weeks. For $200. And someone else pitched in their steadicam gear, and operated for free. Cos, i’m like, you know, a really nice guy. Hope their efforts weren’t wasted in my hands.
Hi Vijay, can u recommend a decent Editing software for Windows Vista (other than Windows Movie Maker)?
Read the post Praveen! That is what I have spent the entire time doing.
Vijay
I need to get some editing work done in india. can you please email me your no . my email address is abhram@gmail.com
I’d like to add a small caveat here. It’s really not bout what camera you use but all about how it’s lit. Even if you are shooting day exteriors and using all natural light be mindful of the sun position ie NEVER shoot in overhead sun and always schedule shots when the sun is at an favorable angle. I own/have access to a bunch of cameras both HD and Film but what camera is gonna be used is decided purely by content and efficiency. If we only have limited time then we eschew dollies and cranes in favor of handheld or vice versa. Think about the look you want and as a director communicate your vision to the entire crew but most critically to your DP and Production Designer.
Gangopadhyay is back! This is the guy to REALLY talk to about cameras! Ask away!
i’m studying at whistling woods right now, freshman semester and we’re using the sony Z1P for our project film. its quite good and the accessories help you simulate track/dolly
Thanks Vijay!!
Actually, I was waiting for someone to speak about cameras, lightings, sounds and editing in PFC.
I would like to know more about lightings as I will be making a short film and I want to use the natural light for both interior and exterior shots. Can you please provide me some pointers (like, what features to look in a camera which can ensure me that they will give low noise in night exterior or perhaps a book on lighting setup)?
Most of the cameras talked about above are excellent in low light. You will get video noise with all cameras when shooting night with availably light. The question to ask is, “how do I light so that I can eliminate video noise”.
That said, let me say I do not know much about lighting technique. It’s a question for the specialists. So DPs, gaffers, please speak up and contribute. Mitch! Question for you man!
Wat up Vijay? Can you start a separate thread on this subject man? Lighting in general, and then we can cover each chapter. Am i asking for a lot?
A discussion on lighting on the main page has to start with a post about lighting. As I said, I am not the guy. So here’s hoping someone qualified enough can give us a write up about lighting based on which we can have a discussion.
Otherwise, go to the PFC Lab, and under the section “Art & Craft of Filmmaking”, start a thread about lighting, ask your questions, and wait for someone to answer.
These are some very basic tips if you are moving from auto to manual
http://www.videomaker.com/article/14280/
I am hoping someone will come up with the answers to
The question to ask is, “how do I light so that I can eliminate video noise”.
Thanks for sharing this link Abhra. It is a very informative write-up and I myself got plenty of tips from it. Very good starting point to iron out basic low-light issues.
Lighting is such a vast and varied subject that even a 500 page book isn’t enough to do the technical part justice, let alone the artistic side. As far as shooting in low light conditions the advantage of HD is WYSIWG ie you can tell immediately if you are getting noise or not. I’m shooting a film on the weekend with the Canon 5D and it’s got phenomenal low light capabilites.Handling it is a bitch but that’s another story. What I’ve seen is that tape based cameras are more prone to pick up noise than solid state systems.
Using natural light indoors will almost always give you a very flat low contrast look so it’s not a good idea to that unless that’s the look you are going for. I do all my photography using natural light and people always ask me why I need a ton of lights when shooting film. The answer is that with photography in addition to exposure I can also play around with shutter speed which is not advisable when shooting motion so you have less control.
If anyone is interested in learning more about lighting I suggest studying your favorite photographers, cinematographers and artists and first you will of course try to mimic them but eventually your own style will emerge. I shoot both documentaries and narrative and my style and approach for either is completely different. For docs if possible I place the subject near a window to give side lighting to emulate Vermeer’s soft but contrasty window light approach.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/
Recently I had the opportunity to film Rahman for a documentary here in LA and it was quite tough to get the right angle coz of a variety of reasons which was also compounded by the fact there were mirrors everywhere and it was a 2 camera shoot. Still the footage came out pretty decent mainly coz Rahman is such a fascinating person in real life.
For narrative stuff my default style is a super saturated high contrast look which I often have to tone down coz it doesn’t fit the subject matter. I’ve just been hired to shoot a feature doc in my signature style coz the director liked the look of my photographs and wanted an edgy look for the film. In the end as a DP my job is to get the director the look they want but also make them aware what is possible and not possible keeping in mind the equipment, time and resources we have.
write a post on your rahman interview.
There are some basic lighting tools and kits that you could have around to cover most circumstances. For documentary makers, a china-ball (cheap white paper lantern) is extremely useful and inexpensive for soft light on a face in a low-key setting. Also, those clamp-on lamps you get at hardware stores are handy.
Most entry-level shooters have a three- or four-point light setup with some inexpensive hot lights and stands. There’s the key light for the main strong light source, a fill light so the shadows on faces aren’t too stark, a hair light that is placed overhead to separate the person’s head visually from the background, and sometimes a backlight to highlight certain portions of the background.
Some people I work with have light banks made from flourescent lights or LEDs (light-emitting diodes) instead of the traditional hot light set. They’re fairl expensive but softer and cooler to the touch. Also, you can rent this type of thing for a specific shoot.
I personally prefer my lightweight RifaLite kit for many uses. Each lamp comes with an attached softbox to diffuse the light and which pops open with little effort. They have attachments that transform each lamp from a hot light with a high-wattage halogen bulb to a cool (daylight-color) lamp with three screw-in flourescent bulbs. Each bulb has an on-off switch, versus a dimmer, so you don’t have a color/temperature shift when you adjust the brightness.
The next thing to consider is what you are drawing the eye’s attention to with your lights and what kind of mood you are setting with brightness/chairoscura and colors….