Camcorder and Trainee Reporter

I'm looking at a buying a camcorder for conducting interviews [1].

It's been suggested that I get a Canon FS100 - opinions?

What's quite funny, the microphones cost almost as much as the camera!
(AKG D230 Reporters microphone)

Any other opinions? Veggie Dave, what do you suggest?



[1] This kind of thing

 

What is the final use? Are you thinking of taking it further, into full
broadcast work?

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

Well it's got the right badge on for a start.

I have the HS11 (I think) and it's great.

 

Ooh, when was that? I hope I didn't miss one, out here in the
Swiss marches. (I see iPlayer finally has the HD version of last
Saturday's Defying Gravity -- it can wait until I get home now as I'n
fraffly busy tomorrow.)

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Nothing more than internal use - YouTube, DVD, projection at a "team"
meeting etc.

What would you suggest as a Windows editing package?

 

Me too but I gave up after the first double bill. I thought the BBC
had dumped it from the schedule, which I think happened to it in the
US, but looks like they just pushed it to a late night slot?

Something almost happened in Flash Forward recently but by the next
week they all seemed to have forgotten it.

 

the book is much better.

 

Yes, though don't expect it to be *anything* like the TV series, other
than the initial concept (though in the book the flashforward is to

Most of Robert Sawyer's output is worth reading, actually. Ignore any
comparisons you might see to Michael Crichton - these crop up from
time to time, and for the life of me I can't see why.

 

[...]

Because mainstream critics don't know anything about SF and Crichton is
the closest they can get?

And "Flashforward" the book is quite good. There are even two protagonists
with similar names to ones used in TV series, which is where all
similarities
end. I'd also recommend Illegal Alien, the Neanderthal Parallax series
and
The Terminal Experiment.

 

yup - all of those + "Rollback".

 

It would depend on who's paying for the camera, how important the
quality is and how much control you want of what you film.

If you look at the vast majority of filmed interviews (or almost
anything professionally shot), including the clip you mentioned, you'll
see that the interviewee isn't central in the image. If you have a
camera that doesn't have a manual focus option then this sort of shot is
almost impossible. Being so limited in image composition is always going
to make the final footage look amateurish. You have to decide if the
extra cost of getting a camera that also has manual focus is worth the
expense.

As you've already realised, a mic input is also mandatory. You can get
mini-jack to XLR cables, which is handy, but you also need to be able to
monitor the sound coming into the camera with both audio meters and
headphones. A proper mic for this purpose is extremely expensive. You
want to use either a lapel (lavalier) mic or a shotgun mic (people like
the BBC use a shotgun mic, with a windshield and pistol grip). [1]

A lapel mic is probably the cheapest solution. Don't under-estimate the
need for good audio. Without it you've got nothing to edit, no matter
how good the images might be.

Because you'll want at least some sort of professional-level control,
Vegas Movie Studio is definitely the one to go for. Very easy to get
started, but very powerful once you get into it, without being
expensive.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiohd

[1] http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/Microphone Accessories.htm#PG2

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

They didn't make him look especially intelligent, did they?

I'm pesevering in the hopes that we'll at least find out what
"bayter" is by Ep.13. Besides, it can't be as bad as Doctor Who, with
explosion debris burning in Mars's thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere!

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Dr Ivan D. Reid

Well now...

 

Not seen it yet - who was the chair? I assume they relied on tired "I'm
alright Jack" gags and late train jokes or did he rant?

 

Chair: Alexander Armstrong

There were two issues. Firstly, Crow tried to belittle Hislop on several
occasions, failing miserably. Secondly, Crow's teammate, Merton, didn't
interact with him at all. In fact Merton stayed very quiet which made the
whole show dull. Especially as the second guest panellist was the unfunny
Jimmy Carr and the show was padded out with Hislop's ranting.