The next step requires three additional skills not yet used in the first two levels we have explored so far: a higher quality video camera, rudimentary lighting, and decent microphones for recording voices.
A higher quality video camera
Your hunt for the right camera hinges on your format: Do you intend to shoot in standard video (4:3 format, standard resolution) or in high definition (16:9 aspect ratio, 1080i resolution)?
If 4:3 is your format, the
Canon GL2 (priced around
$2,000 at B&H Photo) is an excellent choice for a prosumer camera with 3 CCDs. If HiDef is in your future, then the
Canon XH-A1 (
$3,100) all with 3 CCDs will get the job done.
Lighting
I learned a lot from a great book called
Lighting for Digital Video and Television. You can pick up a decent Lowel
2 light or
3 light kit from B&H for $500-800. You really do need lighting if you want your work to be presentable, it makes a huge difference.
Audio
Test the microphone on your camera, it may be good enough, but most likely it picks up too much camera noise. Clip on powered condenser mics are good idea, they range in price from approximately
$140 for a nice Audio Technica down to a
$25 one from Radio Shack that gets the job done. A hand held boom or an optional camera mounted mic are other alternatives. For a good book on sound, take a look at
Producing Great Sound for Digital Video.
Streaming Video for the Web
In addition to presenting your work on DVD, allowing users to view it on the web is an increasingly practical channel. When you render (compress frame by frame) in your software, you'll have a choice of rendering formats. MPEG-2 is the proper file type for DVD, but for the web you will want to produce smaller files. MPEG-2 files are very high quality, but are 46.5 megabytes/minute of video, much too large for streaming video, and very time consuming to download (for viewing after download). Rendering either in Windows Media format or Apple Quicktime at "256kbs" resolution (256K/second through the "pipe") produces files that are 1.9 megabytes/minute of video, small enough to stream or download reasonably. While the 320 by 240 pixel screen size is not full screen, it is a decent compromise between size and quality.