Building The Perfect Studio

Desktop video and independent filmmaking has finally hit home. With technology becoming less exclusive and more affordable, almost anyone with a few dollars and a dream can make a film. So, what would you need to put together a film studio? Well, in this article we’ll answer that question and give you two simple layouts for your own film studio, an inexpensive studio and a moderately priced studio. Please note that in both cases we do not go overboard or incredibly high tech with our recommendations, but instead offer two scenarios for a reasonably priced setup.

In these example we also assume you already have a fairly good computer. Either a Pentium II or PowerMac G3 or higher system with some decent disk space and RAM will do the trick. More specifically though, you should make note of the amount of RAM and free disk space available. Making a film on your system requires resources and we recommend you have at the bare minimum 64 MB of RAM and at least 1GB of free disk space. Please watch disk space! This is your real enemy, to make a film of any length, 20 minutes or more, you should have 2 GB of free space. Disk drives are cheap now and easily installed, so adding an extra 40 GB drive will cost you very little.

This scenario is the most basic setup to have for a movie facility. You only need five essential pieces to add movie making capability to your existing computer: a video camera, a video capture board, video editing software, image editing software, and sound editing software.

1. Video camera: For the inexpensive example, if you don’t already have a camera, we will assume you will buy a HI8, 8MM, or VHS-C format camera. All come from a variety of manufacturers and are very reasonable in price. Prices for a good video camera in one of the above formats range from $300 to $500. An 8MM Sony Camcorder will do nicely for our inexpensive scenario. Make sure that the camera you are using has composite and s-video out, this allows you to export your videos to your computer system.
2. Video capture board: This piece goes into your computer and allows you to plug your video source into your computer and capture your video. If one isn’t already built into your computer (look for RCA or S-Video jacks in back), we recommend purchasing the Pinnacle Studio PCTV if you have a PC, or the Formac ProTV for Macintosh users. This board is a good entry level capture card and television tuner that only weighs in at around $50 and $99, respectively.
3. Video editing software: This software allows you to cut and paste different video clips together, add transitions, and add effects. We recommend Ulead Video Maker ($100) for the PC or Apple’s Quicktime Pro ($30). The software is easy to use and will allow you to do most video editing and is a good value.
4. Image editing software: This allows you to make title plates and manipulate images that can be added to films. Adobe PhotoShop LE is a sure thing and the industry standard at about $100.
5. Sound editing software: In this example we must go with Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge XP for the PC. For Macs, use BIAS Peak LE. Sound Forge XP adds on about $50 to our budget and BIAS Peak comes in around $80, but are worth every penny. There you have it, a bare bones movie studio on a shoestring budget.

Our second scenario is a moderately priced studio, again assuming you have a half decent base computer system already. This example is a bit more expensive but offers a richer working environment.

1. The Camera: In this example we will upgrade our camera to a Mini DV camera. This new format is what’s taking the place of most of the current formats and is offered by most manufacture’s already. With Mini DV you get a much sharper image than other vide camera’s and expanded features such as video snapshots. In this example we recommend the Canon Elura. This camera is compact and powerful offering excellent picture quality, excellent sound, and ease of use. While older cameras connected to televisions and capture cards using s-video or composite video outputs, the new Mini DV format uses the digital format FireWire/IEEE 1394/iLink. You will need to keep this in mind when purchasing your capture card. The Canon Elura, while a state of the art Mini DV camera, comes with a very reasonable price tag: only about $1300.00. This is a bit more expensive, but the differences are extreme and you should be very happy with this camera.
2. The capture card: If you don’t already have a computer with a Firewire port (such as the Macintosh G4, iMac, Powerbook, or Sony Vaio) you’ll need to purchase a Firewire card. For the PC we return again to Pinnacle systems, makers of excellent video capture systems. The Pinnacle Studio DV is an excellent DV FireWire capture card that combines ease of use and excellent quality. The studio DV will only set you back about $100. For older Macintosh PCI systems, you may purchase the Western Digital 1394 PCI card for $80 and use iMovie (a free download from apple.com) to capture your video and control your DV camera.
3. Video editing software: For this upgraded example we will go with the bad boys at Adobe systems to provide us with our video editing software. Perhaps the best video editing software available at this price point is Adobe Premier. Yes, a price of about $600 is steep, but this feature rich application will allow you to do almost any type of video editing. Also, it’s intuitive interface is not difficult to learn.
4. Image editing software: We will stick with our friends at Adobe System to provide us with our image editing software as well. Adobe PhotoShop is one of the best image editing packages out there and we will add it to our shopping list for this scenario. The cost of PhotoShop is $600, but again, Adobe products are excellent and world-renowned.
5. Audio editing/production software: For the PC we have another returning visitor for our audio editing software, Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge. With our upgraded example we recommend Sound Forge Professional. Sound Forge Professional is a little more expensive, costing $300, but will provide you with just about the best Windows audio editing environment available. For the Mac, Mark of the Unicorn’s Performer ($300) also allows MIDI sequencing as well as audio editing for your video.

As you can see there is a wide range of products available and at many different budgets. You can mix and match in most cases, and even opt for higher priced items. All of the items in these in these examples are based on our own opinions and prices and versions may vary when you purchase your system. You may also need a few extras such as lights and microphones, but you can deal with those on an as needed basis. Enjoy making films and we look forward to seeing your work.