HELP for a student director

[Don Armageddon]

I'm not planning on making my own films just yet, but I am soon going to apply to several film schools, both home in America and here in the UK. Because of the prohibitive cost of celluloid, I'm planning on shooting my first films digitally with microDV camcorders. The inherent problem with these cameras is that they shoot at a speed of 30fps, and as any film person knows traditional movies (that lack that "home movie" feel) are shot at 24 fps. Do any of you guys know of any software that can help me convert video clips from one frame rate to another?

[reki]

ok don, this is what i do for a living, so if you need help when you get to post stage, give me a hoi.

frame rate conversion will not help you - its in the shooting stage where this needs to be done. Television NTSC standard in the US (29.97 fps or 30 fps drop frame) is what it will be screened at, so if you convert it it wont make any difference. i have some processes you can use, however, in order to make your MiniDV (heh.. not micro) look like film.

first things first, however - what system will you be editing on?

[Don Armageddon]

I'll be editing it on a PC, but haven't bought software yet.

[reki]

k well editing video on your computer isnt like editing still images. DV is recorded onto the tape at a compression rate of 5:1 - which, when applied to video translated through the RGB process (at 18.6 MB/second) ends up at around 3.6 MB/sec, or just under 5 mins worth of rushes per 1 GB of storage. this means you'll need about 12 GB storage per hr of rushes. your drives will need to be at least 7200RPM drives to cope with those data rates as well.

you'll need a firewire card for your pc to capture the footage - you can usually buy them packaged with software, & one of the cheapest packages you can get is something like DV Raptor (http://www.canopuscorp.com/ppm_dvraptorrt.htm), which will still set you back about US$600. it comes with Adobe Premiere, which is ok for someone starting out. setting your computer up to edit video is not cheap - this is still very much working at a consumer level. some of the systems at work are running up into the $50k + range for a professional level output. dont be fooled by the cheap $100 capture cards that you might find looking about the web. most of these cards will capture directly into mpeg1 or use some other codec designed for sending short clips over the web or for powerpoint projects etc. the software coupled with these cards is usually next to useless stuff designed for mixing together the odd home video taken at disneyland last summer. think of the difference between ms paint and photoshop.

if you want to be able to output your video at a reasonable looking quality, you'll have to spend a bit of money. unfortunately, there arent any shortcuts you can really take here. if you have access to some school system or something you can hire, then it will make your job alot easier. if you manage to work out what you'll end up cutting on, i can help you with some tips on how to make it look a bit nicer than the cold, washed out dv look. if you've never done it before, try to do a short course or something - you're gonna need it.

good luck.

[HunterX]

Well if you're applying to film schools, the two i would recommend are NYU Film and School of Visual Arts, they are among, if not, the best film schools in the country.