***If you’re looking for the HVX test clips, scroll all the way to the bottom***
Call me Mike Curtis Lite.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been consulting on two different Indie gigs. The challenge? How to make $10,000 work for an HD production and post production package?
Thing is, $10,000 isn’t a lot of money if you’re planning on shooting in high definition and are starting with little to no post-production infrastructure. With $10G’s, it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pick up all needed HD capable production AND post-production equipment, not to mention having enough funds for, oh….I don’t know…people, props, wardrobe, lunch, travel expenses, etc.
Following below are the stories of two Indies, their $10,000 choices, and my observations.
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$10,000 BUDGET - Daniel’s Version
Daniel wants to shoot the opening two minutes of his film to use as a fundraising tool to grab $800,000 - $900,000 in order to finish the rest. To complete this task, he saved $10,000 over one year by working an IT job, of which he promptly went out and spent $8,500 on:
- (1) Andromeda-tized DVX100a
- (1) small crane
- (1) Red Rock Micro M2 adaptor
- (1) set of Nikon Lenses
- 60 GB worth of 2.5″ bus powered hard drives
- (1) dolly
- and (1) 10′ x 12′ portable greenscreen.
His film calls for anime-stylings in a live-action setting, and he’s using part of a friend’s empty warehouse space to shoot some of the greenscreen setups. Daniel has taught himself Shake and plans on doing all the compositing work himself.
His post inventory consists of (1) G4 Powerbook, and though he purchased the Andromeda because of it’s 4:4:4 capture abilities, he admits that his current ‘puter is nowhere near up to the task of handing a steady stream of HD material (let alone handling multiple compositing effects in Shake).
But now WELL into his $10G budget, Daniel still needs:
- lights (the 4:4:4 is worthless without proper lighting on that greenscreen)
- ANY audio recording method (The Andromeda doesn’t record audio natively. He could go audio straight to tape on the DVX simultaneously, but he still needs various microphones, XLR cables, and stands or a boom pole)
- (4) cast members over a three day shoot
- (3-5) crew members over a three day shoot
- (1) makeup person
- wardrobe
- props
- enough $$$ to buy three lunches worth of pizza for 8-10 people who are going to be working for little to no pay
AND, he’s trying to accomplish all this IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS.
Soooo……what do we have here?
PROS:
Daniel is smart and very mature. He’s super motivated, and very aware of many angles his production is going to require. He spent a ton of money on some really sweet gadgets that make pretty images, and now he’s got a van full of really sweet gadgets that make pretty images.
CONS:
Daniel has a van full of really sweet gadgets that make pretty images and little knowledge on how to use them. This is his first production of any kind, and he has given little thought to the very REAL WORLD constraints of asking 8-10 people to all get the same three days off, for little to no pay, during the next MONTH.
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Moreover, though Daniel will be spending 10 times as many hours compositing than he will be shooting, he spent 85% of his budget on acquisition equipment and….0% of his budget on post gear. Right off the bat, spending that much of his budget on acquisition equipment sounds a little suspect, especially considering he only needs the camera and associated peripherals for three days.
Keep in mind, Daniel is not planning on personally running any of this equipment, so he’s left himself very little room to find the right people to run said equipment, pick up the remaining gear he needs, and have any $$$ left over for post, (and if he didn’t factor in a comfy chair into that budget, he should have).
What other options did he have?
Easily, Daniel COULD HAVE first dropped $5G’s on an HD capable editing/ compositing system. A used Quad Core G5, 20″ monitor ( Apple / Dell / whatever), HD capable video card, passable HD monitor, and decent set of speakers could all be had for that price. Additionally, had Daniel not chosen the Andromeda, he could have sold his laptop and added another $1,500 to his post budget.
After calling around town and contacting some peepz I’ve met in Portland over the last two months, I figured his remaining HYPOTHETICAL $5,000 COULD THEN HAVE been spent on:
- $500 - $1,000 on lights and greenscreen (rental or purchase)
- $600 for a sound person ($200/ day X 3 days)
- $1,500 for cast/ wardrobe, makeup, and props
- $500 - $1000 for crew and dolly/ crane (rental or purchase)
- and $2000 - $2,500 bucks to rent a very qualified DP WITH HD CAMERA, or:
- $1,000 - $2,000 to rent a camera package and $500 - $1,000 for a DP
Keep in mind, all the above figures represent Portland, Oregon figures at Indie rates. Other market prices for equipment rentals, purchases, or peoples’ time will vary with the city you live in and the availability of said equipment or people in your area (For example, Los Angeles my have a plethora of F900/ F950 rental options, but those options would most likely tend to be very pricey because of the market. On the other hand, if there are too many rental houses competing for Indie business, you may find yourself a good deal. Additionally, Des Moines may not have any F900/ F950 rental shops - therefore assuming if there was such shop, they could command top dollar for it. But, if there does happen to be a CineAlta in Des Moines, there’s a good chance its not being used very often, and consequently, you may be able to hire its owner/ operator for an extremely cheap rate).
Additionally, where “(rental or purchase)” with a $500 swing distinction has been noted, I’m generally referring to the fact that some people WITH GEAR could be hired for a certain price, OR some people WITHOUT GEAR BUT WANTING TO WORK WITH SUCH GEAR could be hired cheaper if you provide said gear.
CURRENT SOLUTION:
Since Daniel is now about $8,500 deep in equipment, I advised him to use as much of the remaining funds on people as he can. Due to the intricate nature of his planned shots, he’s got AT LEAST two full days worth of equipment testing, and his yet-to-be-assembled novice crew is going to have to figure out all his gear very quickly. He plans on paying his crew at least a little bit, say $70 bucks a day, and knows his remaining $1,500 is as good as spent.
For post-production, well…he’s kinda screwed right now. His original plan, though contradictory, was to purchase all the production gear he needed, then sell most of it back off in order to buy a bigger, better, faster computer to run all his compositing. But, when asked why he bought all the production gear in the first place, just to then turn around and sell it (at a loss), he said that he wanted to buy all his gear NOW which he’d use for the rest of the feature, even though he’s looking to grab almost a seven figure budget. And remember, HE HAS NO PLANS FOR ALL THE GEAR HE BOUGHT, AFTER THE INITIAL THREE DAY SHOOT, UNLESS HE FINDS FINANCING FOR HIS FILM.
So what to do for post? Since there’s no turning back, Daniel needs to stick with his post-production “plan” and sell off his camera gear. He really doesn’t have a choice. His PowerBook is not going to cut it, so he may as well pawn that on eBay and hopefully he can come out ahead with at least $5,000 he can drop on the minimum amount of post gear I mentioned above.
As for sound? Well, Daniel’s NOT A SOUND GUY and admits his complete ignorance for all things sound my cause him to under-think sound solutions, but at the very least he understands the importance of sound. This leaves him the two options (which he’s currently debating) of HIRING A SOUND GUY, or committing a large chunk of his own time in post to creating ALL SOUND FROM SCRATCH - a task he said that he’s personally committed to, if needed (I like the first option).
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$10,000 BUDGET - Ryan’s Version
Ryan wrote a feature script, saved $10,000 G’s by remodeling houses, and plans on going 100% the DIY/ self reliant route. Message boards and marketing materials told him that an HVX 200 could make his images (/film) look “the most real”, so naturally, that’s where the first $6,000 of his budget went.
Knowing that P2 cards are outrageously expensive, Ryan plans on just using the 4GB version that came with the camera. He wants to shoot and edit his film in 1080 24p, and plans on using his existing consumer HP laptop connected to an external USB drive to dump his footage to in the field.
Ryan also picked up a nice tripod, has a MiniDV glidecam from back in his VX2000 days, and plans on purchasing around $1,000 in microphone equipment.
At this point, Ryan’s decision to purchase an HD camera makes a lot more sense than Daniel’s. Ryan plans on shooting indefinitely, which is something you can’t do, with say, a rental camera.
However, knowing that he’s planning on directing and shooting and audio monitoring ALONE, it seems that purchasing an HVX with only four minutes of capable record time allowed would be an unwise choice.
Thusly, along with asking his actors and whatever crew he’ll find to work for free, he’s also going to have to ask all these people to wait around for four minutes of P2 dumping time every time he locks four minutes of footage.
His preliminary solution, in theory, is that he’ll only be saving the best takes and therefore erasing production mistakes as they happen by deleting them from the card immediately. Surely, this is a huge advantage of P2, but Ryan has certainly not thought out the real world constraints this workflow is going to have on his actors.
First off, no scenes longer than, well…four minutes. Sure, if you write your script properly, you can get around that. Second, “Okay, that take #54 was all the way good until the 3:30 mark…Do I spend time dumping this off the card and doing a quick pickup, or erase and hope the amateur actors finally nail the quirky dialogue on take #55? Hmmmm?” Lastly, I know film crews have done this for decades, (shoot ten minutes and then stop to change mags) but here’s one key difference. Ryan will probably be alone. He’s carrying a tripod, the camera, headphones, a boom pole, and his laptop. He has no budget for shooting permits and will be stealing a lot of locations - on the fly.
Am I saying P2 makes this situation impossible? No. But in Ryan’s case, he’s already reworking his script around P2 constraints. The reality of a no-budget, long-format production with a highly constricted workflow is starting to set it….BUT AT LEAST HE HAS 24P!!!!!
All this, of course, is assuming Ryan’s existing laptop will support a PCMCIA reader (most newer PC laptops motherboards do support PCMCIA readers, but somtimes cheap-o laptop cases my not have a built in slot). If not, Ryan may be able to find an external USB bus powered PCMCIA reader or sell his existing and pickup a different laptop as he hopes to avoid plunking down $1,600 on a P2 Store.
But if his laptop is already P2 ready, after his HVX purchase and upcoming $1000 spend on microphones, Ryan is looking at $3,000 remaining in his budget left over for post equipment, production needs, and people.
At this point, he’s pretty much ruled out having to pay anybody (either cast or crew). Moving on, he thinks he can get all the props, wardrobes, and associated production needs for under $1,000. So, with $2,000 left, he’s looking for an editing solution.
Hmmm…a $2,000 1080 24p editing solution???
Oh yeah, he’s already got a 30″ Dell monitor…..
[...crickets sounds...]
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SOLUTION
Okay, all is not lost for Ryan’s editing needs. Here are his options:
1.) Hire a freelance Indie editor. Earmark $2,000 for a gracious independent editor with his own tricked out FCP bay and schedule times to work on cutting the film together.
2.) Buy a used Dual Core G5 off eBay and hope that it comes magically preloaded with Final Cut Pro version 5.0.4. Hook up Dell monitor, cut film with no reference monitor, using new field headphones, and hope distributor (…if there is a distributor, of course) pays for mastering fees.
3.) Dump all P2 shooting from laptop to external drive (Ryan thinks he can get away with a 300GB drive). Buy two drives and keep one for backup. Complete all shooting of film (while not viewing any of the clips post data transfer), then sell HVX and microphones and buy a Quad Core G5 Edit bay (as listed above) with newly acquired $5-ish-thousand dollars.
What other options did Ryan have?
Ryan, needs equipment for the long-haul of his production, and would like to shoot and edit himself. He wants to acquire in HD, but has ZERO post-production infrastructure in place. If he were starting over, I would recommend he first sell his PC laptop and earmark AT LEAST $4,500 for a MODEST HD ready post setup (such as mentioned before in Daniel’s case, only Ryan already has one of the two monitors needed).
For acquisition, I’d then tell him to either:
A.) Buy an FX1 for $3,500, spend another $1000 on decent mics, find some dedicated friends and talent, and use the remaining $1,500 to help you pull it off by either paying for these people’s time or splurging for other misc. production needs.
Or…
B.) Earmark $2,000 for a HUNGRY, YOUNG, and LOCAL DP who owns an FX1, Z1U, or JVC GY-HD100U and will work for cheap ($100 a day for 20 days of Indie shooting - that guy or gal might be out there….), then take the remaining dough and hope said DP has a HUNGRY, YOUNG and EQUIPMENT OWNING sound friend who’ll work for about the same cash, and use the remaining $2ish grand on remaining crew, talent, and miscellaneous production needs (of which are numerous).
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IN SUMMARY:
The crux these two $10,000 Indies are running into is that they want to own the latest and greatest Prosumer HD cameras and the computers needed to edit their footage in addition to microphones, green screens, dollys, cranes, 35mm adaptors, and tripods along with having enough cash to pay for people, props, and pizza.
As we’ve seen above, owning an HD camera AND a necessary (pro-platform) editing system ALONE is hard to do for $10,000. If you’re starting from scratch (or just above), $10,000 is probably not enough to feed your HD production wants. SD? Sure. But HD production and post-production are going to be a real stretch on $10G’s.
Even if you do manage to pull all the equipment together, you’re still looking at having little to no cash left over for the most important asset of your production…PEOPLE.
Look at it this way. You may have a warehouse full of the most state of the art technology money can buy. Maybe your local camera dealer and rental shop handed you the keys and said “GO NUTS!” Everything you want to make “real images” is in there….BUUUUUTTTTTT….if you’re working alone and asking your friend the burger-flipper to use his expertise on cleaning the grease trap to set up lights, pull focus, and man the crane….you’re still not making a film.
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What else have we learned?
1.) Ambition is required to make in the Indie world. However, said ambition can be DANGEROUS when coupled with the overzealous desire to own a fancy new piece of fun technology. Hey don’t get me wrong, being the proud owner of a shiny new camera is awesome, but if your life’s ambition is riding on the $10,000 hard earned dollars that you saved, UNLESS YOU HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE THAT CAMERA PAY FOR ITSELF, dropping 60-85% of your TOTAL PRODUCTION BUDGET on acquisition may not be the best solution for you.
2.) The Marketing Is Working “Indies! Wide Eyed Dreamers! Come forth! All your desires will come true - if only you purchase this super-ultra-neato MAGIC BOX!” Indies in unison: “Oooooohhhhhhhh! You mean I can PURCHASE a PRODUCT that instantly turns me into SPIKE JONZE?! I want three! Then I’ll be like SPIKE JONZE times INFINITY, or rather, SPIKE JONZE times three!”
Is this an unfair dig? Perhaps. Do I occasionally suffer from “Wide Eyed Syndrome”? Oh, hell yeah. And do some of these MAGIC BOXES do really sweet jobs of helping you realize your dreams? Absolutely. But the key here people, is BALANCE. Think it through. You just slaved away mowing lawns for the last three summers to raise the exact same amount of money you think Kevin Smith, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez, and Wes Anderson each spent on their first strokes of genius. You owe it to yourself to SLOW DOWN and first find THE PEOPLE you need to help you (be it actors or crew), and THEN figure out what TOOLS each of those people need in order to help you best.
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Shameless Plug: And specifically, if you need consulting on your next Indie project, please contact me directly at JOSH AT JOSHOAKHURST.COM, and I’d be happy to help steer you in the right direction so you can find the proper people, equipment, and prices that fit your production style and budget.
As for these two guys, I’m very fortunate to have met them both, and I’m hoping they both can find ways to make their productions work. I wrote previously, that there would be HVX clips to look forward to, and here they are.
After Ryan came to visit me for his initial equipment consultation, here’s my 15 minutes of shooting and 30 minutes of editing attempt at story with the Panasonic HVX 200. Enjoy:
HVX TEST CLIPS
- iPod version [2.8 MB]
- 302p version [26 MB]
***UPDATE: the following two links were taken down because my server was getting hammered. Email if you’d really like to view the higher rez versions***
- 404p version [36 MB]
- 720p version [83 MB]
All the QT versions were encoded using .h264/ “high” compression. I’d say about 50% of the softness you might see is due to the compression, 30% to my newness with the camera, and 20% due to the camera itself. Other than where obvious, I didn’t muck much at all with the color. And BTW, that’s HVX owner Ryan Mayes starring.
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UPDATE: See what Grand Master Ayatollah Mike Curtis Has to Say - Possible MacBookPro DVCPRO HD Editing suggestion (among other musings)?
Among other things, Ajit Anthony Prem writes for DVGuru and also founded a great video resource for all things good and bad posted on the internet called Ticklebooth. Recently, Ajit also started a “community based video podcast site” as an off-shoot of Ticklebooth which he aptly named Squigglebooth.
Now you need a shim. I chose to use some old business cards, but I’ve heard of others using all types of objects about as thick as a CD or DVD.
