Digital video, or DV as it's commonly known, is like a magic passport to get your movie made cheap. Basically, it's an outstanding video format that records both picture and sound as a series of 1's and 0's, as opposed to analog camcorders (all your basic home cam-corders) that record picture and sound in a much inferior manner.

Since DV records 1's and 0's that represent the picture and sound, the tape works almost like a mathmatic equation, allowing you to make copy after copy with virtually NO QUALITY LOSS. Try coming up with results like that editing between two vcr's! Plus, many DV camcorders are three chip (there are three seperate chips in the camera, one for red, one for green, and one for blue) giving results that many say meet or beat entry-level beta-cam. (Beta and Digi-Beta are considered the high-grade standards in the professional video world.) The Canon XL1, which we rent out, is one such DV camera.

Most DV camcorders also record 16bit digital sound, which is CD quality. So not only are you getting incredible picture quality, your sound is top notch. With proper lighting and micing techniques, along with solid planning, your results are nothing short of professional.

Yeah, But It's Video, Not Film...

Ah, ye of little faith. Digital Video has one truly wonderful property--it film-looks very well! Basically, using certain services and computer processes, ranging from way-too expensive to very affordable you can take your video and make it look like film. Is it as nice as shooting a million dollar 35mm picture? Not quite. Does it look enough like film to fool top cinematographers? In many cases, YES!!! See our Making Video Look Like Film tips page to help give yourself the best results.

Can You Blow It Up To Film?

You Betcha'! DV, especially three chip DV cameras such as the Canon XL1, blow up very well to film. Basically, you shoot your feature, you edit it, and then, if you like it enough, you blow it up for the big screen. The huge benefit is that you shoot your feature and finish it very cheaply before deciding to put it on film. If you're not happy with the finished project, which you've probably spent less than $2,000 on, so what? You finished a movie. Go make another one and learn from your mistakes. If, on the other hand, you have the next "Blair Witch" on your hands, for $4,000 to $70,000 you can get a 16mm or 35mm print made to take to festivals, etc.--but at least you get to see the movie BEFORE you spend the big bucks.

CONSIDER THIS:

60 minutes of DV tape: $5

60 minutes of 16mm rawstock: $900
(this before process and transfer.)

Hmmmm.