Would anyone be interested in helping a young girl fulfill her dreams?

D

DreamBig

My name is Anna Turner, this morning my father decided he was going to help me start making films to the best of his ability. MY father has no experience in making films :) so I leave it up to the world of artists to help me. I need to know where to get filming equipment, how much that equipment costs, what it does, how many I need etc... the basics from the start really :) much thanks to all who read and my heart to all who help.
 
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These may be odd questions but my dad has music equipment and my mother is a sows, could you use mic stands for c-stands? instead of flags could you just use left-over cotton material same with silks? instead of bounce boards could you use poster board? anyway to downsize price. is any of this possible or would it lose the effect? any other down sizing possible?
 
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As for the rest of it, I still use mike stands as C-Stands. Get a bunch of spring clamps from the hardware store for clamping stuff to them. Fabric from the fabric store in Black, White (Opaque and see through) and green. White Foam Core boards from the art store for bouncing light (4' x 2' sheets work well and fit in a car pretty well). Black ones for blocking light.

Clamp lights from the hardware store make great lights for starting out and they're about $25 / light for the ones with the screw in the clamp rather than the ones held together by pressure... which will work, but you'll buy many more of them as that's the part that fails on them constantly.

Any camera you can get your hands on will do. Cheaper than the 5D are the 3 digit line from Canon (550D, 600D, etc -- also known as the T2i, T3i and T4i). If you buy one with a lens, the 18-55 would work for you for shooting most of what you will need and run around $800. Without a lens, you're looking around $500 for the T3i (I just bought one from get it digital on amazon as a refurb, body only -- ended up being new with warrantee, read the fine print carefully) and you can get second hand used lenses with $10 adaptor rings making it possible to et lenses on ebay for <$20 / lens + the $10 for the ring.

The reality is that any camera will do when starting out. You'll use the same techniques to tell your story either way. Audio equipment is important (much has been discussed here lately), and a voice recorder on a stick will get you better audio than the mike in the camera. Your brother probably has decent recording gear that will work for you -- although the portability of his equipment may be an issue. Adding a cheap hyper-cardioid mic (shotgun) will be one of the first upgrades you should look at once you get going.

Filmmaking isn't cheap, but you can save up while you're learning and piece your kit together. You don't need to go HD right away and you can pick up really nice Standard Def older video cameras for much cheaper than the High Def ones. ($20-$50 used at pawn shops or online through amazon or ebay). MiniDV tapes are getting really hard to find, so find something that stores the video in the camera or on cards, this will reduce cost for you as well so you can put more money towards sound and lighting.

This is a long journey, take it in little bites and you'll get through it. You'll have tons of questions, this is a great place for answers, but you won't know which questions to ask until you've starting shooting stuff... so shoot stuff. Know it won't be great, ask why, grow a REALLY thick skin for the feedback, we're all in the same boat no matter our experience level, constantly learning by doing and failing.

NEVER doubt that you can take this journey!
 
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DreamBig said:
I'm sorry "SD"? I'm not sure what that means and that's very extremely kind of you.
and how much would the shipping be?
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SD=standard definition

As to editing program. If you're 15 I'd assume you are at school? You can pick up the Adobe programs (premiere: standard editing, after effects: specials FX editing, Flash: animation and games, photoshop: advanced photo manipulation etc) in the production premium at a student price for around $300ish. You'll also need a good computer....
 
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MileCreations said:
SD=standard definition

As to editing program. If you're 15 I'd assume you are at school? You can pick up the Adobe programs (premiere: standard editing, after effects: specials FX editing, Flash: animation and games, photoshop: advanced photo manipulation etc) in the production premium at a student price for around $300ish. You'll also need a good computer....
Click to expand...

I always thought student and teach pricing only applied to college students.
 
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Jsthompson79 said:
I always thought student and teach pricing only applied to college students.
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Not for adobe, at least it's worked for me. I bought CS4 two years ago with my card, then CS5 for a group last year and purchased CS6 Creative Cloud subscription this year, and I've just finished year 12 so will have to change my subscription to the full cloudin the near future...
 
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MileCreations said:
SD=standard definition

As to editing program. If you're 15 I'd assume you are at school? You can pick up the Adobe programs (premiere: standard editing, after effects: specials FX editing, Flash: animation and games, photoshop: advanced photo manipulation etc) in the production premium at a student price for around $300ish. You'll also need a good computer....
Click to expand...

I am home schooled and proud :D I love my parents choice it was for my safety.
 
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This is off the Uk adobe site, (mainly because it was the first to pop up, but I assume the terms are the same for each country.

Only full- or part-time students enrolled at a higher education establishment, defined as an accredited public or private university or college that grants degrees requiring not less than the equivalent of two (2) years of full-time study, or students enrolled at an accredited public or private secondary school providing full-time instruction are eligible

Homeschooled students and their teachers:

Dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool1
Current membership ID to a homeschool association (for example, the Home School Legal Defense Association)1
Dated proof of purchase of curriculum for the current academic school year1
 
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DreamBig said:
I need to know where to get filming equipment, how much that equipment costs, what it does, how many I need etc... the basics from the start really.
Click to expand...
Also be aware that you will be legitimately "attacked" for emphasizing too much on the gear (brace yourself for a "gearhead" moniker) and not enough on the craft know-how.

Hope you like to read a lot. :)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Experience is fine and all, but...
DreamBig said:
Well as it stands, I'm fourteen and my family doesn't have crazy wads of cash from nowhere so... I have a basic phone... not an IPhone or anything fancy. My phone doesn't even take video.
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... experience is also going to be costly not just financially but in time and planning.


Numero uno consideration: WHERE do you plan on showing your film products?
You tube?
Film festival? Local, regional, or national?
Hoping a distributor like Lionsgate or Magnolia/Magnet will pick it up?

WHERE your film products will be shown determines a lot about WHAT equipment you should gear-up with.

Youtube?
Shhhhhh!t.
Lookit where JennaMarbles and Smosh started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfR7PCU-xlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agEjzQLiuGA

Local film festival?
Cool.
Watch some of these gems, don't do what I'm b!tchin' about:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44510

Regional or national film festival?
Cool.
Lookit the budget for these:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=37696
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=34549

Thinking a little bigger?
Cool.
Pour over these, see if that's doable:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=39122
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=38636

Screw all that. You'll go DIY VOD.
Gotcha covered:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=37825


You see, here's where I take all the fun outta filmmaking:
20120325FilmitAndTheyWillCome.png


Sorry, but it's true.



No one, certainly not DirectorRik, cares how old you are.
Shakespeare's pen isn't going to make you or anyone a great story writer.
Spielberg's camera isn't going to make your or anyone's film better.
It's not the tool.
It's the brain behind the tool.

Cellphone video is fine.

It's better to make 5 four minute videos than 1 twenty minute video.

DR's advice was beautiful. It was designed to keep you from blowing a lot of money and time on something you'll soon find out that gearing up for isn't going to save your film or career.

What I can do with a kitchen knife, what Rachel Ray can do with the same kitchen knife, and what Steven Seagal can do with the same kitchen knife ain't even near the same.
chef.jpg
 
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