Tuesday, November 19, 2013

What would be a good video camera and software for my movie?

video editing software education
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Andrew


I finished my script and have had it copyrighted and writer's guild approved and now I need to get a camera and some good production software. What would you suggest because I have about $2000 dollar budget but don't know what to get.


Answer
Camera:
Canon HV30 $770
It's the only camcorder I'd recommend under $2,000. It's an HDV camcorder, which means it records to miniDV cassette tapes which go for about $2 a piece. Don't let anyone tell you any different: HDV is sooo much better than Hard Drive, miniDVD, or SD card camcorders:
-easier to store: miniDV is cheap
-best quality: least compression
-miniDV is compatible with virtually any NLE system

Regarding the HV30: the Canon HV30 has excellent picture quality. It produces extremely sharp HD footage. It also has excellent color saturation on it's suprisingly impressive single 1/2.7" CMOS chip. It also has an excellent automatic mode, meaning it's super easy to use. I'm more of a manual guy myself, but I shoot with the HV30 in auto because it's so good; it has the fastest autofocus I have ever seen.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/539289-REG/Canon_2680B001_VIXIA_HV30_HDV_Camcorder.html
It also has a 24p mode, which is excellent for movies, short films and documentaries. 24p makes your digital video look more like celluloid film. It's not perfect, but still.

Several problems with the HV30:
it's a consumer camera so it's manual controls suck, but it's good enough to keep in auto. All it's manual functions are hidden in its menu, except for focus, which merits a flimsy focus dial near the lens.

Software: the best is Avid Media Composer, but it only works on Macs and very powerful PCs. Next best is Final Cut Studio, but it only works on Macs. Final Cut Studio (FCS) is actually my favorite cuz it comes with Final Cut Pro (for editing), Soundtrack Pro (for music composing) Color (for color correction) Motion (for 3D effects) Compresser (for professional compression) and DVD Studio Pro (for making DVDs). Next best is Adobe Premiere Pro.

The problem is, Adobe, Avid and FCS are extremely expensive. However, if you are a student, or know a student you could use, you could get them for huge discounts!!!
AVID MEDIA COMPOSER $295 (regular price:$2,500)
FINAL CUT STUDIO $700 (regular price $1,200)
ADOBE PREMIERE PRO $350 (regular price $700)
http://journeyed.com/home.asp
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/education_routing/

Both Avid and FCS have pretty hefty computer requirements, but Adobe is pretty lax. I have a PC with 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 worked fine (but I wasn't editing HD)

Assuming you get a $780 camcorder and a $700 program, you have about $500 to spend on accessories. Here are some things you may need to make your movie:
1) Microphone: probably a shotgun: RODE VideoMic $150 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html
2) Lighting Equipment: don't spend $2,000 on a light kit. Just get a high wattage lamp at Home Depot or something.Two or Three 200W lights should be fine.
3) Tripod: don't get anything fancy. Just get something to hold up the camera. Getting a nice tripod will only encourage you to keep in on the tripod for the whole movie= boring. Take it off the tripod. Borrow a Wheelchair and use it as a dolly!

That should be under $2,000. So, anyways, I hope that helps, and happy moviemaking!

PS: for your added moviemaking pleasure:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ten+minute+film+school&search_type=&aq=f

What do I need to compose music and polish it for a video game portfolio?




Alex


Becoming a video game composer is my big dream and I really want to make it happen. For now I'm using Sibelius 7 (notation software) to create my music, but I don't know if that's enough though. I need to know what kind of gear I'm going to need if I want to make this into a career. Do I need a midi keyboard? What's a sequencer? Oh, do I need a keyboard of some sort? How do you create sound samples and with what? What do I need to edit, mix, and produce music for the best quality.

When answering this question you must assume that I know nothing about recording, mixing, and producing. By the way, I'm looking to compose in a variety of genres; orchestral, swing, new world, rock/metal, electronic and some other unique inventions of my own that I know sibelius alone can't fulfill.

I've also though about investing in one of the following; an education in digital arts (recording, mixing, and producing) or an education in music composition. I feel the latter will give me every thing I'm looking for, but I'm just not sure and I wanna make the right move.

I need an answer as soon as possible because I've been putting this goal off for to long and it's time to make my dream career work for me.

I'm looking for answers from those who are in a closely related field and have had success, but for those in video game music specifically, even better.



Answer
It would be helpful to know how much music training you've had and how old you are. I would definitely recommend becoming proficient in playing the piano since that's the foundation for knowing how to compose. You would really benefit from having a quality midi keyboard with multi-track recording capabilities and numerous instruments and drum sounds. Don't get the cheapest one because you need to build up your portfolio with quality recordings. If you look into getting an education in music composition make sure the college specializes in contemporary music. I made the mistake of going to a college that only taught classical music which really wasn't what I was looking for.

Once you've recorded something you'll need to be able to turn it into a MP3 or WAV file so you can email out samples of your work. Below is a link to an article on how to do that.




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