[Nea Gogu]

First of all, what lens do you have? Do you really need to make a movie? Sometimes you can make a “movie” from some moving images. You can get very nice pictures even in low light.

You can also use some of those jumbo-flashlights with batteries.

It’s all about imagination and experimenting.

[Nea Gogu]

Just some things i want to add. DSLR cameras are used for broadcast. But you need to keep in mind that this is mainly a commercial product and it’s basically a tradeoff between price and features. It’s not exactly designed for studio use (though some actually use it for this).
About the datarate… please check the video datarate. It’s in the range of 48Mbps. So actually very close to 50Mbps.
Getting back to the image that is not so vivid….

Well, what’s your equipment? If you expect to get professional image using the camera as it comes from the box, well… it’s not going to work. The kit lens is actually there just for a quick start. It’s not really a lens, it’s just designed to show the features of the camera and to show the image stabilization feature that actually works superb (considering that it’s a cheap kit lens). Unfortunately the image the kit lens produce is barely usable for anything serious. T3i + kit lens is more or less equivalent with a point and shoot camera. You will get very nice images but you need good lens for that. Yes, it’s somewhat weird to pay $500 for the camera and another $1500 for the lens. But there are some low cost lens that would produce very good images. I would mention here the Canon 40mm F2.8 (pancake) and the Canon 50mm F1.4. The later is actually sharper than a lot of expensive L lenses. The kit lens is more or less safe to throw away ( provided that that’s not your one and only lens).
Also, you need filters. Don’t bother with UV filters. You need a polarization filter. This will reduce unwanted reflections and will produce more saturated colors. Also, in bright light you need an ND filter. Do not close the aperture !!! Especially not above F8-F11 !!
Why? Because at low apertures you will get a huge amount of refraction that will destroy your image. Just keep the aperture under F8 and you’ll get the best images. If you have too much light, just add an ND filter. You will get best images at large apertures like F2.8 and below. The kit lens only goes to F3.5 and only at the wide end.
Experiment some more and compare the results. You can also rent some lens if you think it might help you.
The T3i is actually a very nice camera. It’s much better than a camcorder. With good lens you can get better results than many more expensive camcorders. Remember that you have a recorder with interchangeable lens. Something that in the past used to cost $10.000+