What would be a good camcorder to shoot a movie or music video?

Question

1: im looking for something that doesnt cost too much

2: I want to shoot a movie, is there any advice that i need to start?

3: What would be important things i need?

4: What is a rough cost of everything?

Answer 1

I'm a filmmaker, and you're asking a HUGE question, that is unanswerable with the scant info you've given here.

But I'll give you a few hints.  PM me if you want more advice, I have LOTS to give!

If you want it to seriously compete on the market, or even get into most film festivals, and certainly if you hope to get it distributed, then you almost certainly have to shoot it on film.

Digital is NOT magic, it's still video, and there is a reason that 99.999% of professional films are still shot on FILM, and it's a myth that they're mostly shot digitally.

Just not true.

Go to www.imdb.com, type in a bunch of your favorite movies, then look on the left where it says "technical specs" and you can see for yourself what format they were shot on.

You will be hard pressed to find anything not shot on film.

Anyway, if you are doing it just for a learning experience, for your own enjoyment, etc., then that's different. By all means, shoot on video.

You have to determine how much money you have to spend, and start working your way down the list of cameras you can afford.

(Don't forget, there is a LOT of other things you need, or need access to, like lights, editing software, etc. And making films is EXPENSIVE. Just the food budget alone can cost more than your camera, if you're shooting a feature.)

Anyway, go to www.bhphotovideo.com

They sell pretty much all the consumer and pro-sumer video gear there.

I would shoot HD if you can afford it, but be aware, the HD cameras you're buying for under $4,000 or whatever, do NOT have the same quality as HD movies you've seen, shot on $150,000+ cameras.

Big difference.