Makin' Movies

[Relievo]

Alan, you seem to know you stuff matey! :p

I just got a kick in the orbs from the UK film council, got the usual narrow minded "thanks but no thanks" letter. I am writing a screnplay that I wanted to eventually direct myself.

If I can't get anyone interested in my final draft I am considering filming a lower budget version myself.

Would the GY HD100 be a strong enough horse to try this? Could I achieve the "Jean-Pierre Jaunet look", like in Amile? ...of course, a lot of it was post prod.

I could/would be armed with a HD100/ 101 and FCP5

Cheers,
Love the site :D

[Richard Payne]

Check out Magic Bullet to give you the look you are after.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/magbulsuit.html

I'm sure the camera is up to the task.

[Alan Roberts]

You'll get, at best, a look like best quality super 16. The format doesn't have the grunt of 35mm, which is what you'd get with a "proper" HD camera at 1080p.

[Relievo]

Super 16 if fine.... it wouldn't be much of a low budget feature otherwise :D

Plus, it will be set in the 80's so I want that nostalgic look.

But would the quality/rez be accepted on the big screen? I know 28 Dayz later was done with an XL1s, but with a monster lens and crap... so surley a standard GYHD100 could work? :confused: :o

[Alan Roberts]

It'll look soft on a big screen. If that's ok, so beit.

[StevenBagley]

But would the quality/rez be accepted on the big screen? I know 28 Dayz later was done with an XL1s, but with a monster lens and crap... so surley a standard GYHD100 could work? :confused: :o

You should look into how expensive hiring a proper HD camera for the duration of your shoot would be.

VMI list the Sony HDW-F750 at £470 a day +£100 for the lens, which would give you at least 7 days hire for your £4200 and much better picture quality. And considering the deals you can get on long hire you'd probably be able to get a fortnight's hire for your money.

OF course if you are going to have a prolonged shoot then you'd probably save cash by buying a camera.

Steven

[Unicorn]

You should look into how expensive hiring a proper HD camera for the duration of your shoot would be.

But it's not just the camera. A 'proper HD camera' will require a lot more babysitting than HDV, will require a more experience crew, and will require a 'proper HD edit' from a 'proper HD tape format' rather than an edit you can do at home on your PC or Mac.

Ok, you can cut corners by dubbing to DV or whatever for the edit, but you'll be adding a heck of a lot more complexity for a movie which, let's be honest, will probably never be seen on a cinema screen outside of festivals (note that I'm not saying anything about the quality of the script, director, etc, just pointing out that 99.9% of low-budget movies will never be shown in your local cinema... unless you're sure that yours is the one in a thousand which will, you're really just wasting money and time worrying about getting the best result on a cinema screen).

[Alan Roberts]

On the other hand, by using a "proper" HD system, you could benefit from my experience in setting up HD cameras to get the best from them. I do this for a lot of productions, freelance.....

[StevenBagley]

On the other hand, by using a "proper" HD system, you could benefit from my experience in setting up HD cameras to get the best from them. I do this for a lot of productions, freelance.....

And presumably once setup -- a proper HD camera is no different from any other pro camera. In which case it should be a lot simpler to drive than a consumer level camera (or that has been my experience with a DSR500 anyway).

Steven

[Alan Roberts]

S'right. My approach is that the videographer shouldn't have to worry about the camera, I set it and he uses it exactly the same way as he'd use a film camera (except for recording sound, changing film, cleaning the gate.....) and he gets pictures that look like they've come from 35mm neg through a best light tk. 11 stops or better, decent colour saturation, sharp pictures without added zing. You'd be really surprised at how much British TV (and in other parts of the world) is made that way. BBC R&D had over 600 requests for my setup data last year alone.

[Unicorn]

On the other hand, by using a "proper" HD system, you could benefit from my experience in setting up HD cameras to get the best from them.

True :). But I still think that if you're on a very limited budget, you'll be better off spending the money on what goes in front of the camera rather than on the camera itself.