Independent Film Cameras

Should I shoot my Independent Films with Film or video

Well that depends, If your shooting for the big screen and have a lot of money (Thousands that's with an s ) then Film is what you want. If your just a working stiff like most people then video is the only way to go.

What's the difference between Film and Video? Film has very high definition. The kind of definition needed for the big screen. Video doesn't even come close to the definition of film. Also Film has a wider range of contrast. What does this mean? Here is an example, say I'm shooting inside, and I'm shooting someone coming in the doorway from outside. Outside is very bright and inside is not so bright. Well film will have less of a problem concerning the deference of light levels than video. The video is going to have problems with the light level differences. The outside is going to look just white and inside is going to look black with very little detail. This can be over come by dimming the outside light that makes it to the door way and the inside is going to have to be brightened up. But the problem can be over come with a little work.

Also with Film you can control the "Depth of Field" more then with video. What is "Depth of Field"? Depth of Field is the depth of the field in focus. Great answer, some guy with an IQ of 3000 is saying "yes I thought so". Let me give you an example. I am shooting someone's finger that he is holding up ten feet away. So I focus my camera on his finger. Well there is going to be so much distance before and after his finger that will also be in focus. Now by changing the f stop or Iris ( f stop is how big the hole is on the lens that lets light into the cameras) on the camera I can increase or decrease that distance. --Now when you increase or decrease the f stop you have to change the shutter speed to compensate for proper exposure.-- With film you can drastically change the depth of field and with video cameras changing the f stop has a far less effect.

Digital Cameras used for Independent Films

First your going to need a camera. This will cost you between $800.00 to upwards to, lets your imagination be your guide. Its a must to get a camera with "3CCD's" .

This means that the camera can process all three primary colors separately. This is important if you want to do any kind of special effects.

With the newer cameras today you can create special effect almost as good as the major motion picture studios just with some good software, a home computer, and some hard work.

Second you should get a camera that has as many manual controls as possible. Most important is white balance, focus, zebra pattern, and F stop/Iris.

White balance is how the camera sees white. Our eyes and brain compensate for the differences in what we know as white all the time. But depending on the lighting, white can be anything between yellowish-orange to a spooky night like blue when using video equipment. That's how they shoot those night scenes in the day time in those old movies. You know the ones that you can see a mid day shadow and it looks like they just have the brightness turned down.

Focus also needs to be manual because auto focus is great for those home made movies or the home movie look but the truth is the camera really doesn't know what you want in focus and what you don't want in focus. And in many cases the camera will just alternate between many points that it thinks you might want in focus. So you will need manual focus to lead your audience in the direction you want them to look.

zebra pattern. Zebra Pattern is a tool that tells you when things are too bright. This is very important. Again video has a problem with contrast and your going to have to make compromises. To make these compromises your going to have to know where you stand. Here's how it works; When you look through the view finder you will first set the iris to a level where you can see your mark. As you open the iris you will reach a point where you have opened it too far. Things will still look ok to you but it's too much for the camera so you will begin to see slanted lines like a zebra pattern in the arias where its too bright. You can now make your adjustments as to what is more important to have the correct lighting. Sometimes you will have to change the scene because too much will have to be compromised

F Stop or Iris as it's called on most video cameras controls how much light is let into the camera. Ever see a picture when someone is standing in front of a window and it is very sunny outside. You can't see the person very well because the light outside is so bright that all you see is the person's silo et. That's because the F Stop is set wrong. This is what happens when you have auto F Stop, the camera just doesn't know what you are interested in and tries to make a guess. This is why manual F Stop is so important. You need to be able to choose what the camera is going to do in these situations.

Third is audio. You must get a camera with an external mike connection. The camera mounted mikes are just not up to the task. Also if you are planning to shoot quality independent films you need to position your mike to obtain just the right sound for your work. And yes you could get separate audio equipment but Why. The audio system that comes with most of your cameras today is of great quality. The audio is synced to your video right on the same tape and with software you are able to work that sound any which way but loose.

Forth is tape type. As of this writing Mini DV is what you want. And most of your cameras between the prices listed above use mini dv tape. You can get some great prices on cameras using an older form of tape but you are going to lose a lot of quality. Also I'm pretty sure you can't get a camera with 3CCD's that use the older form of tape.

Fifth you want a camera with a 1394 FireWire DV video out or better. ( I say "or better" because things are changing so fast that no one could keep up whit the advances.) This gives you the best quality transfer of your video to computer. You don't want to give away quality for the fun of it. If you plane to make an independent film your going to have to do editing. That means your going to have to transfer your video from your camera to your computer for editing.

Written by G. Parsons copyright © 2005 711net.com