Starting a video-audio editing facility with a Mac Pro set-up?

[Anonymous]

Forgive me for being a newbie.

Introduction. I am a prospective director, producer, editor and cinematographer (videography) who plans to film and edit a feature length documentary and all I need is a sizable capital to make it happen.

I have completed the 42-minute documentary short derived from YouTube under fair use (political footages, etc in conjunction with filmed speeches i.e. Malcolm X, historical facts and quotations) as a demonstration of my amateur filmmaking talent using (you may laugh) Windows Movie Maker.

I have already sent the short burned on DVD-R to Artivist Film Festival and am awaiting acknowledgment of reception. I also sent the DVD-R copies to a main Internet-based composer who provided royalty-free music and sent him a royalty check in amount of $65 under fair licensing agreement laid out at his web site and to an author of underground non-fiction best-sellers. The latter, if he responds favorably to the short, might hook me up with the financiers who might provide what is termed “angel capital” needed to fund the production budget. That’s the purpose of the short.

Anyway, here’s the question & detail that I think will get me started provided I take college classes (multimedia lab) and teach myself perusing the books on how to use the programs in step by step process.

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What’s the list of softwares and hardwares needed to form a new production studio? Add if necessary, I’d like to know what specialty softwares used by professional video editors to edit and develop visual fx shots.

The basic I came up with for production from development to pre to shooting to post to marketing are as follows:

Power Mac 8-core with mid or high-end video card & at least 8 gigabits of RAM modules

WD MyBook 2 TB External HD

Final Cut Pro Studio 2

Audio Logic 8

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium

FileMaker Bento (track production, tasks & contacts)

Gorilla Film Production Software (track payroll, budget & submit info on 1,200+ film festivals)

Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter

Optional – Autodesk Maya, Pixar Renderman, Apple Shake and/or Nuke

Of course, the above list will cost me up to 10k as the starting point. I know it seems like jumping into the pond, to use the expression.

And I would opt to rent high-end video and sound equipment. It’s a common knowledge Panavision do not sell the movie cameras, only rental for as much as 3,000 a day depending on model, configuration and with camera technician on hand. I would film in HD digital and sometimes 35mm traditional film stock (Kodak).

EDIT: I bought the following books at B&N –

How to Shoot a Feature Film for under $10,000* (*and not go to jail) by Bret Stern

The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters by Karl Iglesias

The Portable Film School by D.B. Giles

How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method by Viki King

The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook by Genevieve Jolliffe & Chris Jones

The Power Filmmaking Kit by Jason Tomaric

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