Advice for student production outfit??

[Sam Eilertsen]

Hello everyone,

I am new to REDUSER (and a relative newb to film production in general), and have learned a lot by reading the posts here.

I am the executive producer of Brown University's student production outfit, BTV. We have an interesting history: we were founded back in the late 80s by a small group of students, including Doug Liman (director of Bourne Identity) and Dave Bartis (producer of The OC). For several years in the 90s we were the largest student group on campus, broadcasting over the school cable network from a broadcast studio with three Sony DXC-325's.

However, at the beginning of the new millennium, BTV lapsed into near-oblivion. In the last few years, a group of us have struggled to bring the station back, transforming it into an online, on-demand distribution outlet for high-quality student films and buying prosumer digital equipment. We've managed to pull off some fairly high production values considering our limited resources (the best example being The Circle, which I produced).

Anyway, as of right now we own two XH-A1's and an HV40, three Rode NTG-2 shotgun mics, a couple Sennheiser wireless lavs, and a 3-piece Arri lightkit (650W, 300W, 150W). Next year I intend on buying a 7D with a shoulder mount and sound mixer, a Merlin, a Lowell 4-piece lightkit, and a KinoFlo. Other items on my eventual wishlist include a Sound Devices recorder, long shotgun and hypercardiod mics, and of course a Scarlet when it comes out.

Anyway, I'm wondering what pieces of equipment you guys think might be able to really up our production values. Our budget is about $10K per year so we can't afford an R1 or anything like that. I'd like to get line-level mixers for every camera, can anyone recommend a good one for < $1000? I'd also like to have a way to throw diffusion/flags/cooks in front of our lights, but C-stands are so damn heavy no one wants to lug them all over the place.

Also, what are the best reasonably-priced EF/EF-S lenses? I want to cover a wide range of focal lengths, and I want at least of a couple of lenses that are fast enough for low light situations.

And can anyone recommend a good lightweight < $500 tripod? Right now we have a clunky Manfrotto with Bogen legs thats a pretty good tripod but a pain to carry around, and a cruddy Sunpak VideoPro that isn't worth the plastic its made out of.

Thanks!

 

[Charles Angus]

Before getting a shoulder mount and a Merlin, I would get nice tripods for all your cameras. Gotta have the meat and potatoes before the pudding...

There aren't any good tripods for less than $500, not new anyway. And don't get Manfrotto, they're trash (although if you have one, you know that). Sachtler, O'Connor, and Cartoni are all brands I've used and liked.

Don't know too much about audio stuff, so I won't comment on that.

Good EF lenses - for low light, the 50mm f/1.4. Make sure to get the hood and keep it on the lens at all times. If you don't, pressure on the end of the lens can damage the AF motor. For an all-arounder, consider the 17-55 or the 24-70. If you need wider, get a Tokina 11-16. I would be reasonably happy shooting with the Tokina and the 24-70 for most things. Both of those lenses are f/2.8 constant, which is about all you need.

If you're asking about a lighter-weight C-stand alternative, there isn't really one. I guess you could put a puck and arm on a light stand?

 

[Charles Angus]

Oh, and the 7d is useless handheld, in my opinion, with or without shoulder mount. Too much rolling shutter.

 

[Mark Collins]

It's hard for me to comment on that because it seems like you're doing more broadcast work than film work.

At my school (Sheridan Colleg) we do more film than broadcast, and for us, C-stands, flags, cookies, etc, are all a must on set.

For tripods, good luck finding a good one under $500 as people above me have said. You can have good or you can have cheap, not both, when it comes to tripods, and most film equipment in general.

 

[Sam Eilertsen]

Oh, and the 7d is useless handheld, in my opinion, with or without shoulder mount. Too much rolling shutter.

Thanks for the advice!

One of our members who just graduated did some pretty decent stuff on a 5d mk II with a steadicam. Does the 7d have more of a rolling shutter problem?

 

[Subhadip Sen]

Thanks for the advice!

One of our members who just graduated did some pretty decent stuff on a 5d mk II with a steadicam. Does the 7d have more of a rolling shutter problem?

Slow moving, smooth steadicam or dolly shots or pans are OK. The problem occurs either when the movement speeds up or the movement is irregular - like in handheld. This is because handheld is jerky, unlike the smooth nature of a steadicam, and the jello effect becomes visible even in slow walking-pace movements. Personally, for me, any kind of handheld work is a strict no-no. Use your current camcorders instead - superior cameras in many ways.

Having said that, many people don't seem to have a problem with the jello effect, any many don't even realize it. So, it is best if you try it out for yourself and decide how much jello is acceptable for you.

 

[Sam Eilertsen]

It's hard for me to comment on that because it seems like you're doing more broadcast work than film work.

At my school (Sheridan Colleg) we do more film than broadcast, and for us, C-stands, flags, cookies, etc, are all a must on set.

For tripods, good luck finding a good one under $500 as people above me have said. You can have good or you can have cheap, not both, when it comes to tripods, and most film equipment in general.

While we used to be mostly a broadcast outfit, since coming back in the digital age most of our work has been single-camera series and shorts.

 

[Sam Eilertsen]

Slow moving, smooth steadicam or dolly shots or pans are OK. The problem occurs either when the movement speeds up or the movement is irregular - like in handheld. This is because handheld is jerky, unlike the smooth nature of a steadicam, and the jello effect becomes visible even in slow walking-pace movements. Personally, for me, any kind of handheld work is a strict no-no. Use your current camcorders instead - superior cameras in many ways.

Having said that, many people don't seem to have a problem with the jello effect, any many don't even realize it. So, it is best if you try it out for yourself and decide how much jello is acceptable for you.

You think the XH-A1 is superior to the 7D? I'm not a huge DSLR fan, but the A1 has so many shortcomings: noisy picture, poor low-light performance, inferior optics, goofy rectangular pixels, excessive DOF, etc.

 

[Charles Angus]

You think the XH-A1 is superior to the 7D? I'm not a huge DSLR fan, but the A1 has so many shortcomings: noisy picture, poor low-light performance, inferior optics, goofy rectangular pixels, excessive DOF, etc.

And the 7D has lots of compression noise, moiré, aliasing, jello-cam, etc.

 

[R.ChilD]

your best bet for cameras is the panasonic GH13 at this point

 

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I agree I'm not a fan of the XH-A1 whatsoever, I think it's a terrible camera. My former business partner owned one and we used it several times, I was never impressed with what came out of it even using several DPs on several types of projects. I was very happy when we switched permanently to the HVX200, which I still use for corporate work. RED One for feature work, of course, no camcorder nonsense.

As for Manfrotto tripods being "crap," I think that's unfair. I think in fact they are great tripods for the price and for the use you should be using them for. I own two and use them for corporate work on the HVX200s, they work fantastic. Would I use one of them for a RED or some real camera? Heck no, no way, you need a heavy duty, truly professional tripod from one of the three companies you mentioned (all great) for that level of work. But it just depends what your budget is like. These were $600 tripods I have, 503HDV heads, and they work great for what I use them for. If my corporate clients paid more money, I'd probably be shooting on a RED One with a killer, very expensive tripod. But when you're doing cheap virtual tour videos or local commercials, you are going to use the best equipment you can afford for the gig.

Feature film work is a totally different standard and you need top of the line tools, even on indie projects, you shouldn't cheap out on the basics.