Emmo,

First thing I would suggest is that if you get an editing system, get a system that has two hard drives. One for the OS/programs and one for video files. I would suggest that both hard drives are 7200 rpm.

Are the students going to leave their work on the machine for any period of time? Are multiple students going to have their files on a machine at the same time? You probably want to get a really big video drive, or two.

As for the other ideas, you know what the priorities are, but I think Camera, Lighting and NLE are what you need to make a film. Dollys, tracks, Steadycam and Boris FX are just extras. Let them learn how to make something interesting with just the basics.

Skevos makes a good point. Learning to stretch your budget is a great skill all film makers should learn. If they really want a certain shot, they will try to find a way to make it happen. I'm sure they know someone who has a skateboard.

Get the camera. You can build lights from Home Depot supplies, and make most of the other things yourself. You can edit on just about any modern computer. But you can't substitute for a good camera.

If you've got lots of kids working on their own projects, I'd get some external drive caddies and an 80-120GB hard drive for each kid. That way, they can take their projects home and bring them in to the studio to edit on a single machine.

Also, I agree with Buster. Start with a solid editing system, then focus on the production gear. (Decent tripods and microphones are a MUST!) Give 'em the goods to tell a story, and let their creativity fill in for all the eye candy.

> mid-level steady cam (anyone using these,and where did you get it?)

If you're using a lightweight camera (I use a VX-1000) then the SteadyTracker is really hard to beat.

Emmo:

Without knowing what equipment and software you currently have it's hard to give good advice. If you don't have anything, you need:

1. miniDV camcorder
2. Editing computer
3. Editing software (Vegas highly recommended)

That will eat up most of your $3,000. But you'll be able to teach acquisition and editing, the most fundamental parts of producing video. Without a camera, computer and software nothing else matters.

I would focus on getting lots of simple computers, not a couple of screamers. Rendering is fast enough on even simple machines, and there is no substitute for having "hands-on" time.

There are many inexpensive miniDV cameras out there. Again, I would get multiple cheap ones rather than 1 glorious camera. By the way, you don't need to buy new. Student cameras will get thrashed anyway. Buy slightly used.

How old are the kids? Is this their first exposure to editing? I know some folks will hate me for saying this, but you don't necessarily need Vegas on every machine. I would even consider (gasp) Studio8 since it's dirt cheap, can burn DVDs too, and can teach the basics of editing, titling, and workflow. It's also very easy to learn. Yeah, it's not as stable as Vegas, and it can't do nearly as much. For an intro course, so what? I LOVE Vegas, but if I were setting up a lab at my school, it's probably what I would start them out on.

Permit me to be the first one to trash your idea. Vegas has academic pricing and it's very reasonable. By the way, when you buy the system look into any academic discounts you can get. Vegas has far more for the students to grow into. For an educational experience Vegas is a far better value. Think of how much they can learn just on the audio side alone.

Is your school high school or college? Do you have any equipment so far?

Really, I have found many great DV cameras on e-bay for a few hundred dollars each.

I would get at least one Panasonic AG-456U S-VHS Camcorder for around $1400 mainly because they are indestructible and are easy to use. I would also get a good proc amp such as the one Sign Video makes for $400 to do color correction. I would also get a mixer such as a Behringer UB802 for under $100 and a few AT 830 lavs at around $130 each.

Get two SVHS VCRs with a flying erase heads and a Panasonic AG-A96 Multi-Event Edit Controller and edit in analog.

$3000 isn't enough money to set up from scratch. Concentrate on CONTENT with the kids in the club and take their rough handedness into consideration.
Then there is the matter of YOUR time. How much time do you as a teacher have to devote to a club? I can see the problems already with computer configurations, kids getting their hands on the setup which you finally got right after months of posting questions, asking tech support for help, etc etc and then screwing it up and not knowing how they screwed it up or even admitting to it.

Let them concentrate on interview technique, dealing with adverse lighting, composing the shots, EDL's, etc. That Panasonic camera is what many film clubs and videography courses in High Schools use because it has proven itself in terms of dependability and durability.

Save some money for battery packs and other "incidentals" which can eat up the budget and/or stop you dead in the water when you "run out" of something or "break" something.

John

Ok Sorry,

Here are some of the things we do have... Canon XL1, and about 8-10 zr45's.
plenty of editing stations (probably about 5-6 all with Vegas 4.0) and a few tripods.

Later in the year however, I am taking them to shoot for a week on location and would love to be able to let them edit on the fly. That is where the mobility factor comes into play.

So from there what do you think?
Emmo

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