Anything I'm forgetting?
 

I have just bought a JVC GR-PD1.

The bundled NLE is described in the manual as simple but strong.

I hadn't planned on going too far in terms of cutting on my own system but since installing the software and capturing, messing around a bit, am inspired to change my mind. It seems to work very smoothly, holding the imported material at 100%...

I have a Dell Dimension 8250, Proccessor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz; Processor Speed 2.59 GHz; Memory (RAM) 768 MB. It has an ATI Radeon 128MB Graphics Card and also two ultrascan screens (for an unrelated different reason) - one 21" and the other 14" - so I've set up an extended desktop over the last few days. DVD Burner also.

I have ordered a Matrox 250GB external firewire hard drive which should arrive in a day or two.

Anything I'm forgetting? I haven't done this before (digital cutting at home) and I'm wondering what's going to go wrong!

Thanks.

Graham

YOu have more than enough to get started. I'd not buy anything more until you start reaching limits. Then start to evaluate where you might go. But if you are doing this as a casual hobby, you may have all you ever need.

It's my second feature. My first was shot on S16 and blown up to 35mm. This time I plan to shoot PS25 on the PD1 - having been advised by Cinesite that I can go straight from a firewire hardrive to 35mm.

Just didn't expect to be able to cut at home! So far so good...

Having said that, I am open to potential complications (i.e. needing to add more equipment at home) and will do the sound mix at a film post house AFTER having created the 35mm neg.

I was buying the HD10 for a long time, but reneged at the last minute and bought the PD1 (it's European cousin?) simply because the HD10 didn't do PS25 - just PS30 which wouldn't be as nice for a 35mm transfer.

It's amazing what you can do these days with a digital cam and PC.

If anyone else had any thoughts, let me know.

Thanks again.

<<<-- Originally posted by Graham Jones Senior : It's my second feature. My first was shot on S16 and blown up to 35mm. This time I plan to shoot PS25 on the PD1 - having been advised by Cinesite that I can go straight from a firewire hardrive to 35mm.

If anyone else had any thoughts, let me know.

Thanks again. -->>>

I suppose that with enough money you can go from a firewire drive to 35mm film. I don't know what the going cost for that is now but the last time I talked with someone who did that, they had just finished "Gengis Blues" and had to create a 35mm print for Sundance. The bill was $35,000.

Yeah, I'm aware of the costs.

One of the other gotcha's might be the software you received with the camera. You didn't say which package you have but some of the less expensive products may not be able to handle a feature-length production.

Given the cost of the entire production, you might want to consider something a bit more robust when dealing with a project of the size you describe.

Furthermore, you want to be cognizant of how the NLE handles your footage. Some products insist on re-rendering all footage. This can only degrade the quality of your original footage.

Were I wanting to see my work on the BIG screen, I'd find a NLE that only decompressed, rendered & recompressed bits that I change in some manner like a dissolve or a title or whatever. I'd also want the very best CODEC I could find to do the task.

On the surface, your computer seems to have the capability to handle a feature-length film. You may or may not have enough drive capacity as space is consumed at prodigidous rates (for me at least) when working on long-form projects. I figure on 4-5X the storage space required to hold the finished project. And that is on a very tight shooting ratio of around 1.5 or 2 to 1. Of course I capture all the footage and make decisions on the timeline.

'Were I wanting to see my work on the BIG screen, I'd find a NLE that only decompressed, rendered & recompressed bits that I change in some manner like a dissolve or a title or whatever. I'd also want the very best CODEC I could find to do the task.'


- that's really helpful, thanks.

Why would you want to shoot with a PD1 when you are going to film output since you've done S16 to 35 already then you have the experience and you know the cost of video to film transfer?

Versatility of videography rather than cinematography in relation to fundamental nature of shoot, coupled with advances in video-film transfer at places like Cinesite in recent years - mean we can achieve what we want to far more effectively this way.

But that doesn't make sense either. Shooting in S16 and making a digital intermediate gives you the same flexibility with better original material and the same cost than shooting with video, an inferior image to start, and trying to make that look good on film for the same cost or more.

'Shooting in S16 and making a digital intermediate gives you the same flexibility'

incorrect - we're shooting in Tokyo and have to run around a lot