Xixax Film Forum

A friend who's about to direct his first mini-DV feature (I co-wrote his script) just bought a nice package. He got a Panasonic GVX100a, a dolly with 15 ft. of track, and a Cobra Crane. I set up the camera and 10 ft. of track and spontaneously filmed during a production meeting. I lit it like Storaro. Came out beautiful. The GVX100a is the shit. Images are so crisp. This is what's gonna separate DV filmmakers now -- the quality of your gear. (A good script helps...) His movie is going to look like a real movie, not just some grab the video camera and go type thing. We can dolly, and boom up to 8 ft. high with the crane.

Point is: if you've got $20,000 for a feature, it's probably worth your money to bust $5000 on equipment. Afterward you can rent it out. You'll be like a mini production company.

Thanks for the info.  I'm thinking of looking into doing something like this for myself over the summer.  How much did the other stuff (besides the camera) run him, and where did you buy it from?  I guess more importantly is, where's the best place to buy this stuff from for a good deal?

Camera from B & H. Everything else from www.promax.com

B & H?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com:80/bnh/controller/home/