NAB - What's your camera wishlist?

Barry_Green said:
It's really tough for the no-budgeteer to understand this, they're so focused on "I can now actually make my movie!" that they don't necessarily stop to analyze the rest of the question, which is: "yeah, I could now make it myself, but should I?" If your idea's so amazingly good that it really has to be made into a movie, then surely you can convince the studio to buy into it, right? And if you can't... well, go indie and convince independent investors that your idea is good enough that it deserves a chance to be made right (with a crew and actors and the support that a production deserves). And if you can't convince the studio, and you can't convince investors, well... maybe that points to the notion that maybe your idea isn't that great after all? (on a fiscal basis, leaving your own desire to create your own work of art aside). And if (fiscally) it's not worth making, you then have two choices: a) go ahead and make it anyway (with the likelihood of torching $10k to $30k that you will never, ever see again) or, b), come up with a better idea that you can get other folks to actually believe in, and then go do it the right way...
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There are also people like myself who see the films they make as resumes. I want everything I produce to be great so I can have a career making films. I'm not looking to "sell" any one film so much as my skill as a filmmaker. Same as the actors who are in my films who want to be noticed. That's why doing it for as little money as possible is really important to me: I don't expect to see financial return on most of the projects I'm working on.
 
To touch some on what Barry wrote, I think there's a lot of people missing an opportunity here. I hope this doesn't sound too Zen, but so few people seem to be in filmmaking to enjoy the process, and get the apple cart in front of the horse. Hence, so you make a movie for no budget that won't ever sell, won't ever get picked up, won't get into festivals, and gets less hits on YouTube than cell phone videos of kittens. So what? If you approached your film as a story you wanted to tell, and made the movie you wanted to make, and had a fun time and learned from it, and you like it, that should be considered a successful achievement I would think.

I think where people get hung up is when they bank everything, or hinge everything, on making their zero-budget film with $15k of credit card debt gear, and hope against all odds they can submit it to the right festival and it will magically get picked up and they'll make a mint. When the odds of that are less likely than winning the lottery. It's compounded when people seem to believe all they need is the next level up of gear and that will be the key to success.

To look at it from another angle. In Steven Covey's mega-bestselling book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, habit #2 is "Begin with the end in mind". If in your mind the end is "win a distribution deal and make a lot of money", I think Barry had the odds on that one clarified. This doesn't mean you should give up on your dreams, but merely adjust your plans. I think this is especially true when looking at business guru Tom Peters three words to success: Fail. Forward. Fast.

I'll stop now before I'm reduced to psychobabble.
 
Yep, that's why I'm making films, for fun. The most I hope for is an entry in the IAC "Triangle Trophy" or perhaps BIAFF. So all I ask of a camera is that it doesn't bite me with unexpected "gotchas".

Others will have higher goals.
 
Kholi said:
>=] I wonder which one. But for sure, NAB is gonna be giggly this year.
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I'm ready for some serious giggle action. I'm shooting with an HMC150 as my A cam. Great camera but lacking in the giggle dept...
 
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I know three really interesting cameras that will be ready to show in time. At least, really interesting to me ... Plus several more.

That's three from three separate manufacturers. Plus many other things. If a fourth one is ready (fourth manufacturer), then it will really knock your socks off.
 
Mitch Gross said:
I know three really interesting cameras that will be ready to show in time. At least, really interesting to me ... Plus several more.

That's three from three separate manufacturers. Plus many other things. If a fourth one is ready (fourth manufacturer), then it will really knock your socks off.
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I hope you'll come back to this thread as they announce the cameras publicly to let us know which ones you were excited about.
 
combatentropy said:
Mitch Gross, please stop Jannardizing.
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Well, I would consider jannardizing to be product jingoism. Mitch Gross isn't hyping anything -- or if he is, it's cameras from several companies, not just one (and certainly not his own). It's true he's playing with you, but not the way Jim Jannard has, who essentially has said, "It's the Second Coming -- but don't be unrealistic." And it's always about Red cameras, or films made with Red cameras.
 
Barry_Green said:
For that? $10,000.
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Panny should then get busy. The longer they wait, the more potential customers they lose. With all the offerings and announcements, lots of jumping ship going on. How long will people wait? I wonder, Barry. You state that Canon is always late or last in the race. I'm starting to think it's actually the other way around. Sure, the F3, FS100, AF100 all hit the scene before the C300. But lets put them on a table and line them up. If Sony soon announces a s35 cam that is internal codec ready in the size or form factor of the C300, which camera set the trend or the future progress? Look out for the Sony F4 and the AF200. If they even slightly mimic the C300 is body size and spec, I would say Canon is first to the game.
I still love my AF100 though. But I lust for that C300.
 
Tzedekh said:
Well, I would consider jannardizing to be product jingoism. Mitch Gross isn't hyping anything -- or if he is, it's cameras from several companies, not just one (and certainly not his own). It's true he's playing with you, but not the way Jim Jannard has, who essentially has said, "It's the Second Coming -- but don't be unrealistic." And it's always about Red cameras, or films made with Red cameras.
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To me, to Jannardize is to announce an announcement. Example:

On March 26, we're going to announce something really special!

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At this point, you are right on the line. It's okay every once in a while. And not only Jannard does it. However, to wholly Jannardize, after you announce the announcement, but before you make the announcement, make a comment every few days about how excited you are about the announcement. For example:

Monday: I'm so excited, I can barely hold it in!
Tuesday: Y'all are really gonna love this!
Wednesday: Squeeeeee!

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Of course, he or you or whoever can say whatever you want . . . and I have every right to find it totally irritating ;)
To paraphrase Thumper's mom, If you don't have something specific to say, don't say anything at all. :)
 
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