XplanaZine

Directing a film ain’t easy. But financing one can sometimes be impossible.

While drafting a script and assembling cast, crew, and locations, money is always a question of importance. Epics and blockbusters have been crumpled up and tossed in the trash all over Hollywood because of lack of funding. Even the shortest indi flick can be pricey to pull together.

In spite of this, there are numerous outlets for aspiring filmmakers like me, who are working on a street bum’s salary. Before shooting my own 30-minute mockumentary, I browsed through internet sites like Camcorderinfo.com to compare prices and features, eventually choosing a Digital 8 DCR-TRV 250 video camera for $275. As for lighting and audio equipment, grants and friends covered my remaining production needs.

However, that was just production. Finding a system to organize that footage in post-production editing was equally intimidating, especially when I heard what Hollywood was using.

In 2004, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King grabbed 11 academy awards, including Best Editing. Working with an overall budget of $94,000,000, Peter Jackson and his editing team were able to purchase top of the line editing programs, including AVID Media Composer and AVID UnityMedia Networking to incorporate over 1,500 visual effects throughout their detailed battle and city scenes.

Most of us, however, will never see $94,000,000. If I did I would probably choose the mansion and long line of expensive sports cars over the decision to make a 3 1/2 hour movie about hobbits. No offense Bilbo.

Luckily, exchanging my house for an AVID system was not the only option. While Hollywood and professional filmmakers can afford what is known as “dedicated editors” or systems used only for video editing, “software-based” editing has been accessible to commoners like me since the early 1990’s, thanks to the Video Toaster System for the Amiga computer.

Today, the most established “software-based” editing companies on the market include Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier. filmmaking.net, pricetools.com and bhphotovideo.com each have information on comparative prices and features among these programs, as well links and background for each.

Final Cut and Premier’s competition is bringing prices down at exponential rates and making it possible for someone to make a film without having to hold car wash fundraisers for the next four decades. In addition, these new editing programs are compatible with both Windows and Mac, depending on your preference. Rather than throw around almost $90,000 for the AVID editing system used in King, I could save some money and buy Final Cut Pro Express 2.0 for only $200 on Amazon.com. Others including, Pinnacle Studio Version 8 (pinnaclesys.com) and Broderbund MovieShop Deluxe (broderbund.com) both sell for under $100, while Video Explosion Deluxe sells for under $80.

The differences between AVID and the cheaper “software-based” programs does not seem to be that one has more effects, but rather that the software programs take longer to register or “render” those effects. For instance, if I wanted to spice things up and include a Matrix-like action scene into my movie, I could make the necessary changes, but would need to wait between several minutes and several hours for my computer to process the alterations. Other than this time-consuming factor, most of the software programs are easy to learn and extremely productive. If I had a bit of spare change in my pocket, the more advanced versions of Final Cut and Premier, include High Definition settings and additional effects, yet still do not approach the intimidating prices of the traditional AVID systems.

However, not to be left out, AVID has also created cheaper and more accessible Xpress versions to compete in the “prosumer” market. According to cybercollege.com, AVID also announced that they will provide a free, simpler version to download off their website.

Making movies has never been simple, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Before his Oscar winning success, Jackson filmed short flicks out of his bedroom. Rather than cowering before skyscraping prices or going trigger happy at the ATM, research the market and find what works best for you. Companies are competing for your pleasure so take advantage.