Thomas Smet
Veteran
The cell phone suggestion isn't exactly unrealistic either. If you have a smart phone you already have a pretty decent HD video camera. Search Vimeo and Youtube and you will see some pretty impressive stuff shot with an iPhone. Of course it isn't optimal but chances are HD video from an iPhone is going to be a ton better then a video camera that costs $100.00. The beauty of the iPhone is that you already know the video will plug directly into iMovie on your Mac. Heck you can even get iMovie to use on your iPhone to do a rough cut. I think right now you can get an iPhone 4 which is an older model for $99.00 (plus contract fees each month of course). There may even be a few deals to get a slightly older iPhone model for free with a contract.
In fact I just checked Best Buy.
iPhone 4 under ATT contract is free. This will shoot 720p 30p.
iPhone 4S under ATT contract is $99.00. This will shoot 1080p 30p.
There is an app for the iPhone that costs a couple of bucks that adds a bit of functionality for shooting movies. It also forces the phone to shoot in 24p although I'm not sure how well it does that.
What version of iMovie do you have? Slightly older versions don't work with 24p material but the 30p from the phones will be no problem.
Honestly iMovie is a very capable NLE. FCPX is slightly based on it and the basics of editing in FCPX are similar to iMovie. In fact you can import iMovie projects into FCPX. Unless you want to get into really fancy editing iMovie can trim clips and assemble them just as good as any other NLE. The newest version even sort of has multi track audio so you can add sound effects layers. Still no second video track for layering graphics but just use Motion for that stuff.
In fact I just checked Best Buy.
iPhone 4 under ATT contract is free. This will shoot 720p 30p.
iPhone 4S under ATT contract is $99.00. This will shoot 1080p 30p.
There is an app for the iPhone that costs a couple of bucks that adds a bit of functionality for shooting movies. It also forces the phone to shoot in 24p although I'm not sure how well it does that.
What version of iMovie do you have? Slightly older versions don't work with 24p material but the 30p from the phones will be no problem.
Honestly iMovie is a very capable NLE. FCPX is slightly based on it and the basics of editing in FCPX are similar to iMovie. In fact you can import iMovie projects into FCPX. Unless you want to get into really fancy editing iMovie can trim clips and assemble them just as good as any other NLE. The newest version even sort of has multi track audio so you can add sound effects layers. Still no second video track for layering graphics but just use Motion for that stuff.
