Hello,
My name is Dale Compton, I'm 16 and I really enjoy making films/ directing. I am in preproduction for a short film, which i wrote and will be directing on my own. I hope to show it a film festival in the near future,(when it's complete).It's a Horror movie, which will contain lots of gore....well I am hoping it wont turn out like a bad "student film"...i am taking a little different approach. Well anyways i have a group of friends, who i call my crew. between us we have three cameras, a sony Dv, a sony Handycam, and an old hitachi vm-5350a VHS camera, and Both sony's have a Wide-conversion lens. i chose to shoot this movie using video instead of film because of our microscopic budget and it's convenience in non-linear editing. But there is one draw-back we have nothing to record sound onto i would prefer to buy a DAT, and a shotgun Mic with a fish pole ,but they are so far out of our price range. plus we wouldn't want to record the sound on a crappy Sony camera Microphone. I was wondering if anyone out there knows a company or anybody who would be willing to donate a new or used DAT and/or a shotgun mic. Please.... this would be very helpful to me and my "crew".
and in return we can work out a deal or will put they're name in the credits. Thanks so much
sincerely,
Dale
COMPTON
My email: D_Compton@sbcglobal.net

Get your crew to cut a couple of lawns or save allowance(sp?) and rent audio equipment. Hell you could buy it with 500 bucks. How many people?

- C. Davis
YELLOW HAMMER PRODUCTIONS

I'm not saying no one would donate, but a dat recorder and a shotgun mic are really expensive. There are other options you may want to present that would cost much less. In your shots, will you have acess to a computer, and a power supply? If so i'd get a usb duo. It has phantom, 24bit recording like a dat, and it records directly into your audio editing program, or something like vegas video. I got mine used for 200, got a boompole for 75, at8415 shockmount, sony c-74 shotgun for 200, and mic cable for about 30. Total was about 550, but the quality is extreemly good. Sure it's not a portable solution, and it does take time to bring your computer around (and a cheap monitor) but the quality is similar to a portable dat recorder maybe costing $800. You really need to make compromises. Plus I'd ask to borrow, and maybe pay a renting fee. If someone lived close, they could even go to your shoots and make sure their equipment is fine. I'd definatly look around for nice people that live near you. And offer more than credit in your movie. I'd say that I would help them at their shoot as long as necessary, depending on how much they'd dontate. I honestly don't think people that live far away will ship their equipment for you, let alone let you keep it. Producer credits don't go that far.

WHY IS EVERYONE MAKING HORROR MOVIES ALL OF A SUDDEN?!

Oh well, I'm making one too, so I can't get mad...

But I think your best bet is to get your crew together and make some money. Mow lawns, walk dogs, anything. Making money isn't that hard, especially if you are into filmmaking. You can make a lot of money by filming nearly anything. Band concerts, weddings, even insurance related stuff.

If that is completely out of the option for some odd reason, then you should try to find someone that will let you use some of their equipment. My guess is that nobody will just give you the things that you ask for. So you should try to find someone that will come along with you to your shoot and oversee the use of their equipment.

I don't think that will happen, though, because as we all know, people aren't reliable and things go wrong...a lot.

In my oppinion, your best bet is to start raking leaves.

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

I kind of knew asking for equipment was a long shot but hey, you never know. But,I had brought up the idea of raising money to buy equipment.But most of the people on my crew probably arent willing to fork out the extra effort...I guess they aren't into filmmaking as much as i am, but maybe the only way to get it done is to do it myself. Maybe i could make flyers saying that i am raising money for a film and would be willing to work for money, and then ask if i could leave a stack at the local supermarkets...
Thaks for all the replies...any will help

Dale
COMPTON