Updating Filmmaking Equipment (Well just a little)

[Jason Borroel]

So. I have decided to finally sell my Canon HV30 today. I put it up on Craigslist and decided to upgrade my equipment. It was kind of sad knowing that i would not be working with the camera that's been with me since the beginning, through thick and thin. But it's time for us to go our separate ways. Hopefully he will move on just as I know i will move on without him, and I wish him the best of success in the future. I will keep my 35mm Depth of field adapter. This has been the difference between making something look more filmic and making something look like a reality T.V. show, which honestly I've seen too much of. It's amazing it took so long for someone to come up with the idea of a DOF adapter. They've only been prevalent in the last few years but have been an essential tool for digital filmmakers on a budget. For $300 I was able to add this piece of equipment after nights and nights of studying and seeing which DOF adapter looked the best. With technology changing so much, I am having a hard time figuring out which camera I would like to buy. I know that I will be purchasing something in late December for a production that we will be filming over the Winter break for the Sacramento International Film Festival. Even though I was thinking about buying the Sony EX1, I will not because i want to show how great one can make a film look with even the most frugal of budgets. For some reason I get a kick out of seeing so called "professionals" with higher end equipment produce lower end results than someone like myself. I've learned that it doesn't matter which camera you have, it matters who is behind that camera operating it and if they know how to use it. If you put the EX1 into my hands today and told me to go make a film tomorrow, it would be the biggest piece of shit that i would be ashamed to call my own. You can see what I am talking about on Vimeo.com. People have become so consumed with the "look" of a certain camera that all they do is short tests about how great a camera it is. They don't get out there and put a story together. This just goes to show that anybody with a little money can buy a good camera but that's not what filmmaking is. Would we respect Steven Speilberg if we saw him shooting one minute videos of his dog taking a shit on his front lawn just to see how filmic he could make it look? No! Filmmaking takes at least a little bit of talent. If there is no talent, then the filmmaking of that individual will cease to exist whether they are working with 35mm film, or whether they are working with a little HV30 like the one I have. I am a filmmaker for the underdog who has the talent yet cannot afford the latest technology. Just make sure if you get your hands on any piece of decent equipment that you get out there and do something with it. Well something good anyways, there's enough shit to sift through on youtube already. Jason.