Please Help
- Thread starter theone711
- Start date
Hi Max, 
You will want something with firewire, to make transfering video into the mac easy. Without knowing an approximate budget, it's hard to be more specific about a recommendation.
You should be able to so virtually anything you need to with Final Cut Pro, as far as editing and filtering goes. FCP should have some options for obtaining a "Film Look"
You will want something with firewire, to make transfering video into the mac easy. Without knowing an approximate budget, it's hard to be more specific about a recommendation.
You should be able to so virtually anything you need to with Final Cut Pro, as far as editing and filtering goes. FCP should have some options for obtaining a "Film Look"
Hi Max, I’m an Apple user so I might be able to help out.
There is no software that will make your picture look like the films you see in the theaters - especially with a cheap video camera. But the good news is, as a beginning filmmaker it will be a while before you are going to need a picture that’s good enough to show in the theaters.
Get what ever DV camera you can afford and start shooting. I just spent a week helping out a beginning filmmaker edit a short using iMovie - the free editing program that comes with most Apple computers. What a fine program for beginners! Good enough for a great looking DVD that you could enter in any film festival.
After you make 4 or 5 short movies you might want to bump up to Final Cut Express or even Final Cut Pro. By then you might be ready to shoot a feature on HD. And that’s closer to a real life movie!
There is no software that will make your picture look like the films you see in the theaters - especially with a cheap video camera. But the good news is, as a beginning filmmaker it will be a while before you are going to need a picture that’s good enough to show in the theaters.
Get what ever DV camera you can afford and start shooting. I just spent a week helping out a beginning filmmaker edit a short using iMovie - the free editing program that comes with most Apple computers. What a fine program for beginners! Good enough for a great looking DVD that you could enter in any film festival.
After you make 4 or 5 short movies you might want to bump up to Final Cut Express or even Final Cut Pro. By then you might be ready to shoot a feature on HD. And that’s closer to a real life movie!
Hey Max, can't really add to what Will and directorik said other than saying that you could get a nice Canon DV cameras for around $500, but it isn't about the camera or the software you use to edit, it's the story you tell.
Good Luck.
Poke
Good Luck.
Poke
Here is what I did
I built a computer from parts I got a Myaopen.com, Put a Matrox RTX10 in and bought a Sony DCR-TRV530 digital 8 camera. Now what would I change ? I would have bought a three chip camera. I've been reading a review of two low cost three chip cameras in VideoMaker, the two they are comparing are the Panasonic PV-GS400 and the Sony DCR-HC1000. From what I have read I tend to like the Panasonic. It has some features I like such as: Zebra, Anamorphic 16:9, 3.5 in LCD, Manual everything, a soft skin effect, and a 4M still camera. The Sony has two audio inputs Thats nice but for good audio you will want an XLR adapter anyway something like what Beachtek makes.
I really like my RTX10 but the RTX100 is really NICE. If you can afford the extra money get an RTX100. That is if you chose to go that rout.
Mike
theone711 said:
I built a computer from parts I got a Myaopen.com, Put a Matrox RTX10 in and bought a Sony DCR-TRV530 digital 8 camera. Now what would I change ? I would have bought a three chip camera. I've been reading a review of two low cost three chip cameras in VideoMaker, the two they are comparing are the Panasonic PV-GS400 and the Sony DCR-HC1000. From what I have read I tend to like the Panasonic. It has some features I like such as: Zebra, Anamorphic 16:9, 3.5 in LCD, Manual everything, a soft skin effect, and a 4M still camera. The Sony has two audio inputs Thats nice but for good audio you will want an XLR adapter anyway something like what Beachtek makes.
I really like my RTX10 but the RTX100 is really NICE. If you can afford the extra money get an RTX100. That is if you chose to go that rout.
Mike
If you're thinking about piecing together a PC.. the three sites I would reccomend (in this order) are:
NewEgg
TigerDirect
PriceWatch
Just before Christmas Tiger Direct had a deal on a complete system, only thing missing was a monitor I believe.. anyway, it was like a 2.4GHz or something with a good size hard drive, they were selling it for $450, with $200 or $250 in rebates.. best deal I'd seen in a long while. But, between the three it's pretty easy to piece together a top of the line, or damn close to it, PC for about $600.
NewEgg
TigerDirect
PriceWatch
Just before Christmas Tiger Direct had a deal on a complete system, only thing missing was a monitor I believe.. anyway, it was like a 2.4GHz or something with a good size hard drive, they were selling it for $450, with $200 or $250 in rebates.. best deal I'd seen in a long while. But, between the three it's pretty easy to piece together a top of the line, or damn close to it, PC for about $600.
Becarfull though
One thing is, be sure the Motherboard is certified to work with what ever device you chose for realtime be it from Canopus, Matrox, Etc. There have been some stories on the support threads. This is easily prevented with a little research and care. I like NewEgg and Tiger, but I have found that Aopen has the best price on assembled tested MB bundles and by far best prices on RAM.
Mike
Will Vincent said:
One thing is, be sure the Motherboard is certified to work with what ever device you chose for realtime be it from Canopus, Matrox, Etc. There have been some stories on the support threads. This is easily prevented with a little research and care. I like NewEgg and Tiger, but I have found that Aopen has the best price on assembled tested MB bundles and by far best prices on RAM.
Mike
be sure to buy a name brand motherboard and those issues aren't an issue. 
theone711 said:
Nope
It works on a PC. For the money it's a pretty good deal. If you are thinking about building a computer based on Matrox, go to there forums ( Matrox's ) and see what's most popular in MB and graphics cards. My computer is a little dated now. It has: P4 2.4Ghz-500Mhz Buss, 1 Gig of Ram, Matrox 550 Graphics card, RTX10, an IDE 133 raid with 100 GB of space, 60 GB system drive, I use the onboard AC97 sound, My Mother board is an AOpen AX4B-533 Plus, My DVD burner is the TDK 440N. I have been thinking of upgrading to Premiere Pro 1.5, but I haven't been able to justify the money.
For my next system I will probably be building a 64Bit computer and the next version of Matrox RTX100. It will probably only handle 720P, but that's what Premiere will trans code HDV to for editing anyway. If I get a 3 chip camera that shoots 720P.... It's all good.
Macs are nice, but I don't know much of anything about them.
Hope this helps
Mike
Max, first off welcome to the filmmaking world. Now for the camera part make sure you buy a 3chip, almost any 3 chip camera even cheaper versions will work wonders. And like some of you said earlier it's really about the story. Now for editing I would spend a little extra, and get a mac like the new mac mini it's only $500. Yes you have to get a monitor and all that fun stuff but it's worth it. For software, get Final Cut Express, pro if you can, but FCP is the industry standered now and if you want a job in the business, FCP experience looks good on the resume. Truthfully if you dont have FCP your already behind. But the main thing here is just buy something, learn all you can. And good luck.