[Tunnell Mill]

Thanks so much for writing! You are exactly the type person I’m looking to speak to! Let me ask, so as not to irritate some of the frequent visitors to this message board if you and I can exchange e-mails in private? I’ve been told to research all the archives for the answers to my most general questions, but in most cases, the answers found are more advanced than I need at this point, yet some folks are almost offended when i write just general questions and clutter up the message boards with relatively “basic” amateur questions. after all, how is one expected to learn HD if they’ve never shot it before? i appreciate your kindness and have a whole slew of questions i’d like to ask. we have not purchased an HD camera yet, so before doing so, i’d like to speak to someone who is patient for a few questions. please respond to me at ( jcoulter@tunnellmill.com). Look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

John Coulter

[Tunnell Mill]

Thanks Leo; so very appreciated.

John

[Tunnell Mill]

Thanks again, Leo, for the response. I will certainly research into the forums and archives, but wanted to get some basic information before I look further. You have provided me with a wealth of knowledge already, I assure you. In response to a few things you mentioned, we do not plan to re-use tapes as we do preserve our originals, so it was more of a technical question than anything. Concerning the lens changing: if all goes well, there will funding to provide a general camera, lens, viewfinder, disk array…things like that. Unfortunately, nowhere near enough to purchase “several” lenses and there won’t be the money there to really rent a wide variety, either, though who wouldn’t want access to several lenses? Yeah, that’d be nice. I guess I’m trying to say that since both of those things are relatively impossible, renting or buying even a couple lenses, I’d have to find something that could serve as a general medium to wide shot and just have to accept that the majority of the film would be shot this way, therefore this raises the question, what is the best lens for my overall shoot as no doubt I will have to be limited with lens choices. Thanks for your help.

[Tunnell Mill]

Actually, I figured as much, and forgot to even mention the Panasonic camera body and viewfinder “only” for the 65 grand tag, which was another way of looking at it. I thank you so much for making the official confirmation, and as mentioned above, find that just typical. I didn’t figure the camera came with any sort of “basic” lens, but I just had no idea. So basically, for the camera body, a lens (I do believe DigiPrime 20 is roughly 40,000) and a viewfinder, one can expect to drop about a hundred grand for those three things only. Sound for me is not a problem as a fellow friend and business will be taking care of all of that and the same goes for dolly, tracks, and all that good stuff. So, in addition to the camera, lens and viewfinder, you recommend a 5-grand LCD monitor to go on the camera, a separate client-monitor for 3-grand. Makes perfect sense. Let me ask you a little more about DVCPRO tapes and post production. When you speak of a disk array, can you give me recommendation on a large, fast one? Also, educate me on this: can the DVCPRO tapes be re-used, for example, like MiniDV tapes? What kinds of tapes would I need to get the most amount of footage on one? Let me set up an example. I’d appreciate more information from you, a general walk-through…

Basically, you go out, shoot the film, light it, etc., just typical production, and shoot it in 24p. What are the next steps? Does the camera output into a Mac G5 with Final Cut HD? Does the footage have to be converted to another format before being digitized into Final Cut? Does the footage really have to be converted into 24fps in order to get the “look” of 24?

I know this all seems elementary. That’s because it really is, honestly. I’ve been cinematographer on all my projects, and have had much success with cameras like the XL2 and the affordable Panasonic 24p cams, but might be on the verge of getting my hands on enough funds to purchase something like above. So, if you don’t mind, just keep filling me in on the basics. I need a teacher in this. And I thank you endlessly for supplying some basic answers. Look forward to hearing from you again.