The Blog for Video 2.0

Sony continues their push to win over the consumer HD camcorder market by release three new HD cams.

The HDR-CX7 ($1200 MSRP), is their first to record exclusively to a removable flash media, Memory Stick PRO Duo. Also announced today were the HDR-SR5 and HDR-SR7, two new hard disk drive high definition models. All new models use the new AVCHD codec, which is an implementation of H.264 encoding for hard disk and memory card based camcorders.

This brings the total number of sub-$2000 Sony HD camcorders to seven, over three times as many as Panasonic or Canon currently offers. Five of the seven utilize the new AVCHD codec.

It will be interesting to see if these new cameras gain acceptance in the low budget indie filmmaking market, where manual control is just as important as image quality.

Labels: avchd, camcorder, hdv, high definition, sony

Part 3 of our movie making on a budget section.

We have the camera and the software...what's left?

Microphone. You'll need a good external mic. One that can be mounted on a boom pole or on the camera. My favorite is the Rode VideoMic or the Rode Stereo VideoMic. This is the perfect mic for home/hobby users with a mini-plug connector. The VideoMic comes with a shock mount included and delivers very nice sound for the $150.

Tripod. A tripod is a must. Without one your movies will look like amatuer video. Buy a good tripod and you'll only have to buy one once. Do not go for the $50 tripod you find at big box stores. Spend a bit more--say $175 for a nice Bogen/Manfrotto set of legs with a fluid head. The 3001 legs and 3130 fluid head is a great setup.

Tapes. It is important to use quality MiniDV tapes and to stick with one brand of tapes. I have used the Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ Professional tapes for years. Excellent quality and reliabiliy.

Labels: camcorder, digital video, filmmaking, indie film

In Part 1 of Movie Making On a Budge we looked at cameras. Now let's take a look at video editing software.

Home Video editor: This is the person who just wants to edit home videos of birthdays and soccer games. Most consumer packages are affordable and more than powerful enough for their targeted user base. The trick is to find a package that is easy to use.

Pinnacle Studio 10 $99. Studio packs a ton of features under the hood. There is a very basic learning curve but for the most part the package is user-friendly. Past versions have suffered from crashes and compatibility issues with non-standard PCs. Includes DVD authorting.

Ulead VideoStudio $99. Ease of use makes this a great package. Very powerful, complete with DVD creation.

Sony Vegas MovieStudio + DVD. $89. Three easy steps to capture, edit and share. Focuses on ease of use and fun. Worth a look.

Apple iMovie HD ($79 as part of iLife suite). Mac users need to look no farther than iMovie. This great beginner package now offers HD support. Apple designed themes provide motion graphics for intros and lower-thirds that rival the most expensive tools in the market. Third party developers provide a series of plugins (at extra cost) to expand iMovies capabilities even further. DVD authoring included in iDVD, a separate iLife application.


Hobbyist: This person is taking things to the next level. Maybe creating DVDs for school events, sports, or weekend movie making.

Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0. $99. Premiere Elements is going to really put pressure on the consumer packages. It really brings the power of Premiere, a great application, down to consumer users. Sceneline feature makes video editing similar to slideshow creation. Includes DVD authoring.

Apple Final Cut Express HD $299. Not ready for the full power of Final Cut? FCE gives users nearly everything they could want/need. Soundtrack and LiveType are bundled. Excellent entry into the world of pro NLE systems.


Filmmaking/Video Producer: You know who you are...

Adobe Production Studio. $1299 - $1799 Adobe After Effects® 7.0 Professional, Adobe Premiere® Pro 2.0, Adobe Photoshop® CS2, Adobe Audition® 2.0, Adobe Encore® DVD 2.0, and Adobe Illustrator® CS2. What more could you need?

Apple Final Cut Studio. $1299. Final Cut Pro 5, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro 4, Compressor, LiveType. Battling with Premiere to become the standard for DV and HDV editing.

Sony Vegas+DVD. $600. The Vegas+DVD Production Suite combines Vegas 7, DVD Architect 4, and Dolby Digital® AC-3 encoding software to offer an integrated environment for all phases of professional video, audio, DVD, and broadcast production.

Labels: adobe, apple, camcorder, equipment, filmmaking, final cut, ilife, imovie, indie film, NLE, sony vegas, video editing

Most of us don't have unlimited funds. For those of us on a budget, here is my list for great budget-minded movie making gear.

Camera:

The just announed Canon HV20 looks like a real winner, but the lack of real world usage means we can't recommend it just yet. So here is the list

Under $1,000:
Panasonic GS500 3CCD Standard Definition with high quality 16:9 mode and frame mode with CineGamma.

Sony HDR-HC5 1080i HDV Camcorder, 2.1 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, 10x Optical/80x Digital Zoom, 2.7" Touch Panel LCD Screen, Carl Zeiss Lens

Under $1,500:
Sony HDR-HC7 1080i HDV Camcorder, 3.2 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, 10x Optical, 2.7" Touch Panel LCD Screen, Carl Zeiss Lens, Optical Image Stabilizer

Under $3,000:
Canon XL-2 1/3-Inch 3-CCD Widescreen MiniDV Camcorder with 24P Recording, Body Only without Lens

Panasonic AG-DVX100B 3-CCD 24p/30p/60i Mini-DV Cinema Camcorder, NTSC, with CineSwitch Technology, CineGamma Software, FireWire Interface

Under $5,000:
Canon XH-A1 3CCD HDV Camcorder, 1080i, 16:9, 20x Lens, 24f Mode

HDR-FX7 3CMOS HDV 1080i 16:9 Camcorder Kit, includes Anton Bauer ElipZ Battery Package and Camcorder Bag

Labels: camcorder, digital video, equipment, filmmaking, hdv

Ready to make your movie? Here are a few simple tips to help you on your way. These are things I've learned from books, online resources and my own experience making short films. Enjoy...

1. It's the Story, Stupid....filmmaking is story telling. You need a good script. You need a story that you are passoniate about telling. When you don't have a budget, chances are you won't be blowing up buildings or having long chase scenes to entertain your viewers. Focus on the script. Get a tight, interesting script on paper before you shoot anything.

2. Use the equipment you have...or rent--don't buy. Is your only camera a $300 Handcam? So what. Use it. Even the cheapest consumer MiniDV camcorder can give good results when you use a tripod and you light properly. Don't feel that you need to rush out and buy an brand new HDV cam, or a new boom mic, or Final Cut Pro. Shoot with the equipment you alreay own. Learn your equipment and more importantly, learn the craft of filmmaking. Trust me, there will be many more things limiting you besides your equipment.

3. Plan, plan and then plan some more. After the script you need to prepare a shot list. This is a break down of every shot within every scene. List the location, actors, props, type of shot (Close Up, Wide, Medium), camera moves, etc. The shot list will allow you to play your day. If the first and last scenes of your movie take place in the same location with the same actors you can shoot them back to back. This limits your camera and lighting setups which is vital. In addition to the shot list you need to scout you locations, gather your equipment (cables, bulbs, batteries), have PAs to pickup actors and get food.

4. Get tons of coverage. You never have enough. You never have enough takes, enough angles, enough shots. Shot it again. Even if you think you got it, you probably didn't get it. If you planned your day well (see #3) then you should have enough time to get plenty of coverage.

5. Treat everyone with respect. Actors are interesting people. They are probably working on your film for free. Treat them with respect and kindness. You are the director not the dictator. Get opinions but make the final decisions yourself. Your crew is vital. Find a good crew and treat them well.

6. Keep making films. Make tons of shorts. You'll learn something every time. Try different things and keep growing. You'll never stop learning and you'll never stop having fun.

Watch some great films at http://www.hungryflix.com

Labels: camcorder, digital video, filmmaking, how to make a movie, movies, NLE, tips

Canon today announced the US availability of their new HV20 High Definition camcorder. The HV20 joins the HV10 in Canon's consumer HDV lineup. The HV20 should deliver better low-light performance than it's predecessor but these claims have not yet been proven in real world tests.

The real gem in the HV20 for indie filmmakers is the inclusion of a true 24p mode. The camcorder will offer a Cinema mode, a one-touch, on/off setting that shifts colors to appear more like film. The setting corresponds to Custom Preset #8 (Cine V.) in the XH A1/G1 camcorders. The 24P frame rate and Cinema color mode are available independently or together. This will allow budget minded filmmakers to shoot on HDV and get even closer to the "film look".

The Canon HV20 has an MSRP of $1099 and will be available in mid-April 2007. This should be one hot little camcorder.

Labels: camcorder, Canon, digital video, equipment, filmmaking, hdv, high definition

At the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the big three (Sony, Canon, Panasonic) camcorder manufactures continued a big push away from MiniDV in their consumer camcorders. Direct-to-DVD models are now taking up most of the higher end options for consumers.

There has always been a question on how many point-and-shoot users will edit their footage. It is definitly the minority of camcorder users. Most people want to pick up the camera in auto mode, shoot some footage of the kids and then view the footage in the easiest way possible. This is why DVD-based models have gained in popularity. Most people don't care to edit down their footage into the best bits. They will scan through tons of bad video just to find those few good clips.

My issues with shift away from MiniDV are not about editing. The bigger issues, as I see it, are the elimination of a very good means of archiving and the loss in video quality. DVD-based models begin and end with MPEG2 video. MPEG2 is a delivery format that was never intended to be used for capture. It is much more highly compressed than DV, and therefore much of the information (video quality) is being lost due to compression.

The next issue is storage and archival. The footage created from DVD-based camcorders is very difficult to edit on a computer. Therefore, if the disk is damaged your video may be lost. While this could also happen to MiniDV tapes, DVDs are much more easy to scratch or become misplaced.

As we look toward the future, Sony and Panasonic are pushing AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec for High Definition) for consumer models. AVCHD is based on H.264 and MPEG4 and will probably yield excellent video quality for consumers. But these cameras used hard drives, DVDs or flash memory (SD) cards to capture and store your video. Again, a safe, inexpensive and effect way to archive our footage is missing.

What happens to users who shoot video onto an SD card and then forget to backup or move the footage to their computer? How do consumers keep gigabytes and gigabytes of hard drive space available for all their footage?

MiniDV tapes still provide the best storage method for consumers. The tapes take up very little physical space, are extremely affordable and the DV format provides excellent SD video quality for consumers (when a good midrange camera is used).

I am not sold on flash, hard drive or DVDs for video capture and storage. I worry about how many lost births, soccer games and birthday parites will result from consumers not having a good backup due to the lack of a physical tape. Time will tell. But, my next camcorder will probably be an HDV model, recording to good old fashioned MiniDV tapes.

Labels: avchd, camcorder, dvd, hdv, minidv