I want make a show?

Question

Im only 15 and my friends 17. I'm going to get a camera, I'm going to make a greenscreen with like cloth or something, and I'm using a lot of my friends. The show is going to be a stupid comedy show like Tim and Eric. There is no real plot or anything. Theres gonna be alot of improvisation. I'm going to first release a few episodes on Youtube and if people like it, i might make a website for it and let people buy and download them from there. I'm going to make it really low budget. So.. now I have a few questions:

1.)What is the best camcorder I can get that has good quality and can work well with a green screen that is under $300?

2.) can cloth make a good greenscreen?

3.) How do you put an image or video on to the greenscreen after the recordings done?

4.) Should we get microphones so our voice can sound clearer?

Any more additional tips can really help. thank you. And if anyone wants me to send them a few episodes after we're done recording them, tell me :)

Answer 1

Sounds like fun! I'm currently in the process of writing my own movie, and I'm going to be doing the same thing as you -- casting my friends and just having fun with it. Because your movie will probably generate little to no profit, you probably want to keep costs down.

1) What is the best camcorder I can get that has good quality and can work well with a green screen that is under $300?

Any digital camera will work. Try out a few in the store and see which you like best. Buy the camera that produces the best quality image for your budget. I think any camera would work with a green screen (I've even used a webcam before).

Or, if you know someone with a camera, ask them if you could borrow it.

2.) Can cloth make a good greenscreen?

Yes, cloth is a good choice. Put it on a wood frame to stretch it out so there's no wrinkles. You don't want to sew two pieces of fabric together -- this will create a line where the seam is, ruining your replacing image. Make sure the cloth isn't shiny or any kind of crushed fabric. Polyester would be a good choice, I think.

3.) How do you put an image or video on to the greenscreen after the recordings done?

Use a green screen program. As someone already said, you can get free software. I bought a green screen program...can't remember what it was called. But it wasn't too expensive and it worked well. Don't splurge and get expensive software -- cheap stuff will basically do the same thing, maybe with less features.

Try some free software online and if none work well for you, buy some inexpensive software.

4.) Should we get microphones so our voice can sound clearer?

YES, YES, YES!!! If you're serious about selling videos, you NEED good sound quality. Never underestimate the power of good sound quality. Even if your image quality isn't great, your sound quality will help cover up that fact.

I have a karaoke machine that records, so I use that for my movies. The sound quality is pretty good, and it definitely improves my movies. The karaoke machine was around $100, but you might be able to find something cheaper.

Okay, additional tips...HAVE FUN WITH IT. Feel free to joke around on set, but lay down the law when need be. Don't be the grump that nobody wants to work for, but don't be "the director who never gets anything done" either.

Sometimes it pays to pay more, but sometimes you can get the same quality for a lower price. Use your discretion. Don't buy a $30 camcorder that's going to break within the first hour, not hold battery power, or be incompatible with your computer. $30 spent on something worthless is a waste.

Give credit where credit is due. Keep a list of everyone involved -- actors, editor, your grandma who donated money for your project, etc. Everyone likes to see their name listed in the credits, so include all those who helped you in any way.

Don't get discouraged by people who say stupid things about your movie. If you have fun making it, that's what counts. Also, don't give up if your movie doesn't turn out how you thought it would!

That's all I can think of right now. I'll be sure to edit if I think of anything else. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

As far as comcorders, I'm not really sure, that's not my big field of expertise. However, I could answer some of those questions.

Cloth can make a fabulous green screen, just make sure it is free of wrinkles, ripples, and is clean. This will mkae your life much easier.

You can put an image around the greenscreen using (generally) any sort of video editing software--I prefer Adobe Premier (for that record, it costs money. I would recommend getting something free, just google it).

    The process for doing so is fairly simple. The just cut you and your freinds out of the greenscreen image (the editor should have some sort of magnetic selection tool that will automatically select the entire green field, just delete that (the only problem with this is is you are wearing any remotely green clothing, it will select that too). Then, just drag you and your freind onto the desired background.

As far as microphones go, It depends how close to the camera you will be. If you are, say, 1-2 feet away, microphones will just get in the way. However, unless you have a camcorder with a good directional mic, the sound quality will start getting kind of sketchy at 7-8 feet, so I'd recommend using microphones at that range. That is, if you want it to sound as professional as possible.

Answer 3

I have a show on youtube, I have a High Def camera, it costs $7,000, and we have a REAL greenscreen, and lighting. We have after effects CS3, we have Final cut pro and apple studio pro, also we have all andrew cramer products. We have Compositle lab pro and Affects lab pro. We also have Animation Master.

Overall cost: $47,350

that's how much we spent on all of that!