A question that is asked of me a lot these days is "what kind of camera do I need if I want to make a production?"
10 years ago I would have been very specific with this question and blurted out a few brands because there were not a lot of cameras to choose from and the digital technology that exist today wasn't around in its low cost user friendly guise.
Today with the on-vent of the internet and self publishing and free websites like YouTube and Vimeo and new ground breaking cheap $100.00 editing software, I had to change my evaluation on what can be used to make a production. There are so many choices of tech out there that it is a smorgasbord of devices to pick from and what works for your production depends on what you are doing. Low end Webisodes verses High end full HD productions. Etc.
Save money!
At the risk at getting the evil eye from my brethren the "pros" the amateur film maker does not need to spend $5000.00 dollar or more on a camera. If you have the right software tools for processing you can do a decent job on a $150.00 HD 720p or 1080p camera. The newer cameras in the blister packages on the shelf today have built in stabilizers and are easy to import into editing packages. iPad 3 with its good quality 1080p camera and editing software, you have a studio in one device. For the non stabilizing cameras, today's editing programs will stabilize, remove or add noise and grain to the image. Add special effects and transitions and you can begin to create.
The professionals will always complain about resolution, color depth or light sensitivity among many other elite settings you wont get with with cheap cameras. But today with the way content is being quantized (compressed) and viewed on multiple platforms, Image quality can be dealt with and accepted to a certain degree. With the use of proper lighting, editing applications and software filters, these visual artifacts and anomalies can be cleverly hidden and or resolved. Shooting your scenes in proper light will decrease noise and if you have to shoot at night, cover your scene with lights. It takes a bit more set up time, but with the cost difference, it will be worth it.
You can buy two or three of these low cost cameras and have a multi-camera shoot and then cut all your scenes the way you want and save time and money. Plus if you damage or drop a camera, you have a spare and you wont run around pulling your hair out screaming about the multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment you just dropped.
Yes, go out and buy that Canon EOS 5D Mark III. It's a technology marvel. If you have the money to spend... do it. But don't let money be the issue here. Use what you can get your hands on and get good at it.
You may have to make a few bad movies before you learn how to make a good one, so don't let this stop you from trying. You can't learn unless you make a mistake and you can't make a mistake unless you try.
When all is said and done the real measure of it all comes down to story telling. If you have a good story and a good script and good actors to play out your script, the media you shoot on becomes secondary to what it is delivered on. I find people are afraid to go and make a movie or a short film based solely on the fact that they think because there are so many people with cameras, everyone will want to make a movie and that the market will be saturated. The fact is, it doesn't matter how many people have cameras, not every one of them is going to be able to pull it off. Just because everyone has access to pencils and paintbrushes doesn't mean they can draw or paint. Believe me, people try. Sure, there is going to be a lot of crap that will be produced and we all know that it is out there, but with all the crap that is made, there are a few diamonds that shine and make the whole movie watching experience worth it.
Just remember, tell a good story and you will captivate your audience.
