video cameras for the independent

[goldy40211]

im trying to produce my own t.v. show that i want to put on the internet. this is all cool and fine but i need to know what cameras are the best to accomplish this type of feat. ill be recording sound from a boom mic and other quirks but i need a camera that is going to make my show look as proffessional as if a studio was making it. if you have any suggestions im willing to listen because ive been on the net for hours and still i cant figure out what i need.

[Jerry_R]

There is no camera that will make your show look Professonal! Only you can do that!

However a camera that will not get in your way and will help you is important.

But you gave us your goals but not your budget. Nor have you told us what you are shooting? Stage plays, talking heads, training, sports, …?

BTW what tools do you have and what is your budget for upgrading them if needed?

A good SD camera with 16:9 can look very nice particularly if it can shoot 30p for the web. That would be the Cannon XL2. Shoot 30p for the Web.

Also are you going for streaming, a pay per view site marketing, or do you want to use a CDN?

[goldy40211]

well im trying to shoot my own television show. a comedy. and i want to put it on my own website where i can get advertisment money. i dont have any equipment now cause i want to know what i need and go from there. the budget i was thinking was 10-15 thousand dollars but thats a generous price. im just trying to look as good as the shows do on public television. if people watch my show on the net i want them to say this show looks good or great. not cheap.

also what about the panisonic ag-hmc70u? its in hd and alot of people are talking about hd. what do i need to make a great looking television show?

[Jerry_R]

To answer your question first. You need as good a camera as you can afford shooting with the best CODEC, you need really good audio, and you need a outstanding suite of post tools.

The HMC70u is a great student camera. The college where I occasionally teach got a bunch for their beginning film and Video courses. It does a very good job for the money.

You haven't given any production budget and what your likely crew size is going to be. I hate to rain on Y'r parade but you can't do it by your self and do a quality job. Also if that is just the camera realize that you are going to spend a lot more on audio, post and crew costs.

The best bang for the buck today is the Panasonic HPX300 It uses the AVC-I CODEC which is the cleanest out there.

As for a recorder the camera is adequate if you don't need more that two mics. But if you need a mixer you will need a sound guy as well. And they can't be one of your drinking (drunken) buddies; unless they have a lot of talent and experience. 2 part audio is much better but that gets into shooting and sync issues.

As for post the bargain today is Adobe CS4 master suite (unless you hire someone to do your web development you will need Dreamweaver).

But before you start what are you going to do. I assume not streaming. If you are going to do a HD/SD site that will get you the maximum exposure at the expense of having your site on a premium ISP host. DO NOT let anyone talk you into using their proprietary tools to build your site. If you do you are locked into them.

Check out Action Girls (yes its a porn site but it uses tools and methods that are available to any one and its very successful) you don't need to offer anything but a Flash stream. The resion I suggest Action Girls is not because I much care for porn—I don't—but because it has a very successful marketing design for sales and uses tools that anyone can afford. Amazon is more successful but they use tools and techniques that aren't available to us mere mortals.

IMHO given your goals you budget is way low; probably by 3x. You should also be able to operate for at least a year with no income.

[goldy40211]

well jerry all i can afford possibly is two camera's and i was going to pay some guys i know (while training with the cameras beforehand) to work the cameras have a guy doing a boom mic and somebody else to mess with sound.(he used to have a music studio if that help out any.) i know i dont have a lot of money but i just want the show to look as authentic and good. not cheap like, like im using one of those 300 dollars camcorders.
and what do you mean by two part audio? could you explain? and also that shooting and sync issues. im here to listen because i need all the help i can get.

also thats the budget i have for cameras, mics, and whatever else i need to recorder pictures,sound,edit,and what else i need to put it up on the net. i know about cost to my workers but i say ill have about five to six people not including myself. plz help me.

[Jerry_R]

All right that is workable. But you must make a decision now. Do you want to offer HD or just go with a SD site? The mixed HD/SD site is about 3x the work of an SD site. Here in the US only about 1/3 of the viewers have fast enough connections to stream full screen HD. (about 1/3 are still 128kb or less so they would not be potential viewers, of the remaining 70% only about 1/3 have a 500kb or better link and would be potential HD customers; that's about 22% of the population.)

Think through how you are going to work. Are you going for long takes and then doing some pickups to cover any botches? Or are you doing <20min takes? Is it feasible to use a computer to capture? If so then CS4 comes with the OnLocation application that can capture your video and audio. If not do you want to mix down in production or do you want to get separate tracks? I am a fan of the latter but that takes a computer or multi track recorder. It has the advantage that it puts less stress on your Sound Guy and you can make decisions in post where everything is calm. But it requires a track for each person.

What do you have for a computer? You will want an 8 core system with 16GB of memory running a 64 bit OS (you could get by with 4 cores and 8 GB but not if you are planing weekly or more frequent shows). You will also need an external RAID 5/6 disk array with at least 8 disk drives. I like the Rocket Raid controllers or the ATTO but there are others.

BTW I am not sure thaat at this time I would go with Windoze 7 as it still seems to have some issues.

[goldy40211]

alright jerry this is what i got so far from you. it seems like sd is the way to go since everybody doesnt have the bytes for hd. now i want to shoot the show weekly and since people do have other jobs i say about 12 hours a week im figuring and ill shoot the pickups as need be. i dont know exactly how long it takes to shoot an half hour sitcom but im figuring i can shoot two half hour episodes a month. and yes i want all things to happens post production and what do you mean, by, a track for each person?

thanks for the help jerry and you know i ll be asking more questions for you so stay close. also the camera you showed yesterday was damn near 9000 dollars and thats damn near all my budget. what kind of computer (lap top preferably) is good? dont you need at least three cameras for a sitcom and i was just thinkin use two for now and build up later. lastly what about the boom mics? you said something yesterday talking about the audio in 2 parts. could you explain? im here to learn my fearless leader

[Jerry_R]

Sense you ask here is my 25¢ worth. Folks want 16:9 and for your budget go SD. That leaves the Cannon XL2 at roughly $3500 B&H or the DVX100b at $2400. But some folks say that the 16:9 from the DVX100 isn't all that good (its a native 4:3 camera). Its certainly inferior to the XL2 video, but the audio is much better so you could get by with using camera sound.

If you go 2 part sound then you would record to a separate device like the Tascam DR100. If you go that route then you need to worry about the cameras and recorder getting out of sync. That will take between 20 and 30 minutes. But if you go with the DVX100b you don't need 2 part sound and things just got a lot simpler (less expensive).

As for computers I edit on a laptop using CS4 and it works reasonably well. I can even edit AVCHD but the DV produced by the XL2 or DVX100 is I frame only and edits better and cleaner. The computer I use is a Lenovo W700ds with system RAID 1 drives and external SATA drives for video. The docking station has an eSATA port so you could just buy a docking station and some hdd and be good to go. Just buy commodity drives off the web.

I use a external 10,000 Veloraptor drive for scratch and WD ES2/3 drives in RAID1 for the project. You don't need the RAID project drives as if you are late the attorney you work for will not come after you for 10 hours of $5000 an hour expert witness fees. Also that cuts costs some.

The built in audio is good enough for dialog and for spotting music if you use any. I have a 4 core Duo2 Extreme processor and 8GB of memory because CS4 has live links between the programs so you don't need to save a project exit Premiere to use Photoshop then save again and go back to AE or Premiere they are just there. Also render times are reduced with a 64 bit OS.

You really want a 64bit OS for CS4. Vegas is lighter weight and you could get by with less memory. The W700 also has a built in WACOM tablet which IMHO is essential for editing productively.

BTW what mics are you going to use the camera mics will not work.
BTW you eed to use the eSATA connection not the USB as the USB is too slow for editing.

[goldy40211]

first the boom mic im trying to use is one of those shotgun mics. not the directional but i think omni. so do i have to sync sound and video together when i use a boom mic? also jerry, you went waaaaay over my head with that computer stuff. im not computer illiterate but im also no bill gates either. and what can of editing software do i need? its a lot of things i need answered and i thank you again jerry for helpin me out in my time of dire.

[Jerry_R]

First get Jay's books on production and post here. Read them and if you don't understand ask questions on the audio forum.

Second you never ever use an omni on a boom—well that's not quite true but close enough. You use a shotgun or a hyper cardioid both highly directional.

Second with two cameras it is very hard to keep boom shadows and the boom out of the frame. The Sitcoms use a boom guy on a wheeled platform and he uses a boom that is very long and has complex controls to remotely position the mic. It is mounted on a pedestal on the wheeled platform and the whole rig with a half decent mic will blow your budget.

Read the books ad then try to find someone who does audio production and talk to them.

I don't mean to sound patronizing but consider going to a local college or CC and taking a couple of video/film courses.

As for computers its pretty much common sense. First if the system drive is toast you are out of business. Yes you can back up the system but some authorization schemes etc. will not work from backups. If you use RAID 1 you have two identical disks—when one dies you can keep running and replace the filed drive. The RAID controller will rebuild it automagically. Never use RAID 0. Never put video on the system drive! 32 bit OS can only address 4GB of memory for smooth editing you need more than that.

You probably don't need DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software. Down load the free trial versions of Vegas and Adobe CS4 master suite. See which you like best (I assume that you are on a PC). If you decide that you want to use Vegas you get better audio capabilities but not all the programs that you will need. If you are not up on Web site design you might consider either taking a course or hiring it out.

External SATA storage is cheap. I have seen 1TB drives under $100. Check resellerratings online for the best prices.

[goldy40211]

damn jerry you making me feel like i cant do this.

[shovland]

What makes video look good is light- some Canon gear likes to have 100 lux.

Google "Sekonic Lux EV" to get a chart. Set a standard light meter to ISO 100 and EV mode. 100 lux is about EV 7-8. It takes 500-1000 watts of key light at less than 10 feet to get into this range. Use quartz work lamps.

I have seen nice SD cams on craigslist for $1,000 - Canon GL1's and the like- from people who are moving to HD.

You can uprez from SD in most editors.

I bought a Rode M3 because it is cardoid rather than hypercardoid, and battery powered or phantom. I think I could use it between two people who are 4 feet or less apart and get pretty good sound without moving the mike.

Manfrotto makes a stand with a built-in boom- in some, maybe many, shots the mike can be fixed and avoid the cost of a boom operator.

A Mogami cable is worth the money. XLR-F to RCA-F plus adapters to get it linked to recorders with 1/8 jacks.

I think I can get a lot of mileage out of my $150 Tascam DR-07- 24 bit wav files, good interface.

Audacity is a free audio editor that has important stuff like compression, noise reduction, and EQ.

Two-part audio means recording on the camera and also on a separate recorder. You can clap your hands at the beginning and end of a take to get markers. You cut tiny slices off the front of the separate sound track in Audacity until the markers line up. It's OK if the separate sound is part of a frame behind, but you should get it close. Then you mute the sound from the camcorder. If there is a discrepancy between the length of the recorder sound and camera sound you can change the speed of the sound without changing the pitch in typical editors.

Along with Jay Rose's books, I'd recommend Moviemakers' Master Class by Laurent Tirard. The basic advice from successful film makers about how to start is "just do it." Write a couple of pages of your first episode, round up whatever equipment and people you can, and do it. Then critique and remake it a couple of times. Don't start by buying a lot of gear. Use what you have at hand.