I recently created a music video for the song "Forever Young". Unfortunately, I can't make any money from it, but it was a fun video to make with my little brothers.
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Just the above reasons to be interested in this project but further more it will be created on the open source software Blender 3D, Which I often use for my video work. It sounds like a very interesting story as well. There past videos were also very good. Watch the teaser trailer for the feature, followed by there past work, Big Buck Bunny. Here's the movie's website which has more information about the movie as well as the crowdfunding; http://gooseberry.blender.org/ Without music, videos are often bland however a perfect song can increase the emotion and add excitement, fear or sadness that your film need. There are many sites that offer "royalty-free music" however they often cost about $50 a song. The best way I've found to get awesome royalty free music for free or under creative commons is Soundcloud.com. Now of course you have to put their names in the credits but that's a reasonable price to pay for some of the high quality songs you can get. The first step to getting this music is finding it. There are thousands of songs on soundcloud, possibly millions. "Searching "film scores" is a good place to start on your search" Searching "film scores" is a good place to start on your search of course if you have something in mind like a rock song for an action scene, go ahead and search "rock" to start. "Don't forget to write down or rename the song with the artist's name so that you remember to credit him/her." There are many ways to increase your music library's size, however I find soundcloud to be the easiest and actually one of the highest quality ones. In fact, I actually have some of my own film scores under creative commons on soundcloud. " check out some of my creative common songs; I recently created a short stop motion video with one of my friends, Colin Anderson, and realized the largest benefit of animation. In animation you don't have to schedule dates or find actors, you just say "hey I want to make an animated film" and then you go do it. It's a great way to develop pacing and your storytelling abilities. http://youtu.be/25h0q_09IkU - "Rock Paper Scissors" Short Film
Marketing is rarely thought about in filmmaking and it's even rarer for some one to discuss it. This is one of the last places where there is industry secrets, in Marketing. However, Marketing is very important and without it, a great film could go unwatched and just as worse lose money. So how does this voodoo magic work. Well today, Robert Mockler wrote a post on NoFilmSchool (a great website) about market which you should check out. http://nofilmschool.com/2014/03/how-to-use-social-media-to-get-your-underdog-film-made/#more-78300 However there is loads to learn in marketing so hopefully this series from FilmCourage will also help you to learn more of the secret ways of film marketing. Now if you've been paying attention to short films recently, you've probably already have seen this one but it is one of my favorites and well worth a watch if you haven't seen it. It's fairly well made but the story is amazing. The french narrator also adds something cool sounding to it. Many people may think that watching short films is a waste of time but it really helps you to learn which types of stories you like and give you ideas for stories.
This will be my quick comparison of what I think about some upper class cameras. Now I'm going to try to keep my opinion not so over bearing and stick to some facts. Now I have also never used any of these cameras, which you may say makes me unfit to give an opinion which is why my opinion is only based on image, specs, reviews I've seen and price. 5D mkIII Now while this is not "technically" a cinema camera, the magic lantern features certainly make the image much nicer. The 5d Mk III has the moire problems fixed and has headphone + mic inputs. This camera seems to capture video much like you'd expect from it's still images, very sharp and contrasty. It's also not bad dynamic range wise and is fairly cheap. The major benefit is that this is currently one of the only cameras to shot high compression AND raw video. This makes it a great all around camera for work ranging from Film to your brother's wedding. Ofcourse the raw also brings up other Canon cameras capable of raw to possibly good cinema cameras such as the 5D mkII and the 6D. Sony F5 and F55 These two cameras got to be some of my favorites from the upper cameras. They are decently price in comparison to others in it's category. They also offer some great skin tones and quite a bit of flexibility. Check out this comparison of it and the Alexa and Red Epic. Alexa Personally I don't like the Alexa as much as the F55 and the Epic. The F55 has a nice skin tone and real look. The Epic has a nice Sci-fi, action look. The Alexa? Well I guess it looks the most like film, but the overall look of the colors isn't as appealing to me as the others. You can decide for yourself by watching the above video. Red Red kind of got the whole digital cinema thing rolling. I believe the Red One was the first 4k camera, which is impressive and even today there cameras seem to stay in the top notch. Many people knock them off with a saying like "it's not about the gear" or something of the sorts but to be truthful it can be a very beautiful camera. Check out both the above and bellow video for some great red images. Canon I am slightly disappointed by Canon due to there inability to compete with the other companies however due to there name, lenses and quality of their cameras (user experience and build). However the C500 can produce decent images, however not worth what it costs. The 1DC seems to have great image quality but costs near 12K. So We'll have to wait till Canon catches up. However if your interested, Shane Hurlbut compares Canons Quite often to other cameras on his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjHg96xQd03z-xXgMBRwYzw Kinefinity Interesting new company with some cool cameras spec wise but the image doesn't seem to be as good as the others on this list, so we'll have to wait to see if they come out with something better. Digital Bolex While many think that Blackmagic has made this camera not that interesting, the colors from it's CCD sensor is quite unique and in fact makes the image look like film. In fact it looks the more like film than any other camera on this list. However how good is it? I guess we'll have to wait for Philip Bloom's Review. But here's Philip Bloom's Short made with it. Finally Blackmagic Oh, blackmagic. They seem to be doing everything right and yet a few things wrong. First there price is unbeatable and for near Red looking images, it's amazing. It beats cameras close to 5x it's price. The image is very nice, however I think out the three, I like the First one's image the best. Unfortunately these cameras could do better at ergonomics, video storage and audio. But these are problems you'd have with more expensive equiptment as well so heres some images from the original Blackmagic Cinema Camera. What do you think of these cameras? Are Cinema Cameras still worth it or will DSLRs and Blackmagic take over?
Now of course many will say that a good camera doesn't make a good movie and that it doesn't matter which camera you shoot on if the story is good. While this is true, the camera plays a large role in the final look of the image, regardless of the filmmaker's skill. That said the best video camera for a beginner filmmaker is the one you already have. However if you want to upgrade from your old camera into a fancy new camera, here's a good place to start. Best Upgrades Now these are above the $300 limit, however they are for a reason. There better. If you have more money to speed, start here. T2I This one just scraps past the limit. I was able to find one for $305 on ebay. This is probably what most people would suggest for beginner filmmakers and I would have to agree. I happen to have a T3i which is great you can see my review here. The only difference between the T2i and the T3i is the flip screen. This camera creates a beautiful image, don't just take my word for it. Check out one of my videos with it bellow. ^with t3i GH2 This happens to be slightly more expensive but also is often suggested. It's only negative is a slightly small sensor, however that leads to cheaper lenses. I don't have too much experience with it but it seems to do fairly good. On eBay it goes for about $635. Consumer Camcorders This is a very common route because it is the most logical. Buy a camcorder to record video, much more sense than buying a DSLR (although I prefer DSLRs). Here are a couple cheap camcorders. GoPro Cameras Honestly a GoPro camera should never be your main camera, they are more for specialty shots. If you are a semi-professional with something like a DSLR looking for a second cam, this would be a good choice or if your a sports athlete like a skater that just wants to record himself this would also be a good choice. Canon Consumer Camcorders Almost all of my cameras have been canons. They seem to keep up very nicely. One of my first cameras was the Canon HF R20. I had everything a beginner filmmaker could want, manual controls as well as auto controls, 1080p video, a mic input and headphone output. These are excellence choices and I can personally recommend them. The bellow is a short film I shot with one. The only Con to them is the small sensor. So if you are super concerned about image quality and that awesome blurred background or low light abilities, a DSLR or Mirrorless camera will be a better choice. ^with Canon hf R20 Kodak Cameras ? I have a fair amount of experience with Kodak's cameras and although they are often limited in image quality and features, these two seemed fairly good spec wise and price wise. The Zi10 is $120, the Zi12 is $140 Zi10 & Zi12 They both record 1080p but for only $20 more, the Zi12 records 1080p60 which allows full HD slow motion, which is awesome for the price range. Another cool camera for it's Price is the Nikon 1J1 Mirrorless. It can be found for around $160. It offers full HD video. It may come with limited video features but it has a larger sensor which will help better image quality. Well I hope I exposed you to some new cameras and just keep looking for some new cameras. As Video cameras get cheap and cheaper, it will be even easier for beginners to get the ultimate camera.
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Zachary WillZachary Will is an Award-Winning Filmmaker creating short films and content for the Internet as the owner of Riverside Studios. He has a Bachelor's in Film from Full Sail University. He has worked on productions for companies like Webmd, Sears, Home Depot, Six Flags and more! "the trick is to never give up... I think the secret of success is not how little you get knocked down but how often you get back up." - Gareth Edwards Archives
February 2019
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