I can't wait to see this.

If I lived on the west coast I would so volunteer to be an extra.

Right. However, you might want to rethink the halogen work light idea. I mean, I have some you can borrow, but they give off a distinctive amber light, which will in fact affect your shots. I've tried them for nighttime photography, and especially greens suffer from appearing darker than they really are. If you seek that effect, it's alright, of course, but otherwise I would recommend "portable" standard neon tube fixtures. You can choose tube colors that resemble natural light more, and tubes create a more dispersed light source than work lights, which tend to make shadows "fan out" in an unnatural way because of the almost point-like source. In any case, if you want to, just come and get mine so you can try them out and see if they'll work for you in a test shot before spending money on something that might not do the trick.

The color tint is what color timing in post production is for. As for the shadows spreading out... need someone who knows lighting? I might be willing share my services/knowledge.

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping to be able to correct for some of that with gels, filters, and post-production color correction, although I haven't done any tests yet. The neon tube idea just might work though.

If you're willing to work for food and a DVD of the finished product, I could definitely use a director of photography...especially if you have your own equipment (in which case I might even buy you pies). :)

A friend and I are planning on shooting a movie in Dallas/Fort Worth during the Spring or Summer of 04. So far together for equipment we've spent over $25K for Cameras, lighting, tripods, lenses, filters, sound mixers, mics, etc. We found out real fast in our tests that the home-made stuff makes your shots look home-made. You just can't beat the good stuff. :( Just for your information our Camera choice was the Sony PD-150 with Century Optics Lenses. Our microphone choice was the Sennheiser K6 module with the ME-6x series mics. Bogen tripods... Adobe Premeire... that's about all I can think of right now.

Knowing a bit about lighting is important, but having decent lights is essential. I don't think halogen work lamps are a good idea. You'll do better with home-reflectored trouble lights, I think.

Remember, if you do manage to put together decent equipment for shooting this thing, you won't have to do it next time. Also, there are plenty of places that rent this sort of equipment. You don't need to buy your wireless mics if you can rent them for the day you need them.

Rather than pipes and duct tape, I suggest cobbling together camera booms and such from pieces of cheap tripods. That way, you at least have a secure mount for the camera. You can mount other light things on a tripod as well.

You will need good post-processing of your video too - something about movies make them look "like a movie" rather than like a home video - a combination of lower contrast with changes in color balance - I dunno all the technical details (wish I did!), but there's a definite look and feel that create the movie image that you just don't get in a regular video shoot. (Compare the footage from "behind the scenes" features with the same footage in the film on your DVD movies and you can see the results of the post-processing, um, process)

Yikes. I wish I had $25,000 to play with.

I'll be using a Canon GL-1, and I'm planning to buy at least one Century Optics wide angle lens (if my wallet agrees). If I had the dough, I'd buy the Century Optics anamorphic 16:9 adapter too, but I'll settle for the in-camera aspect ratio squishing. I'd like a really nice Bogen tripod, but I'll probably use something a little cheaper since I'm not a big fan of stationary cameras anyway.

Sound is where I'm really hurting. Going into this, I knew nothing about sound, so I've had to bring myself up to speed using the wondrous intarweb. I've currently got my eye on an Audio Technica AT835b mic, but since the GL-1 doesn't have built in XLR audio inputs, I'm sorta torn. On the one hand, I want good sound, and the AT835b looks good and is just within the high end of my affordability range, but on the other hand, if I go with the AT835b I'll have to shell out for an adapter or a mixer of some kind, and possibly a DAT recorder. And then I'll have to deal with all the editing hassles of having a separate sound track that I have to sync.

Any advice?

I like the cheap tripod idea. I think next weekend I'll start working on some of the camera mounts. Fred Meyer has cheap tripods I can cannibalize, and I think I may also be able to use the parallel arms from those nifty Pixar-style desk lamps for a few things, if they're strong enough.

From what I've read, and from the experiments I've tried, it looks like I can build a passable Steadicam-like device using just a monopod with some balanced weights attached to the bottom, but that gets really tiresome on the ol' camera arm after a while, so I'd like to come up with a good way of actually mounting the device on some kind of harness (much like the real Steadicam). That's where I'm hoping those desk lamp arms will come in handy.

There's a ton of stuff that goes into film processing, but luckily I'll be shooting on DV. I'll probably still need to do some color correction and playing with levels, but Premiere handles all of that nicely. I think the biggest challenge will be getting the video to look as much like film as possible.

I know a thing or two about sound. (I wouldn't go so far as three though :)

You won't find a decent mic with an input that will fit your camera. XLR is pretty much standard for mics.

Let me ask you this: will you ever have more than one microphone? Like, say, for sterio, or to pick up people on different sides of a room. If not, then an adapter is your solution. They're not hard to make or buy.

If you will some day need more than one mic, you probably need a mixer of some sort. I would suggest looking into USB device with 2-4 audio inputs. That way, you don't need a DAT deck or anything, just record to hard disk. They also tend to be cheaper than the stand-alone analog mixers. You already have a laptop.

Do you really need a condenser mic? I'm pretty sure dynamic mics are cheaper, and they don't need a phantom power supply (which you can't get from your camera, by the way).

Oops, should have read the spec sheet. Batteries.

You're probably right about the condenser thing too. The shotguns seem to be condensers. Probably necessary for the application.

If you find out what they do (levels, contrast, color saturation, etc.) that makes a film look "filmlike", I'd be interested in knowing. I've not found any good processed/non-processed side-by-side comparisons, so I'm just guessing they tone down the constrast and subdue the color a bit.

Depends on the movie too - "Oh Brother, where art thou" fiddled quite a bit with color palette and saturation as a part of the character of the movie itself.

Most of the stuff that can be done to help make video look more filmlike can be done in camera. The biggest giveaways that something was shot on video are interlacing, framerate, lighting, auto-focus, sharply-defined edges, and noise patterns.

Interlacing can be done away with by shooting in progressive (or "frame movie") mode on better DV cameras. It's still ~30fps (as opposed to ~24 for film), but it improves the look and quality of the image substantially. There's not a lot that can be done about the framerate difference without getting into some complicated conversions that really aren't worth it.

Next up is lighting. Most consumer and even "prosumer" level video cameras automatically increase the gain in low lighting situations. This makes the image visible, but sucks for quality and is a dead giveaway that you're shooting video. This can be solved by turning off the camera's auto gain feature and using better lighting. Some image tweaking in post production might help too.

Auto-focus is another dead giveaway that you're shooting video. Most cameras will let you turn auto-focus off and use a focus ring (or, at worst, buttons) to adjust the focus. This makes some shots difficult to get, but that's what practice is for.

The telltale sharp edges of video can be smoothed out by decreasing the sharpness setting of the camera and by playing around with brightness and contrast settings. If all else fails, this too can be tweaked in post production.

Noise patterns (which are analagous film grain, but look very different) are a lot harder to eliminate, but with careful lighting and attention to detail, you can minimize their visibility. Post production tweaking can be a huge help here. Using a plugin to add just a tiny hint of faux film grain to the image can obscure the video noise and enhance the viewer's subconscious feeling that what they're seeing is film.

Of course, using a wide aspect ratio will also add to the film illusion, especially if you frame your shots well.

I don't believe in doing things the right way, but I can help you a lot with the cheap, grungy way.

I've actually had a -lot- of luck with the Audio Technica 835b, which I would heartily recommend - for your price range, it's as good as it gets. If you're willing to go quick and dirty, I'd just buy the $5 XLR-to-mini adapter and plug it straight into your camera - it's not as good as a DAT, but it's a lot better than the on-board mic. Definitely the first mic to get: wireless lavs are nice but you'll find their applications are more limited, and I usually like the sound off the shotgun better anyway.

Your Canon GL-1 is a good choice, too, and I've used one pretty extensively for broadcast news: the next better iteration of camera that is significantly better costs 40 grand or so. And even though the GL-1 can't compare with bigger cameras, it is the ubiquitous workhorse of porno shoots: so realistically, expect your shots to look about that good (you'll have to carry the audience with your plot.) The silver lining to the GL-1 is it records on miniDV instead of DV, so your tape costs will be significantly, significantly less, with a loss of quality that generally won't be noticed.

Edit with Adobe Premiere, or get Steve to get Finalcut for his machine, if he doesn't: I prefer Finalcut Pro, but Alison and I have edited two pieces for Montana PBS with Premiere and she likes it. Either one will work with Adobe Aftereffects, which is where you get a truly professional battery of post-production effects, if you can figure out the program, but you probably won't need it.

Do spend the money on a solid tripod - Bogen's a good brand, don't spend less than $100, make sure it's a fluid head. For your moving shots, try a wheelchair (get one at Goodwill): they roll smoothly and quietly and cost less than just about any other option you've got.

As far as lighting goes, a couple tips: use natural lighting as much as you can, with maybe just a fill light or two to deal with shadows: we've even used bright desk lamps with the bendy necks as light sources, and they leave a lot less glare than the halogen work lamp. What will really help your lighting is getting some gels: just tape them to the lamps if you have to, and just don't leave your lamps on too long (melty gels=bad.) Maybe Carlson's dad would know where to get them on the cheap?

Miscellaneous things to buy (or better, borrow or steal): miniDV tapes, extra AA batteries for the mic (a lack of these has derailed a lot of projects I've seen or worked on), two or three power strips or power reels, and a towel ("Don't Panic" monogram is optional.)

Remember that in the end, a first film is going to be carried a lot farther on its content than its production values, although at the same time it will be your first chance to experience the production process and hone your skills.

I'll be in town after Christmas with Alison if you'd like to chat about the production process in person, and take into account that my father probably has every piece of production equipment that has ever ended up in a Goodwill.

Last piece of advice: you don't have to pay your crew (on your budget, I recommend you don't), but you ALWAYS have to feed your crew. Trust me.

Also, don't let unlicensed music derail your project if you do get it made - it's a really lousy reason to get barred from a festival. Wonko, you've used music looping programs before to good effect: you'll certainly do better than the tracks you can get from copyright-free canned music CDs, and you'll be able to time things to your production. AND you get composition credits! If you don't have a composition program anymore, I can lend you Acid 2.0 (price at Goodwill: $0.50).

Way to put pressure on the provider of content. Sheesh!

And I've told you before, Wonko, music can be done at a distance, and I have one friend who composes. He'll probably visit here in the Spring, and if you guys hit it off and if you like his stuff, maybe he could help out.

Egad. It saddens me that someone remembers my brief attempt at becoming Mixmaster W. I'm not sure I'd trust myself to do a usable soundtrack of any kind, although if I had to, I suppose it's always an option.

Coolpants. Thanks for the advice. Give us a call when you and Alison are in town and we'll have you over for pie and eggnog and movie discussion.

As for crew payment, the food will definitely be on me, as will complimentary DVDs of the finished product and, of course, VIP seats at the gala world premiere (i.e., a guaranteed spot on the couch as opposed to the floor).

Sweetness.

Remember that, for a film, you're not trying to create something that's necessarily memorable or dramatic: less is more. Music will make things move faster in your scene, but it's not there to call attention to itself. The best case scenario for music is that it is completely unnoticed, but helps move things along.

Kinda wish I had something useful to add to this conversation...

How about a note of wistful whimsy?

Coz you added that.

yo wonko, managed to put off re-registering in a long while but thought I'd add my tuppence to this :) I'm on the wrong side of the lil pond to be any real help to you but if your projects definately going ahead I could spare £10 maybe 20 for you if that's any use (paypal, nochex or something)?

I kinda envy you're doing something about it too, i really dig film (in fact Film Studies was the only college class I got myself an A in and hardly turned up to, the class wasn't too stimulating my strong personal interest in matched the syllabus perfectly). I certainly dont have the resources or contacts to pull anything off if I couldnt film it on my webcam, I did make a little sea monkey short with that way back, but then they died and left me a sad little matt, plus I think my natural affinity for procrastination is rivalled by none :)

extremely keen to see how your project evolves :)

As far as lighting goes, I would agree that halogens are probably not a good idea. (tinting aside they get EXTREEMLY hot!) I needed lighting for my MECOP video project a couple years ago and we decided to rent those and a boom mic. We found that NW Film Center, downtown, has some nice/inexpensive equipment for rent. Two light sets with scrims and a mic were I beleave around $50 for 2-3 days.

http://www.nwfilm.org/education/school.html

Don't belittle your own skills either. You provided the soundtrack to my MECOP video if you'll recall, and everyone on the board loved it! :)

Music does not have to be complex or extravigant, it can be subtle and simple. It just helps to provide tone and sometimes excentuate and otherwise flat scene.

I don't have as much experience as Garrison probably, but I have done a few projects, and I will hopefully have another one this summer *crosses fingers*. My roommate is also working on his own crazy film project this year and it's always good to compare/swap techniques and tricks. I would love to help you out if you need it. (and as always, if you need any actors...) : )

I guess I'm my own worst critic. I still haven't seen your video, by the way. :P

I can always use people who want to help, both in front of and behind the camera. Let me know when you're back in town!

Hmm... well I guess I'll have to make you a copy when I get home. :)

Well, depending on how soon you do this, I may loose out on payment in pies as I currently don't have a camera of my own, but there's a chance that I either know someone or would actually get one in the semi-near future. Depending on my schedule, I'd love to help out and offer any knowledge I can.

By "equipment" I meant lights...