I love to make movies. Good camera?

Question

I LOVE making movies but no matter how hard I try, my movies end up looking like home videos. I'd like a more high-def camcorder or something with a better video quality (well, duh) that stays closer to reality light and color. I know that would be sosoosososo expensive but does anyone know any good camcorders like that for people on a budget?

Answer 1

I know exactly what you mean. When you say something that stays closer to reality light and color, you want your movies to look more like what you see in theatres, right? Well, unfortunately, they werent shot on video cameras, they were shot on film. So you want to shoot film? So do I, but the cameras cost around $100,000 for a brand new 35mm camera. Older 16mm cams you can be found for a few hundred dollars, and super 8 cams, for as low as $10. But then, you have to buy film, develop it, and transfer it to video (assuming you dont have a projector in your house), which would cost you a lot of money, to say the least.

So whats the good news? Its possible to make video look like film. Or rather, to make it look less like video. A high def camcorder may help a little, but only with its progressive scan. Also, since HDV is in mpeg-2 format, you'll probably get the highest quality from downsizing to SD anyways. So basically what I'm saying is, you can find a good SD cam with lots of manual functions and features for around the same price as an average consumer HD cam with only auto functions. Manual functions plays a lot into getting the filmlook. As many people have said, DOF (depth of field) is a major factor of the filmlook. I agree with them partially, because even if something was shot on film and its a wide shot, you still know its film. But if you shot something on video with shallow DOF, it would look LESS like video, but still not film. So DOF helps when you need more dramatic shots, but not really as a factor into getting the filmlook. So how do you get the film-look? If your camera has a "cinema mode" use that, or if your camera has a 1/30 shutter, use that. Also, make sure lighting in the scenes isnt too artificial, and if it looks almost like film even on the LCD, then its probably good. Lighting in film is low key, which means there are more shadows. Basically, less is more. Use the bare minimum of lights, not the maximum. Also, lay off the zoom. Use a little, but dont over do it. Zoom with your feet whenever you can. To finish your footage, you'll need a program like magic bullet. It will apply a film-look filter, and deinterlace to make your shots more filmic. But if you dont have that, the easiest way I've found is to put it into your favorite editor, and apply a brightness and contrast filter (obviously, youll need an editing program that has this feature). After you apply it, crank up the contrast to as high as possible without color distortions. Then, if the scene is too dark, increase brightness, and then adjust contrast again, and so forth until you get a good picture. Remember to not make the scene look like it was normal, and most of the time, it will probably look better to make your shot darker than to make it look as bright as it used to be. After this, your footage should look at least a little bit more filmic, and a little less video like.

So to answer your question, get a camera with manual functions, and dont go for HD yet. And even if you cant get a new one, just try increasing the contrast and tweaking the brightness, and you should see some improvements. BTW, I like making movies as well, so feel free to contact me at anytime at [e-mail]. Hope this helps!