HELP PLEASE!

[notbyalongshot]

i am new to filmmaking and am about to try n make some short film and possibly send them in to some festivals, however there is no way i can afford to shoot on film. I was in best buy today looking at camera and saw a JVC somthing HDD 3 ccd(?) for 1000 marked down from 1500. Ive read in some books that even big buget films are being shot on HD and that it is extremely close looking to film. I know that the ones being used in big film are prolly 10-50 k, but is this one of the types of cameras that they say can compare to film and could be sent in to the better of festivals and still keep up? HDD, is this the same type of Hi-Def that george lucas always promotes, or is this bottom of the barrel that will still ultimatly look cheap and NOT like film at all. Im not really familiar with the technical stuff so please use lamens terms. Thanks

 

[David Mullen ASC]

It would probably be faster to first tell us how much you have to spend on the camera...

 

[RDelosReyes]

I'm pretty certain that an HDD camera means that your coverage will be recorded on a hard drive on the camera.

 

[NicoleME]

That appears to be a good camera, if you want to shoot on HD. It isn't really about the camera so much as it is about how you want to portray your short film/movie. Video is not film no matter if it is "High Definition" video or not. Also, how you shoot your short will determine if it will "still keep up" or be able to get into the "better festivals", as you mention. If you concern is mostly techinical, it may be best to just try and produce the best looking image that you can with what you have. Since the camera that you saw is 3 chip, you would already have an advantage by choosing to shoot with it compared to...say...a middle school teacher who records his daughters soccer games on a JVC Hi-8 camera that he bought in 1998.

Also, it is HD, which means that you are supposedly going to have some kind of advantage there and if it captures footage straight to a hard drive, then that will save you the extra task of having to digitize your footage.....that is..IF you are going to use an NLE in post. It sounds like you want your short to compete with the big hollywood movies, which may not be the best area to focus on because it is obvious that if they are using 10-50k priced cameras, you would have to do a lot with the best buy offerings to swing with them.

Think about the image that you want to convey and work on producing that image by utilizing all of the benefits that whatever camera you choose offers.