Hey there,

I know this has been sitting in my ask for a few weeks now. I'm really super super sorry about that! Life's been busy. I think there's only about 10 more days or so left of uni? Maybe even less? I'm scared!

I'm actually thinking of writing 'Nita's Notes to Film Students' once a week after semester ends, relaying all the MANY MANY lessons in practical/other stuff that they don't tell you before you start. You know, not the lessons week to week but things like 'do I buy a camera?' or 'do I take a trip to bunnings and grab a whole ton of wooden pegs for my own shoots and lighting work?' (which, by the way, you do. And to those non-Aussies, Bunnings is a warehouse and gardening chain.) I'll keep you posted if I do do that. 

As for your question- yes. You buy a DSLR. What type is up to you, your budget, etc. Personally, I'm starting my own indie label and so I'm buying one of the more expensive ones- a Canon 5D Mark III. My plan is to get it on a interestless take home layby via the store JB Hi-Fi and pay it off over the coming months, while still being able to use it for short film, and other work, over the summer. After that I'm working on sound equipment and lighting, possibly an extra camera to use for Camera A + Camera B work eventually.

However, Canon 6/60/7/70 D's are all great. Just make sure if it's a 7D you get Mark II that has just come out. The original video programming is a bit old. There's also Nikon and Sony to consider. I'd say out of the two, Nikon's the better. That being said, there are also hacks for cameras that can upgrade their videos and codecs. Seriously. It's awesome.

You can talk to a person in-store. I've been investigating for months on the subject, just by talking to people and reading articles.

Why do you need a DSLR? 

It's not mandatory at Griffith to have your own, but it does make things easier. If there's a short piece, or photos, or any other thing that you might need at short notice or just to add to something, having your own camera is a huge relief. 

Besides that, GFS has a great system where they email you opportunities for work (paid and non-paid), competitions, short film opportunities, etc. Having your own camera means you can better take advantage of all of these. Much better all round. 

Okay as for editing software, first year there's a few we use. 

AVID Media Composer is one. I do love it quite a bit. It's more fiddly but it's also a little more precise. Also the colour grade in it is pretty awesome, and probably the best I've used so far (we haven't done any daVinci stuff). 

Adobe Creative Cloud is used a lot- but the two for editing sort of software stuff is Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. However, prior to that you do a fair bit on Photoshop just to sort of get everyone started. And Adobe Audition can be really useful for audio editing. Trust me, if you have problems using the sound equipment at first, which many do, Audition can fix up those mistakes for you. They all bleed into each other really well. 

I was lucky that my friends helped me out with these programs, but there are student discounts and things where you pay a monthly fee for the whole Creative Cloud access I do believe. 

The computers at the school all have everything installed though, and I know of people that will camp out there for days, sleeping in the labs getting through work. If I didn't have a job, I'd probably be there too.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Sorry about the wait.