Filming a small project

[JohnnyJazz]

At the end of the year we will be involved in a construction project. For the people back home I would like to make small movies showing the evolution of our project. The problem is I've absolutely no experience in this matter. So first is there any basic camera (movie) you would recommend for a beginner, easy to handle but that give pictures that look good on let say a 40" TV ?

Also is there any software for beginner for basic editing ?

Thanks in advance

JJ

[sunshine51]

OP.....Ahhhhh....it may be better to hire a professional who has the gear to deliver

a proper finished product that will look good on that big TV. Shooting video isn't

a simple point-n-shoot affair...especially if it's for a corporation with personal

copies for those people involved and...say families etc of those involved plus

others...governments/ministries etc.

PM me if you want & I can point you in the proper direction. However...do the

PM asap as I'm off to Burma for a 45 day assignment on the 12th of this month.

[JohnnyJazz]

OP.....Ahhhhh....it may be better to hire a professional who has the gear to deliver

a proper finished product that will look good on that big TV. Shooting video isn't

a simple point-n-shoot affair...especially if it's for a corporation with personal

copies for those people involved and...say families etc of those involved plus

others...governments/ministries etc.

PM me if you want & I can point you in the proper direction. However...do the

PM asap as I'm off to Burma for a 45 day assignment on the 12th of this month.

It's a family project, I don't have any budget to hire a professional.

I mentioned a 40" TV because it's more comfortable to have the family seating in the living room watching the "report" on the TV rather that standing around a small computer screen in my dad's study.

[sunshine51]

^^^ In that case have a look at either Canon, Panasonic or Sony in their "handycam" range.

Google is your friend. Find a cheap tripod for around a hundred USD to support the little

camera, don't do a lotta zooms (in & out), keep your shots timed....say 20 seconds per

take and also keep the camera stable so the picture doesn't jump all over that big TV.

You should be able to pick up a decent little camera & tripod for around 1000 USD

or less. Plus there's also the GoPro range of cameras...have a look at em.

Edited November 3, 2014 by sunshine51

[JohnnyJazz]

^^^ In that case have a look at either Canon, Panasonic or Sony in their "handycam" range.

Google is your friend. Find a cheap tripod for around a hundred USD to support the little

camera, don't do a lotta zooms (in & out), keep your shots timed....say 20 seconds per

take and also keep the camera stable so the picture doesn't jump all over that big TV.

You should be able to pick up a decent little camera & tripod for around 1000 USD

or less. Plus there's also the GoPro range of cameras...have a look at em.

Thanks and have a safe trip to Burma.

[samuijimmy]

I think what you could do, and can be done fairly easily with just about any camera these days.... even the cheaper ones (depends on quality you want in end result) even phone camera images are pretty decent for quality these days.... Set your megapixels to medium or high on the camera... most have that choice.... it will give better quality and larger image!

Either set to movie mode and take short videos as Sunshine suggests, about 20 second clips ..... or take individual images and make a slide show.... that I think would be easier... for you...

Several free programs around that you can do that quite easily... Picasa is one...

Then all you need to do once all is together is play the show on your TV by using an HDMI cable from your computer...

Video can be a real pain, to edit and put together from my experience!

Good luck!

[sunshine51]

^^^ That's a good point Jimmy... a slide show is really nice and can actually work better than video

in many occasions. Perhaps less than 20 seconds between slides...depending upon the "flow"

OP wants to achieve.

Edited November 3, 2014 by sunshine51

[innerspace]

Just a thought, for maybe 1500us you could get a go pro (latest looks great, but older model still good and cheaper) plus a phantom quadcopter and the 3d gimbal.

You will have great fun and also amazing footage of a construction site.

Setup gps waypoint route and fly the same route everyday for some pretty easy to edit aerial timelapse.

[samuijimmy]

Back in the day, when I used to do landscaping for a living, I would take general progress shots and keep track of irrigation pipe locations, etc etc ....

Then I would send the pictures as a slide show to clients, who some times were far away... (second home) perhaps once a week... always worked well... at the end of the project I would give them a disc.

I used Picasa for for that, as it was pretty fast and simple to do, and add images to emails or disc and give them a disc... I wish now I had kept a copy for my self! .... Most all lost now, that's another story!

I would suggest to the OP, to practice a little bit on something else, before starting the construction project.... it's really not too hard, once one gets the hang of it, but it would be a learning curve! Some times it can be a little frustrating!

With some of these post editing programs it's not that difficult to add text to an image... either titles or a specific point of what's happening ....

Good luck, and let us know who you progress... you could always place practice shots here!