See what I mean about intolerance? You have an HD camcorder. Therefore you MUST shoot HD because nothing else "makes sense". Well, I'm afraid it makes 100% sense to me.
We keep hearing about 'it all looks sharper and crisper' with HD. I'm not making films for their sharpness. I make them for their content. If you don't like them because they're not sharp enough, tough. If you don't like the content - then that's of more interest to me - that's what I need to do something about, that's the angle I want to work on. That doesn't mean I'm going to deliberately shoot them out of focus or have poor colour balancing. It means I worry more about content than image quality. I'm getting really tired of this 'if you don't film in HD you're wasting your time' single-minded attituide. HD doesn't equate to good composition, never has, and never will.
And this ...
Blank looks on faces of the club members who have failed to keep up with the times, failed to understand how their kit works, failed to provide the very advice others desire..........potential member leaves and never returns. I have seen this many times at my club.
Because I choose not to shoot or edit in HD doesn't mean I don't know anything at all about it. If your club loses potential members because
no one can answer their questions, then in all seriousness I suggest you look again at the way new members are treated at your club. You are in fact suggesting too that no one at your club can answer newby's technical questions. I don't believe that for a moment. It really is insulting to suggest that everyone MUST "keep up with the times", or else be lacking in some way. Thankfully there are still artists and artisans around who create stunning work using traditional methods and traditional tools.
We don't all have ding dong 100 inch screen televisions and piles of modern electronic equipment. We don't have surround sound, not because we don't think it is better, but because we have other things we prefer more. We don't need HD, and we see no reason to buy more equipment just to have it because it is 'the future'. I use a fork and spade to dig the garden, not a super-powered rotavator.
To continually berate people who don't think techology is the god that everyone without exception must follow in the same way as yourself isn't very clever, IMO. Accept that people think differently to you. Accept that there are other views held equally as strongly as you hold yours. Accept those people are just entitled to their views as you are, and that their views and ways of doing things make just as much sense to them, as yours do to you.
Just because things change, they do not "have to be embraced". Not all changes are for the better - look at the mad dash to something new all the time in media storage, leaving 1001 different systems in its wake, meaning considerable outlays all the time just to keep pace. Some cannot afford to continually 'embrace' the continual cycle of change that occurs these days. Why should they?
I say again, I have no desire to shoot HD just because my cam is capable of it: I expect with your own equipment/software you don't use to its full potential. Future proofing? I'm 80: I'm not even going to bother changing from miniDV. Ever. I have no interest in HD. The club doesn't show videos in HD - they're more interested in the content, which is why I enjoy that club.
Tolerance. Acceptance of different views. I accept that HD is here to stay (until the next change comes along). I accept it is sharper, crisper, you can see flies' knee-caps at 100 paces. For me, I'd rather see a good story or an interesting documentary well told - its sharpness adds very little to the pleasure.
As it happens, many/most if not all of the youngsters in our club are also more intersted in the
content of their movies than them being super duper high quality. Maybe that's why we're growing, and other clubs aren't?
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