Nikon SLR Cameras

How to make a movie?

Constipated
Constipated

We have average camera's, one or two HD video camera's, some digital cameras and a Nikon D3100, a few tripods I think. But there's a huge difference between good looking movies and homemade ones, though I want to make the good looking ones. If you look at a normal good movie like Forrest Gump (Fantastic movie, but I mean "normal good movie" with quality) and compare that to a NigaHiga movie, you can see that NigaHiga does everything himself. I think it's the lightning that affects it, not sure. I use Sony Vegas 11 Movie Platinum, and I can adjust the color a bit with that.
But what makes the movie quality so. "Movie-ish"?

Janel
Janel

No it isn't the lighting and technique that makes movie quality "movie-ish" it is the cameras. Shooting a high quality movie costs money. Just look at the budget of any movie that has come out in the past couple of months, chances are it is in the millions of $.

With good technique, people involved, and a lot of time put into it, you can make a decent and enjoyable movie with normal at home type of equipment, but in the end it won't look like the movies you are used to. It just won't. The lighting that you would need is also quite expensive anyway. Even the youtube people do get paid for their videos and they use some of that for better equipment, so most likely they have even better equipment than you have access to. Even B films don't use regular at home video cameras.

Not trying to shoot you down, go ahead and make a movie. Even if you have all of the best equipment, without reputable actors, a reputable name for yourself, etc not many people will see it, so it won't matter much. Have fun with it and your friends and family can watch it. I can't watch a lot of the independent films from festivals even if I wanted to, they usually don't release to dvd, and those people do it for a living. You don't need it to be movie quality to entertain some of your friends and family

Gollum
Gollum

As in all artistic disciplines, it is not the tools that makes the art, it's the artist.

The primary components that define the "quality" of a movie, are lighting, composition, and editing.
These 3 elements require years of study and practice to master, and can't be taken for granted.
Any idiot can identify good execution of any of them, but to actually create the same quality of work themselves is a totally different matter.

How does a cinematographer know what type of light to use and where to position it to achieve a certain mood, or the balance of light within a scene, or what lens to use, or where to place the camera, or when to move the camera? How does an editor know when to make a cut or what pace to cut, or what to cut to next?
There are infinite possibilities, but only a few are right for any particular scene. They don't simply flip a coin or guess at it. They had to learn it. It's no different than learning to compose a symphony, or paint a fine masterpiece.

If you want to know the answer to your question then you had better start studying.

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Janel's comment below is FOS!
Cameras don't make the movie, talented people do.
But since you've probably never made a movie in your life you would not know that.