I just watched a 1998 Film called " The Celebration ".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8nSgxvBrhQ
I must admit I did watch it out of curiosity because someone else posted a link to it on a different thread on this forum. The film managed to hold my attention beginning to end ( a rare feat ) even though I watched a translated version of it which was distracting because of the accents. Technically, a lot of the scenes look a far cry from what most of us would deem acceptable today... blown highlights, noise in dim lit scenes, soft and painfully low res wide shots... but overall it was a fairly decent effort considering it was filmed on a Sony DCR-PC3 DV camcorder!
Granted, this was 1998... and the release of the first Panasonic DVX100 was still a few years away, but the more logical choices at the time were 16mm Film or maybe a digital alternative like the Sony VX1000. Instead, the production team opted for something closer to the digital low end at the time, a 1/4" CCD camcorder that you can pick up on ebay today for under $100. A surprising choice considering:
The budget for this Film was $1,300,000
The film was released in a number of countries
Won several awards at some of the most famous Film Festivals, including Cannes !
They actually made a profit!
Putting things in perspective... this really shows you don't need the best camera to make a real film, in fact, the camera they used for this Film is closer to "the worst" ever used as far as I know. The bad news is that you still need a budget EVEN IF you are using the cheapest camera on ebay. $1,300,000 would have been substantial for 1998, not sure if that included marketing and distribution. From what I saw, the location did look grand, the actors were brilliant, and the story worked very well even without a soundtrack. All of these did not come cheap I'm sure... but IT WORKED. So bitter dose of reality for us Filmmakers in 2016... get a budget high enough so that you can use professional actors, good locations, costumes , a decent crew, a good script, etc. and don't worry so much about what camera you will use...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8nSgxvBrhQ
I must admit I did watch it out of curiosity because someone else posted a link to it on a different thread on this forum. The film managed to hold my attention beginning to end ( a rare feat ) even though I watched a translated version of it which was distracting because of the accents. Technically, a lot of the scenes look a far cry from what most of us would deem acceptable today... blown highlights, noise in dim lit scenes, soft and painfully low res wide shots... but overall it was a fairly decent effort considering it was filmed on a Sony DCR-PC3 DV camcorder!
Granted, this was 1998... and the release of the first Panasonic DVX100 was still a few years away, but the more logical choices at the time were 16mm Film or maybe a digital alternative like the Sony VX1000. Instead, the production team opted for something closer to the digital low end at the time, a 1/4" CCD camcorder that you can pick up on ebay today for under $100. A surprising choice considering:
The budget for this Film was $1,300,000
The film was released in a number of countries
Won several awards at some of the most famous Film Festivals, including Cannes !
They actually made a profit!
Putting things in perspective... this really shows you don't need the best camera to make a real film, in fact, the camera they used for this Film is closer to "the worst" ever used as far as I know. The bad news is that you still need a budget EVEN IF you are using the cheapest camera on ebay. $1,300,000 would have been substantial for 1998, not sure if that included marketing and distribution. From what I saw, the location did look grand, the actors were brilliant, and the story worked very well even without a soundtrack. All of these did not come cheap I'm sure... but IT WORKED. So bitter dose of reality for us Filmmakers in 2016... get a budget high enough so that you can use professional actors, good locations, costumes , a decent crew, a good script, etc. and don't worry so much about what camera you will use...
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