Me and a few friends are looking to film and produce short comedy skits. I was wondering if one of you had a set list of all the equipment I would need to make it look professional.
Theyre Driving an 84'.........sheep dog
The first question is:
What is your budget?
That will determine everything else.
Never go with a hippy to a second location.
Not much of a budget. Thats what I need to figure out is how much money do we need to raise to make the videos look legit
Theyre Driving an 84'.........sheep dog
Well, what type of comedy skit show are you thinking about? Will it be like SNL and you need stage space (you need to see how much stages rent for in your area), or will it be outside (you need to find out what the permit costs are in your area)?
The thing that makes projects look "legit" are the lighting, camerawork and the sound.
The simplest thing you can do is start looking for people in your area that are "owner/operators". That is somebody who owns their own camera and probably also has owns or has access to grip and electric gear. Find out what their rate is and see what you can work out.
The reality of it is that if none of you have ever shot or lit something before, even if you bought the best camera around and got the best lighting package available, you wouldn't have the skill to make it look "legit".
But you can simply grab an inexpensive camera that has some decent sound capability and make a couple of skits to shop around. Take a look at the special features on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 1 & 2. They have a couple of their original demo skits which they used to pitch the show. They look like crap, but the writing was solid enough to get them a meeting.
Sorry I can't give you a solid number, but since I don't know where you live I can't give you any numbers that mean anything. Location can dictate price for gear.
Never go with a hippy to a second location.
Wow that was actually really helpful thank you. Wasn't expecting good advice from IMDB not gonna lie
Theyre Driving an 84'.........sheep dog
Personally I'm a sound guy.
Make sure you have superb audio. It's been said before and I'll say it again. Audiences can forgive bad picture, they can't forgive bad sound.
Whatever camera you get, make sure it has an audio input for an external mic. My recommendation would be the Rode Videomic. It goes for around 150 at B&H. I think there's a booming kit available from B&H for like 170. Which is a great deal.
I know that the Kodak Zi8 has audio input. I believe the quality is better than the Flip.
A lot of the Canon Vixias have audio input. I got myself the HF R10 for 500 and it's decent. Not superb, but decent (I know have the VG10 which cost me a whopping 2100). When I was shopping around I would've bought the T2i (although now, maybe the T3i) It's a DSLR and I've seen some amazing stuff done with it. They cost about 900. I would suggest getting it from ebay with a kit. Y'know with the extra battery, filters, an sd card, maybe another lens.
Make sure you also invest in a decent tripod. Stuff like that can be a big help.
A set of lights from Home Depot could help.
I built a shoulder rig from pvc and a piece of scrap board. Completely worth it.
But also, polish your editing skills. You could have the best footage, sound, actors, directing. But if you're editing is sh i t. Then it's all worthless.
That's all from me. I hope I helped.
"No Dream Is Ever Just A Dream"