Does anyone have any footage? Because I'm REALLY curious as to how it looks.

www.dvfilm.com talks about it.

But why go to film? Landmark Theatres and film fests give you the chance to just go HDCam, etc., so you can save a LOT of money. A feature will cost around, on average, $35,000.

heath

I'd say the reason why go to film is a lot of us probably share the dream of doing fabulously well at a film festival and getting picked up for distribution but if the compression and other nasty HDV artifacts are too apparent in a film transfer that might make the difference (in the same way that having to many unresolved clearance issues does the same)

even if you do have some artifacts or so, and hollywood loves the story and cinematography, they would probably give you money to re-shoot it in a professional studio.

Hollywood doesn't re-shoot movies like that really (remakes of big movies are a different story), they clean them up, maybe do a re-shoot or two, then release it.

After months of research, I learned most film festivals now accept HD and other forms of digital. Going to film is a big expense (around $35,000 for a feature), and I really wanted to last year. But once I learned that through research and talking to lots of people, I'd rather spend the money on the production, or another film. Or marketing, too.

Open Water wasn't on film, it was played out of a Mac at the Hamptons Film festival, and it went to Sundance on HD, I believe.

heath

even if you do have some artifacts or so, and hollywood loves the story and cinematography, they would probably give you money to re-shoot it in a professional studio.

I know we're wondering off topic here but I can't resist.

If "Hollywood" loves the story,often they'll buy off the filmmakers, remake (and rewrite) it with name talent and bury the original. Ever heard of Greg Glienna? if not, he co-wrote, directed and starred in the original Meet the Parents. When remade by Jay Roach et al, they made a contract that blocked the original from any film or video distribution. The success of the remake and sequel probably hasn't helped Greg's career.

The makers of "The Island" will probably buy off the makers of "The Clonus Horror" too with a similar contract. Get those Clonus DVDs while you can!

The other "bigger budget" remake success stories I recall are "Desperado", intended as a remake of El Mariachi, but turned into a sequel when the first movie got some notoriety on the festival circuit, and Heat where Michael Mann was already highly established auteur when he made the original TV movie.

With Evil Dead, Raimi shot a 20 minute "pilot" on Super8, but still had to raise the remake's money himself (Evil Dead 2 was really a higher budget remake as sequel, like Desperado).

Good point.

heath