AboutAlessandro Machi Expertise Have experience in both video and film, plus videotape editing, archiving, and remastering. Experienced in live event cinematography plus interviews. Have provided Video Post Production Services for independent film & video productions that have been distributed both nationwide and worldwide. Not too familiar with all the various Hd formats although I did operate an HD B-roll camera for an HD independent feature.
Regional Emmy Winner, also an Emmy Internship Scholarship Winner when I first finished college back in the mid 80's, plus several dozen super-8 filmmaking awards and for video productions as well.
I currently offer YouTube uploading tutoring that includes a critique and technical review as well. If you live in Los Angeles and would like to learn more about this educational service send an email to info at slingshotpro.com
Recently finished cinematography work on the film Dali, Dali, Dali which is now in post production.
Experience 25 years of Film & Video Production & Editing Experience including low budget & quality control. I enjoy filming in Super-8.
Organizations Founded Action! Film and Video Production Club while in College.
Publications www.Opednews.com
Education/Credentials Four Year College Program, was one or two classes short of graduation.
Awards and Honors Regional Emmy Winner, 8 Time Vision Award Winner, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Internship Winner, Film Festival Winner for several different Super-8 Films,
Past/Present Clients Sony Pictures, Prudential Jon Douglas, In Defense of Animals, Humane Society of the United States, Ivy Gullickson
Question QUESTION: Here it goes. I'm 18 and have made a script that i believe will work and already have the casting sorted. The big problem is after i make the film I want to enter it into film festivals such mini dv camcorder to choose, lately been looking at both the Canon Xl2 and the Panasonic AG-DVX100. I will want to make both NTSC and PAL DVDs when the project is finished and obviously want the best film like quality i can afford. But I don't want to film the whole thing and when editing discover I can't make it PAL or NTSC as I want it to get out to as wide an audience as possible. What should I do or be looking at? Thank you in anticipation.
ANSWER: Hello Taras, It sounds like you have already zipped ahead of the actual process of shooting your video and are primarily interested in the editing "workflow" needed to actually complete your movie. Let me just caution you that most independent film and video projects get sunk because of bad, inconsistent, or an incomplete audio track.
The most logical and efficient method towards determining what editing workflow will work best for you is to borrow or rent for a day a video camera that you are considering using for your video movie. Shoot a very short one day project that will basically mimic all the steps that you will need to do for your actual video movie project. Perhaps even attempt to videotape one of the scenes in your video movie, preferably one with both indoor and outdoor location dialogue. (remember to be safe when shooting any scene, always have at least two attentive people on the set above and beyond your crew that are there literally to make sure nobody does anything dangerous or is put in harms way.)
Afterwards go through all the editing workflow steps and see if you can achieve your desired goals. Actually complete your tasks, don't assume anything will actually be completed until you have in your hand what you consider to be the final version of your project. Once you find the editing workflow method that works best on a very short film or video project, you have increased the odds that that production workflow method will also work for you on a longer project.
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QUESTION: Thank you i will do that. Do you have any specific cameras or editing or sound items you think would be best. I was looking at the panasonic AG-DVX100B. If i got a camera do you think i should get a separate shot gun mic and perhaps another way to record everything like a mixer or minidisc ?
Answer I am more familiar with the Panasonic AG-DVX100, the predecessor to the AG-DVX100B. That was considered a fine camera, I think it was one of the best selling professional cameras in the Panasonic line. The microphone on that camera is actually pretty good. More importantly, the camera has XLR inputs so you can actually run audio cable without any significant loss of audio quality. I have heard that the time-code might have breaks at the start of each new camera take and that is might have been "improved" in the B version of the camera. I've heard if one pre-blacks their tapes (record on a new videotape before using it for a shoot ) that that might help with the time-code break issue, however that seems like a waste of the camera's recording head drum if you ask me.
Many times an audio person records the sound themselves and they also send a feed to the camera. Talk about audio cables running everywhere!
There is a certain security in knowing the audio is already synched up to the video at the time of shooting, but having a sound person that is actually recording separate sound and sending a feed to the camera is actually the safest approach but not the easiest. There is no one established sound recording method, that is why I suggest you either rent or use equipment from someone you know for a very short project and complete that project before buying anything.
I'm not educated enough on mini-disc technology to tell you how reliable or good quality they are. I still use high end analog video equipment and I seem to be able to get reliable audio onto the camera videotape with or without a sound person.
Make sure the headphone amplifier is loud enough whichever camera you choose. I still recommend working with someone else and their gear before you decide on the gear you want to purchase. The ability of the editing software to communicate with your camera for importing is critical to the success of your project, although I recommend using an actual videotape deck for importing. It's all about workflow. Learn the workflow that you like by working on someone else's project first and by making a short video yourself. Next do all the tasks that are required even after the edit master is completed, such as making DVD's in either PAL or NTSC and making a videotape master from the time-line, etc...
Besides Panasonic, JVC makes some interesting video equipment and of course there is also Sony.
