Storing film footage

[SkepticalMetal]

I was wondering if anyone here could tell me how, after I make a film, to store the footage somewhere. Obviously a feature film takes up quite a bit of space, and it would definitely be crowded on your average home hard-drive. What does anyone here do?

Also, as a second question, what is the best computer for an indie filmmaker to use for his projects?

 

[cjagceo1]

I was wondering if anyone here could tell me how, after I make a film, to store the footage somewhere. Obviously a feature film takes up quite a bit of space, and it would definitely be crowded on your average home hard-drive. What does anyone here do?

Also, as a second question, what is the best computer for an indie filmmaker to use for his projects?

Well since you mean after a film, you don't need a super fast drive, you just need a reliable backup.

Depending on how much storage you need, I would suggest a raid 1 disk array so it has your data stored twice (in-case of a hardware failure on one of the drives) its a little expensive, but worth it.



For the computer, I would DEFINANTLY no questions asked get a Mac! A lot of people will tell you to get a "cheap" pc with adobe suite, but it ends up being extremely expensive.

I myself have a nice i7 3.4 quad core iMac 27' (2011 version) with 2tb internal drive, and it's amazing. I use the $200 Final Cut Pro X and the results are so professional, yet so cheap and easy! Easily compare to adobe suite around $3000

Also, the iMac 27' has a 2.6K screen so it's just breath taking! You can edit your videos and see how they would look in theaters without leaving your desk!

So get a mac, but Software wise, Final Cut Pro X should do everything you need. But just so im possitive, what kind of films do you want to produce? What resolution, format, length?

Thanks,
Reed Mayhew

 

[SkepticalMetal]

Thanks for the info! But as for your question, the film that I am currently writing will be shot using an old Sony Camcorder of mine on High8 Cassette tapes (so Standard Definition stuff, really). I'm actually trying to follow the Robert Rodriguez advice of being as cheap as possible in that respect.

 

[cjagceo1]

Oh ok then maybe a USB stick will work! Lol

I don't know how much money you have, but I had a camera just like that 6 years ago and they really are low quality. For $129 or less you can get a decent 1080p camera that'll do everything you want!

http://us.toshiba.com/video-electronics/camcorders/camileo-bw20

(This one is even waterproof!)

Again I don't know if you can or not, but that would be a nice Christmas present

The high8 tapes have a lot of static and are like 320x240. I totally get your being as cheap as possible (I'm making a movie too and I'm starving myself to do things!) but 320x240 is even lower then a YouTube video! :O

So I would really get a new camera. Even if you don't need 1080p, just goto Target and get a $40 720p camera. You will thank yourself after!

 

[jax_rox]

Professionally, digital archives are made on LTO tapes and need to be constantly updated for the latest version of LTO (or conversely, an older reader must be kept around). Those that can afford it will transfer the final product to film for archival as film just lasts.

I keep archival material on drives, and always dump to a master tape. Initially, it would be miniDV, though I often use DVCPRO HD, and for high-end, HDCAM SR.

 

[cjagceo1]

Professionally, digital archives are made on LTO tapes and need to be constantly updated for the latest version of LTO (or conversely, an older reader must be kept around). Those that can afford it will transfer the final product to film for archival as film just lasts.

I keep archival material on drives, and always dump to a master tape. Initially, it would be miniDV, though I often use DVCPRO HD, and for high-end, HDCAM SR.

Sorry if I'm a little amateur to understand the whole physical tape concept, but why not just convert the tapes to the computer in a lossless video and audio format? That way you will always have an accessible copy that can easily be updated to newer lossless formats with no effort?

Plus, it's a lot easier to move where it's stored.

 

[jax_rox]

Sorry if I'm a little amateur to understand the whole physical tape concept, but why not just convert the tapes to the computer in a lossless video and audio format? That way you will always have an accessible copy that can easily be updated to newer lossless formats with no effort?

Plus, it's a lot easier to move where it's stored.

LTOs are specifically designed for archival, and are designed to last long-term. Drives fail, and fail often, and fail out of the blue. LTOs are at least designed to be a little more robust. As an example, I have miniDV tapes from over 10 years ago that I could still capture from, and that's just a miniDV tape that aren't designed to last all that long. I have a hard drive that's around 4 years old that's lost a whole lot of data - in fact, I tried to open a project from a few years ago the other day to try and grab some old footage and the whole project was corrupt with missing files and everything.

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

In your case, you could play back to your Hi8 camera on another tape, but you'd lose a full generation quality. You could also burn a DVD, again a bit of quality loss. You could output to someone's miniDV camera -- best low cost option.

Some of the opinions being offered here requiring the spending of money. You're just learning the techniques, right?

I use a Mac, but others have managed to get a PC to do the job.

 

[cjagceo1]

LTOs are specifically designed for archival, and are designed to last long-term. Drives fail, and fail often, and fail out of the blue. LTOs are at least designed to be a little more robust. As an example, I have miniDV tapes from over 10 years ago that I could still capture from, and that's just a miniDV tape that aren't designed to last all that long. I have a hard drive that's around 4 years old that's lost a whole lot of data - in fact, I tried to open a project from a few years ago the other day to try and grab some old footage and the whole project was corrupt with missing files and everything.

I agree about the drives! That's why their is a new product out called M-Disc. From what I know it physically writes the digital data to a metal disc. They say it will last for hundreds of years!

So personally I would just put the videos on that.

And if your still worried about loosing the data, just put it in a HQ format and pay for carbonite backup or something.

 

[cjagceo1]

Oh and the cool thing with M Discs is once you burn it, you can read it in any DVD+R drive!

 

[jax_rox]

Oh and the cool thing with M Discs is once you burn it, you can read it in any DVD+R drive!

Then it's limited to a file size of a standard dual-layer DVD, no?

You want to archive your film in the highest possible quality - which is possible with LTOs; highest possible quality with longevity. Even on a Blu-Ray disc, a film is compressed. Let's say you shoot 4k... Short of printing to film, how are you going to archive that? This is why film is still the leader in archival.

Also becoming more common with digital is archival of everything. On film, you'd archive just the film neg - most importantly the finished film, and if you wanted to all the neg that you shot and processed. Nowadays, in the digital realm, it's becoming more and more common to archive everything, from unused footage to edit sequences, to AE and Pro Tools project files and 3D models etc. etc. etc.

So you need super high capacity drives, with longevity. LTO is also what banks, accountancy firms etc etc. all back up onto

 

[SkepticalMetal]

Actually guys, here quality is not of real issue. I actually would like the movie to have a filmy, gritty look to it, and I will actually even convert it to black and white in editing. So, I guess that you could say clean video is the opposite of what I am looking for.

 

[jax_rox]

Actually guys, here quality is not of real issue. I actually would like the movie to have a filmy, gritty look to it, and I will actually even convert it to black and white in editing. So, I guess that you could say clean video is the opposite of what I am looking for.

In your specific situation, I'd probably dub to tape as an archive master. Baring in mind you want to dub to something that you're going to be able to read from in the future, so you don't necessariy want something that's practically a dead format, or conversely, you want to keep around the equipment used for reading off the old format, so you can re-dub to a different format.

In saying that, digibeta is still used in a professional capacity, if you want to talk about supposedly dead formats - some film festivals still exhibit from digibeta.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Actually guys, here quality is not of real issue. I actually would like the movie to have a filmy, gritty look to it, and I will actually even convert it to black and white in editing. So, I guess that you could say clean video is the opposite of what I am looking for.

I'm not just thinking about this shoot, rather I'm thinking about any future shoots. I would echo the majority of respondents if you want to do more than one shoot unless you only want to shoot one short and then stop.

1. Mac with FCP X. This is a great combination. FCP X will allow you to make the film look gritty, look professional and do what you want with it. It's only $200 USD which is really cheap considering the quality you'll get.

2. External hard drive

3. I would go with what everyone says about the camera. Go for a cheap digital in 1080 because any future shoots will look better this way. You can add the grainy, gritty look with FCP X which runs on your Mac!

So this is the shooting package I would personally go with if I was budget conscious, wanted to put effects in (e.g. gritty, grainy look) and it would give me flexibility for future shorts. e.g. a certain quality of camera, future editing, greenscreen etc...

It is also an upgradeable package because you can buy a better camera, bigger hard drive, bigger and better Macs in the future etc... but you don't have to for a while.

Anyhow, that's my $0.02

 

[wheatgrinder]

if you really want it to survive, put it in the public domain, license free. Upload to www.archive.org or youtube etc.. chance are as long as there's an internet, youll be able to find it.. making it public domain increases its chances of survival by letting OTHERS use it.. more copies.. etc..