Question: Is the HV20 good enough for indie feature?

[framecut]

I'm thinking of getting myself a couple HV20's and shooting an indie quickie. Also getting a couple Telus35a's to hook up my Nikon lenses. And of course the beachtek adapter to get some decent audio via shotgun/wireless.

So far: Those who used this camera, is it decent enough to run it through some heavy shooting (dramatic feature)?

I'd appreciate some feedback.

Thanks.

[Michael Hackney]

To be honest with you, I really don't see why it wouldn't be good enough for an Indie film. The truth is that content is what matters and it's the story that reaches your audience. You can get one expensive camera or several HV20's and shoot different angles. Plus, with the right lighting and post editing, it can look really great.. I mean look at all the great stuff shot with the DVX100.. and i think this camera is even better, minus the manual controls..

[Mal]

I agree with Michael.

And when using it for your indy, framecut, I'd make use of the HV20's size. Hide the HV20 in the glove box for the shot where the passenger of a car scene reaches in to get the road map (or whatever).

Embrace its size!

:)

[framecut]

To be honest with you, I really don't see why it wouldn't be good enough for an Indie film. The truth is that content is what matters and it's the story that reaches your audience. You can get one expensive camera or several HV20's and shoot different angles. Plus, with the right lighting and post editing, it can look really great.. I mean look at all the great stuff shot with the DVX100.. and i think this camera is even better, minus the manual controls..

Thanks for the info.

I was just wondering if this camera was good enough to handle the rigors
of a feature shoot. The DVX-100 is amazing since the controls are very easy to access.

I was just wondering if the HV20 was easy to manually adjust/tweak on the fly.

[framecut]

I agree with Michael.

And when using it for your indy, framecut, I'd make use of the HV20's size. Hide the HV20 in the glove box for the shot where the passenger of a car scene reaches in to get the road map (or whatever).

Also the weight of the camera is what intrigued me. I could easily
tack it onto a makeshift jib and swing it all over the place without having
to worry about it's weight overcompensating.

Even the DVX-100 would be too heavy/large for some of the more
crazier shots.

I just like the HV20 for it's 'smash and grab' aspect.


Embrace its size!

:)

That's what I tell the ladies... :hv20-smilie29:

[Mark Dog2]

i agree i have yet to get a HV20 but i am an owner of a dvx100b and from the footage ive seen it much better then the dvx100 cause it higer resloution and it HD instead sd the only thing bad about the HV20 as of know is that it hard to do the 24p pulldown know with out going through a bunch processes as no editing software on market does the pulldown as of yet put image wise its outstanding for the price you can get like 3 of them and do a multi camera shoot for the price a dvx100 would cost and you get HDV on top of it, what kid feature are you think of shooting framecut ?????????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

[framecut]

i agree i have yet to get a HV20 but i am an owner of a dvx100b and from the footage ive seen it much better then the dvx100 cause it higer resloution and it HD instead sd the only thing bad about the HV20 as of know is that it hard to do the 24p pulldown know with out going through a bunch processes as no editing software on market does the pulldown as of yet put image wise its outstanding for the price you can get like 3 of them and do a multi camera shoot for the price a dvx100 would cost and you get HDV on top of it,

Back in February on a whim: I shot a quickie short film in 12 hours. It was 11 minutes in length after it was complete (5 hours of raw footage was shot in total). I shot it with two DVX-100's and basically realized that it's the two-camera process which really helped me get the coverage/speed I needed.

Sometimes I was shooting so fast I'd grab the nearest DVX-100 next to me and just keep shooting.

End Result? Everyone who saw the film really liked it and were surprised when I told them I shot it in a day.

I love my DVX-100, but the HV20/1080p/24p allure basically would mean that if I shot a feature film using these cams (HV20), I could theorhetically screen it at film fests without much degradation as you would get with SD footage.

Also: I know there will be a growing call for distributors to start selling straight-to Blu-Ray/HD-DVD movies.

So again...strike 2/3 for the DVX-100.

Shoting with the HV20 or an HD format basically would render it 'future-proofed' as every camera salesman nowadays seem to use as a selling point (which is a valid one).


what kid feature are you think of shooting framecut ?????????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

Basically what is guaranteed to sell: Horror

I shot a short film in one day and got 11 minutes of end content. So I figure...if I shoot for two weeks, I would theorhetically have 154 minutes of watchable content (70 hours of raw footage) that I could edit down to a super-tight 80-90 minute film.

Most horror films suffer from endless padding/boring pacing. A two-three camera shoot could speed up the edits, make it go faster and enable me to work in more plots/storylines and thus make it more engrossing. I also opted to use wireless lavaliers so I would have to worry about boom poles, didn't bother slating, etc. Also, we shot in some crazy environments which would of been impossible to shoot had I of had a crew.

It was shot with just me and a second DVX-100 operator. That's it.

I was going to edit/post the entire thing so that made it a cinch to cut/finish.

I don't subscribe to the notion that the script is king!

I believe there are a lot of well-written but HORRIBLY EXECUTED films made. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a good example. It actually had a really good story concept and even some stellar scenes...but the directing/editing/cinematography killed it.

Had the story was given to a better director (Nicholas Meyer?) the film could of been a classic. In many respects, Star Trek V is the closest to the original series (but this is an HV20 forum and not a Trekker's geek-fest!)

[sp8ce07]

Let's see the video!