i’m making a documentary of my senior year, whats a good camcorder to buy?

August 18, 2010 by: nickadmin

its gonna be for next year, and i wanted to document my senior year and make a movie out of it almost. i just wanted to know if you knew of any good camcorders for this.
would it be better to buy a profesional hand held camcorder, or should i not spend all of my money on that, and just a get a regular camcorder?

thanks

and also what are the neccesary accessories that i should get?

(i’m definetly going to be using the camera that i get to make a lot more movies.)

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Comments

One Response to “i’m making a documentary of my senior year, whats a good camcorder to buy?”
  1. Mandy says:
    August 18, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    I’m going to answer parts of your question so you’ll understand what to look for in a camera and for your project.

    You will need a sturdy tripod and a head that pans very smooth for it. A good tripod and good fluid head can cost almost as much as a camera. In your case, just don’t skimp and end up buying a cheap one. It doesn’t take much for a camera to shake or to see a poorly done pan if the head isn’t smooth.

    Make sure your camera has an external microphone jack (some don’t). Get a good mic too. You may be able to borrow a mic from someone or even the school. The mic on a camcorder is not ideal for overall good audio, especially voice like you’ll be doing.

    You’ll want a video editing program so that you can create your project with music, photo stills, video, and even graphics, etc. The software that comes with cameras and many of the free programs like MovieMaker, etc., don’t have many of the extra features that you’ll want. Two suggestions, Adobe Premiere Elements 8 and Sony Vegas Movie Studio. They cost less than $100. Be sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements. Most consumer camcorders shoot high definition (HD) and it can be difficult for many computers to handle HD files.

    Make sure you use proper lighting and use the camera’s settings to balance the light. You don’t want a yellowish dimly lit video.