Any DV (Digital Video) geeks here? Any notion where I can find them?

[TygrBright]

I need to learn about DV production, fairly quickly.

I'm facing the dilemma of either a) investing a lot of time and a chunk of money into learning to do it myself (and I'm by no means certain that I'd be any good at it-- but also not sure that I HAVE to be 'good' as long as I can get to 'competent,') or b) budgeting and investing a lot of cash into getting professional DV services.

And I don't know enough about it to even make an informed decision about where to start looking!

Is there anyone in the photog forum who can answer a few questions on this, or am I in the wrong place?

If I'm in the wrong place, does anyone have an idea where on DU to put up this shout for help?

hopefully,
Bright

[Celebration]

1. no expert here

I do have a friend that learned reasonably good video editing and production skills by getting a Mac, and then buying into some plan that they had for new owners, allowing them one session of custom tutoring a week. For a hundred bucks they were offering this service. And, we were working on a slideshow at the time, and I felt completely hindered by my PC.

So, if I were faced with this situation, I think I would go to an Apple store and start asking a lot of questions.

Other than that, if nobody answers you here, you might check with Computer Help and Support group, or even the Lounge.

[TygrBright]

2. Thanks for the response!

The idea of getting a dedicated Mac hadn't yet penetrated, but I'll put it on the "decision making factors" list.

appreciatively,
Bright

[BrightKnight]

8. .

[regnaD kciN]

3. I've made some films...

...but that was back in the early part of this decade, so I may not be all that much up on, say, HD video, if that's what you're interested in. But I'll try my best to answer any questions you have.

(BTW, when I started, I invested in a Mac and Final Cut Pro, which was vastly better than anything on the PC at the time. Now, it seems like Adobe Premiere on the PC has much the same feature set as Final Cut Pro, but I haven't used it to do a project, so really can't tell yet.)

[TygrBright]

4. Cool, thanks! Specifically, we are looking at putting up short "talking head" videos...

...as content on a website about addiction treatment. One- to five-minute clips of a person talking as though conversing with the video watcher, answering a question. We would also post them on You Tube as a way to drive traffic to the website.

We are also looking at doing some training videos of the chalk-talk-with-audience variety.

I know we will have to get professional help on the training videos since we will want to do multiple cameras/viewpoints.

But I'm wondering if I can learn to do sufficiently decent quality home-shot stuff for the shorts. And, if so, how much of an investment I would be looking at for a decent camera, lights and/or tripod and/or other equipment, and would I need to invest in something more elaborate than Windows Movie Maker for editing.

I guess I would need to learn the basics of lighting head shots, shooting angles, capturing good audio, and basic editing, and I have no clue where to look. I've checked out a couple of "How to Make a You Tube" sites online, but they seem to assume you've already shot your material and just need help putting it up on the website.

Essentially, it comes down to: Would it be pricier to buy the camera, equipment, software, etc., than to pay someone else to shoot the shorts? And if it would be cost effective, what about the time investment?

(I should state from the start that I am a lousy photographer and won the "worst layout" award when I worked on the school newspaper-- not the most visual person around, but do you have to be, for a simple talking head?)

appreciatively,
Bright

[Johnny Noshoes]

5. Editing software...

check out Pinnacle Studio 12: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Home/

Just checkout a few basic DV camcorders if you don't need anything too elaborate. I have a Canon that shoots pretty decent digital video. Visual Quickstart Guides are good books to pick up that help you learn the software you choose and sometimes they're better than any manual you might get with that software.

If your computer has Firewire capability you can just plug a DV camera into the computer and the editing software you've chosen should see the camera and let you transfer the video. If your computer doesn't have Firewire Pinnacle has a hardware solution for that as well. No I don't work for them but I have been using their software for ages and I like it.

[alfredo]

7. That looks pretty good. How's the learning curve?

[Johnny Noshoes]

10. Not too steep

you could be up and doing some pretty decent work in no time. Its good for creating really nice looking personal video. I've never done anything with it to make money or any "serious projects" but I think it is good enough to do that sort of work.

[alfredo]

11. That's important. If it is too difficult to do even the simplest actions like

Blender, they will give up.

[alfredo]

6. There's Final Cut Express for under $200. That might be all he would

need for simple straight forward talking head videos. I don't know if it has a PC version.

[BrightKnight]

9. 30 and 180 degree rules and traditional continuity techniques...

Film and video editing is a skill that has to be learned.

For anything other than a home movie I would recommend picking up a short book about traditional continuity editing techniques. There are tons of books out for this and they all cover the same well established rules and techniques. As long as you follow the rules and you are not trying to edit a feature film you should be fine.

If equipment is an issue you can always rent editing time at a post production house. Desktop video is cheap enough now that this should not be necessary.