I am in the process of trying to select a digital camcorder for some projects I plan on doing and have a question about some of the various video recording formats in order to narrow down which camcorder to buy. My projects will primarily be for a web site I plan on publishing and for YouTube. My preference is to shoot videos with a look similiar to what you see on reality shows, TV news, The Daily Show; in essence, most of the videos will not have the film look. I also plan to do blue or green screen backgrounds for some of my videos and incorporate some animination and graphics in my videos. Should the need arise, I would like the option of shooting film-like video which I understand is 24p. Typically, what shooting format should I be looking at in the digital camcorder (ie 1080i/60, 720/60p, 720/30p) to achieve the video look I want to produce.
High definition is probably not a necessity at this point although I have been looking primarily at HD camcorders because I like the option of recording in that mode and a lot of them can film in 16:9. While most of my projects will be on the internet, I would like to option of filming and putting the video on a DVD and have it displayed optimally for widescreen televisions.
The other question I have is about software and editing. Some of my videos will be like a news segment or a comedy news show other videos or pictures will appear on the video along with the video that I filmed. I also would like from time to time to use animation (think Daily Show or The Colbert Report) where the title of the segment is animated along the bottom of the screen or an opening segment is animated. Then, of course, is the blue or green screen work where I can display either a still photo or another video in the background. Any ideas on which software(s) are ideal for these types of projects or any good books or DVDs I can read. I would use be using a PC for my editing work.
Thank you. Robert
