I have made quite a bit of use of my camcorder, but I have some questions about it:

1. External mic! I really want to look into buying an external microphone, but I’m finding it hard to find a source of information that can really answer my question. The internal mic is okay for most purposes, but I want to get into doing short films and whatnot. I was even thinking about doing a webseries. I want to clearly capture the characters’ dialogue. Lapel and handheld microphones do not seem ideal for this kind of job. Which microphone do you think would work, and what are the main differences between wired and wireless? (besides the obvious). If I need someone to slave away holding the mic above the actors, out of the camera’s view, that’s fine lol.

2. Tripod. What kind of tripods are good? It needs to be a screw-in type. I can’t really drop tons of money on it, but it’s something I am willing to save up for if need be. Ideally I am looking for something cheap without being low quality, but I don’t know much about camcorder accessories so I don’t know.

3. Video editing. I’m not sure if my computer is fast enough for editing HD footage. I have edited a few videos, but sometimes it seems a bit glitchy, and it kind of bothers me. What is the bare minimum for this? My processor is Intel Core2 Duo CPU @ 2.20GHz, and I have 3GB of RAM. Could the sometimes glitchy video be due to my processor, or is it more likely to be another unrelated problem?

Thanks in advance for your help! (also, if someone has done a web series before, what kind of considerations need to be taken as far as equipment goes? Is an external mic, tripod, actors, and creativity good enough for above average quality?)

There are two guys to talk to Iridflare and Little Dog, they are the experts on Microphones and tripods, click on their names and talk to them.

I can help you with the computer. To edit hd video you are on the minimum, you have a problem, you need to add a faster processor, and more ram, your OS (windows) has to be a 64bit, OS otherwise its not going to recognise anymore ram. Even with a 64bit os your motherboard has to be able to support the amount of ram you want to put in it. Also add another HDD and use this soley as a scratch disk for your video. Do not install it in the same channel as you boot drive. This will help increase the performance, also get the fastest HDD you can afford.

Depending on the Software you are using/going to use to edit will also make a difference to the amount of ram. First I would delete any unwanted software, temp files, defrag the HDD make sure you have loads of room, play about with the swap file to increase the performance (if you can). there is a little utility that may help for the time being. its called EndItAll,

http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall-1.htm

It will close down all un needed progs,

Good luck

RR