video cameras, movie making software and the such

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**SwanCo**

thinking about starting a filming/film editing business, i have some experience in the stuff but am looking for a relatively cheap camera and some good but easily workable movie making software. As for camera's i'm looking at the Canon XL1 because i have experience with the newer XL2 and XL HD, its low price is also nice ($1,295.00 used). And software...i need some suggestions o.o

**Kilkrazy**

How much do you want to spend?

Premiere is damn good for what it costs.

If you buy a Mac, it comes with iMovie already loaded, which will let you do a lot of basic editing.

Final Cut Pro is fantastic but it costs about £15,000 including the hardware (RAID, etc) you need to run it effectively.

Most non-linear editing software works the same basic way while having lots of little quirks of its own. Nothing is genuinely easier to use without losing a lot of advanced functions.

You also need to thing about editing hardware especially the storage system.

If you want to do this as a business I recommend a semi-pro camera like a Sony HVR-1E. HDV-CAM compression, XLR inputs, manual overrides for all the functions. Not only does it give you a lot of control and quality you can't get from a Handycam, it also looks the part, which is important in convincing clients that you are not just an amateur.

The BBC used the HVR-1 for filming a lot of Blue Planet. That's a pretty good recommendation of quality.

You also need a top quality microphone.

**sexiest_hero**

I use abode after effects. WHat type of filming are you planning?

**IG_urban**

The Canon XL1 is a great choice. But you really want to make things amazing, get a Red Cam http://www.red.com/

I use After Effects and Premier, they are both great programs. But Final Cut Pro is more professional...I just hate Macs with a passion. I work in the industry and go to school for it as well. There are separate camps for Premier and FCP.
After Effects should be used for titles, special effects, and non traditional editing, but you should not use it to composite.

And if you are starting a buisiness and you want to be anything near competitive, then spring for a better camera and software.

**SwanCo**

sexiest_hero wrote:I use abode after effects. WHat type of filming are you planning?

Mostly just individual contracting, i say business, i mean that i'll be working it as a side job and will do special events such as weddings and stuff. I was talking to someone today and he said he has a wedding for me to film already within the month, but he will be providing the camera and will do the editing himself.
I'm particularly looking for something small(ish) that is portable but yet professional looking and hopefully under 2k for the camera.
As for the software i'm not willing on spending much and am deffinately not up for buying a mac (sorry, i just can't stand those machines...not enough bang for my buck) so if that helps at all i would love some more suggestions. thanks!

IG_urban wrote:The Canon XL1 is a great choice. But you really want to make things amazing, get a Red Cam http://www.red.com/

I use After Effects and Premier, they are both great programs. But Final Cut Pro is more professional...I just hate Macs with a passion. I work in the industry and go to school for it as well. There are separate camps for Premier and FCP.
After Effects should be used for titles, special effects, and non traditional editing, but you should not use it to composite.

And if you are starting a buisiness and you want to be anything near competitive, then spring for a better camera and software.

i currently work for a small productions company and am just planning to be a kind of off shoot, so nothing as expensive as a red as of now, maybe later if this stuff takes off

The reason i'm going for the XL1 as of now is because it is cheap easy to work and has relatively good quality. as of now im not planning on spending over 2k on a camera simply bcause my work will be so small scale.

now about after affects and premier i'm going to have to look those up and see how they look, thanks for the suggestions and i hope to hear back from you

**Kilkrazy**

After Effects is primarily a compositing and effects package.

It is widely used in the (London) Soho post-production industry for those jobs.

If you want to use AE, a Mac is a good investment as you will have a lot trouble trying to run it on Windows machines. The Mac also supports FCP, Premiere, Photoshop and basically any semi-pro video and graphics related package.

The key disadvantage of the Mac is that there is no 3D software on it. That probably doesn't matter for you.

Windows 7 may have solved the 64 bit problems on PCs.

**SwanCo**

ya, i have a 64 bit system on my work computer. and i can also work with most software...i looked into premiere and liked what i saw, i'm thinking thats where im gonn ahead as far as software goes

**IG_urban**

premiere is excellent.

**Kilkrazy**

SwanCo wrote:ya, i have a 64 bit system on my work computer. and i can also work with most software...i looked into premiere and liked what i saw, i'm thinking thats where im gonn ahead as far as software goes

It depends on the OS.

We have several Windows XP machines with 64-bit Windows. There are plenty of programs which don't work and it hasn't solved any of the issues we bought it for. We should have just bought Macs.

Mind you I think it is a problem with our IT support deparment more than anything.

**SwanCo**

Hmmm...well it has vista (one of the newer versions that doesnt completely suck) but i'm upgrading to 7 soon, and seven tends to work well with anything you throw at it...or atleast thats what i've found

**whatwhat**

I'd recommend Avid, its not that expensive, industry standard (used by the BBC etc.) and has multiple oscar winners to it's name.

**Kilkrazy**

We used to use Avid, first on Unix, then on Windows.

We prefer FCP now.

I don't think there's a lot to choose between the medium level packages.

**SwanCo**

whatwhat wrote:I'd recommend Avid, its not that expensive, industry standard (used by the BBC etc.) and has multiple oscar winners to it's name.

Whats the price of avid about?

**Kilkrazy**

http://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Software/index.asp

Then you need the machine to run it on.

**SwanCo**

As of now im getting an XL1 and premiere along with a digital panasonic camera for photos and smaller scale hd shooting and the such. thank you all for the help

**alisavan7007**

SwanCo wrote:
thinking about starting a filming/film editing business, i have some experience in the stuff but am looking for a relatively cheap camera and some good but easily workable movie making software. As for camera's i'm looking at the Canon XL1 because i have experience with the newer XL2 and XL HD, its low price is also nice ($1,295.00 used). And software...i need some suggestions o.o

Well, if it is still helpful for you.
I used to editing videos with WMM, and now I do with ShowBiz, it's really as easy as WMM and you can edit videos just by dragging video clips or photos into storyboard. Special effects such as transitions, subtitles and so forth are allowed to add to live up your videos.

**reds8n**

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