Hello,
I'm a parent of a high school freshmen and she is showing signs of interest in film. I don't know very much about film making but I'd like to be able to support her to further explore this path to college.

She will be looking at universities with film schools in 3 years and we're starting now to plot that course. She is a really good student with a 3.9 GPA. Her sister, a HS senior, was just accepted to UCLA, USC, LMU, Chapman and a few more as a Fine Arts major so we have a really good understanding of the mechanics of getting a 'yes' from those schools. (This could come in handy! )

We've signed her up to a summer class at UCLA on making music videos and I'm hoping that further sparks her creative interests. She has excellent Photoshop and iMovie 09 skills, well at least she does for a 14 year old. Her HS doesn't offer anything in film but if she continues down this road she will take summer classes at UCLA and USC for the next 3 summers.

Right now she has been using my high-end digital still cameras set to video mpeg-4 mode but that's kind of cumbersome so I need to get her a video camera. I don't know much about them and I'm worried about compatibility and if it's the right tool for the job. Would a Canon Vixia HF20 be a good starter camera? We have Quad core Macs, 4 Gig, 1TB, with iMovie09 and Final Cut Pro (full suite). Would that Canon be good enough to learn on and maybe start to build a portfolio with? Is there something better without breaking the bank? I'll add an out-board hard drive dedicated to video. Is there anything I'm missing on the technical side?

Along with the summer school classes, is there anything else you would recommend to advance her learning in this subject area?

Thanks in advance for any suggests or comments,
Wheaty

Hello,

Well, lets see, first of all let me congratulate you as a father encouraging your daughter to follow her interest in film.

But now lets talk about it, film is a very complicated industry, to be a top shelf personal you have to have a LOT of talent in many different aspects as well as many different skills, we can't know about your daughter because she is as you said it 14, people in this industry starts to make a good life at it over their 35.

Anyways about that camera, I have never used that one, but any handycam is a good starter. But about all the edition system, and all that. Be carefull into not spoiling her with all this equipment, in real life you cant get all this so easy, so its better to learn with the least amound of money so when you start using real money you will always save from many different places and that makes you interesting for producers.

Also your daughter has to find out whats her real spot in film making (and if it is what she wants to do for a living), everyone starts thinking they are DIRECTORS, but after getting in contact with it and living it must realize they are good for production, art, music,cinematography, assistances, acting... the possibilities are infinite.

Dont worry about the undergraduate portfolios, they are not looking for amazing video quality, edition, script, acting, all around perfect production... they settle for amateur UNDERGRADUATE porfolios, all they are looking for is people that shows talent and passion about film...

Anyways thats what I have seen in my experience...

Encourage her to watch movies. Lots and lots of movies. Old movies, new movies.

Then, if she's interested, get her writing scripts. You don't have to spend any money; just google "Celtx" -- it's a free screenwriting program. There are very few things that well help her understand and enjoy film more than knowing how a screenplay works.

Also, don't worry about a portfolio. A camera should be her way of exploring what she likes about film; it doesn't need to be an expensive one. If she asks for more expensive equipment, stay firm and say no; if you have the money, encourage her to make short films and maybe give her some money for each production. She's years and years away from having her artistic vision limited by the technology available to her.

And keep being supportive. As the previous commenter said, it's fantastic that you're doing this for your daughter. I know how much my parents' support meant to me.