Greetings, I am a 22 year old college student in school for media and arts, my dream is to be a director, I recently droped out of school because they werent teaching me anything about what I wanted to learn, here I am doing math and physics and not even touching a single camera, I decided to learn on my own, and I am a very fast learner. I have been persuing a digital production contract, AND now I may have got my ass into hot water, I dont know anything About MAking FEATURE FILMS in DV and Someone has just awarded me with a very lucrative production contract. I know that you guys are more knowledge able than I, SO now I need help here are the basic questions I want to ask...

1. First things First,? What is the best quality, and easy to use, Digital Video solution camera package out there, I have shots of car races, night time shots, night clubs, gun fights in daylight, and other types of shots including subways office buildings and etc. What is the best all around solution I can go, If I can afford to pay for a combination of DV cameras for differnt types of shots, Which ones should I buy, which lenses or assessories should I buy, and any other information you can aid me, I apreciate it.

Number 2. Lights, and Cameras and Effects... What sort of lights do I buy, or make, I want to be creative in saving money but I want to make sure this is not a very very hard thing since I have no experience, I also want to know, I'f I'm using All these differnt cameras how do I go between scenes, Is there some sort of mixer that I have to use to get them all down to one format. What type of computer system and software would be best for me to use.

3, Audio, what would be the most easy user friendly yet quality audio solution package for me, I mean for the actors and the corrosponding music(s) in the feature film, How do I effectily manage audio, How is the audio synced with the video in the software, By frames, do I have to buy a stand alone software solution, do I have to make the audio files seperatly and then hire somebody to bring the two toghter.

4. Mastering I will be mastering on to a DVD hopefully at the end of this i will have dvd that is ready and acceptable to the company who is hiring me for this, please don't laugh this is a serious inquiry I dont want my mouth to get me into something my ass can't get me out of.

I guess after this I would ask for any tools tricks and tips you may have for making the quality a feature film would need, I mean, it doesnt have to be perfect but I see a lot of feature film work that is done on digital now, like XXX the movie and others and even some shows on TV that actually are pretty good, you can tell by the sharpness it was probably done on digital ( I assume ) just looking for anything absolutly anything you can offer me to make my life easier.

Thanks so much, Toni

-- Exzavier aka Toni (exzavierali@collegeclub.com), July 14, 2003

Answers

You really are a dumb ass little kid, stay in school son.

-- Mr.Luvitts (empire1111@worldsites.com), July 14, 2003.

O.K. firstly I think we both know you're already in way over your head but if you insist on continuing on this journey here's some equipment help

Camera first I would recomend the new panasonic 24p camera I have used one and was blown away by the picture quality. or Jvc has just released a High Def camera, I have no experiance with it and so can't recomend it but the reviews have been great and lastly the old stand-by Canon XL-1s the picture quality of the other two cameras is better but the online support and tips for this camera are nearly endless.

as for the editing set-up APPLE MACINTOSH!!!! is you can wait until august to by the computer apple will have released the powermac G5 running at 2.0ghz with dual processors this is the fastest desktop machine in the world. if you cant wait then by a dual processor powermac G4(still very speedy) the machines are great but the software that apple has is even better! buy Final Cut Pro 4 this will take care of all of your editing problems (as for syncing the sound all NLE's handle that.The only other editing program you should consider is one of the avid suites. also buy DVD studio pro this program will allow you to professionaly produce DVD's (not to mention let you master in 5.1 Dolby Digital) these programs are considerably better than any thing you can get for a windows machine.

hope i helped a little bit. remember the world rewards the bold, but not the dumb! good luck your going to need it!

-- Trevor Swaim (hondacaferacer@hotmail.com), July 14, 2003.

I decided to post this replay because there are obviously a lot of mac heads out there who are going to tell you the mac is better than the pc counterpart. The simple fact is, thas not true, the new G5 is shipping this summer because the old macs just can't simply keep up with the Pc's the PC is much more user friendly if you are already comfortable with a PC environment, and you can get AVID installed on PC with firewire as well. So go with a PC solution and you'll have more user support, more third party plug in's software an assesories. Also get sounic foundry suite for the management of the audio, you will need to get professional lighting as well, there are plenty of good sources for this. Lastly I think if you landed the contract already you better do some serious studing on DV and NLE good luck.

-- Greenspan (vampire_dfd@yahoo.com), July 14, 2003.

what's up nigga where solo and bilal

-- collision (kgbraids@yahoo.com), October 10, 2003.

what's up nigga you can't haller at your boy

-- collision (kgbraids@yahoo.com), November 04, 2003.