Hi,

I'm a 22 year old student from Austria, who has decided to drop law and do what he really wants to do which is creating reality and telling stories. Seeing the incredible beauty of this world and showing it to other people.

I will try to enlist in the university course film and tv next summer, but to pass the entry exam i need to present a portfolio and learn some basic filmmaking skills.
I want to shoot a short documentary now and am wondering what equipment would be best in a cost/efficiency rating. I have a panasonic hdc sd20 plus cards and extra battery, a crappy tripod and a canon 1000d and about 2000$ to spend (maybe a little more if i sell all my stuff =))

i really would like to get the canon 7d. but i'm afraid that once i have the camera i wont have money for (a) lense(s) or mic plus sound recorder.

what should i do??

cheers and liebe grüße from vienna

Is this documentary to be part of the portfolio for gaining entry to the course, I'm presuming yes?

To make a documentary (or pretty well anything else) you first need an idea, then a plan, then a script, then a story board, then your talent.

At that point you look at what tools you need to do the job.

You can shoot a documentary (or pretty well anything else) with a Box Brownie if necessary, the Panasonic you mention should do fine, you could even go "out there" and shoot it with the 1000d if you really want to work for it, or mix them both. Don't go all hi tech or you'll bankrupt yourself needlessly.

Crappy tripod may do, depending on how much the script requires static shots, which is another reason to use the 1000d a lot.

Dependant again on what the script calls for, the major missing piece is of course sound. A couple of decent mic's and a sound recorder pretty well sorts that.

There, that's the easy bit.

Now go write a script that tells the story - that is where it starts to get hard.

You can spend a kings ransom on gear and fall flat on your face because the story is rubbish.

You can shoot a script masterpiece on a Super 8 or aforementioned Box Brownie and have a show stopper.

Welcome to DVinfo and good luck.


CS

yes its for the entry test.

first of all thank you for your comments. I do have some ideas, but not really, given them form and shape yet. second, what is this magical brownie box? ;)

I think you are right, I dont really want to bankrupt myself now. I guess i will go for a sound recorder and a editing tool and beg a friend to use his mac book pro.

another unrelated question, do you know how to split the soundtrack from the movietrack of the panasonic sd20?

thanks for your time and input

One of the earliest mass produced still cameras, brought out by Kodak, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(camera)

A very effective photographic tool, as the millions, nay, probably billions of snaps in familly albums across the planet can attest.

Once you have loaded your video into your NLE of choice, you can do just about anything you want with the soundtrack, as the video and audio at that point are not locked together.

For more details on that, you should sashay over to the Editing forum here on DVinfo, plenty of help to be had there, probably specific to your chosen NLE, no less.

Hope it works out.


CS