There's a reason why people still watch those old classic films today and its not because of the image quality.
Story, story, story! It is an english piece and will be judged accordingly. None the less, a nice image does look pretty
If you plan your shots nicely and light the set properly you can get brilliant shots out of most digital cameras. 3CCDs won't make up for poorly lit and composed shots.
The minimum you would want is a digital camera, tripod, firewire connection to the computer and a computer editing suite.
For optimum images, grab a 3CCD camera (Panasonic makes a brilliant one called the GS-400 for about $2000, there are also lower models), a fluid head tripod, an external microphone (preferrably on a boom pole) and an editing suite such as adobe premiere or final cut pro. A fluid head tripod will set you back about $300 and a decent mic will cost about $200.
If money's tight (which is probably will be). Spend it on the camera and the external microphone. Sound is probably just as if not more important than image quality.
Things to take into account. Forget about High Definition. Its too expensive and DVDs are only Standard Defintion so you lose that extra quality as soon as it is put onto DVD (or VHS).
Don't buy JVC. They break.
Christiaan Blok
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Extension 2 English Video Tutoring & Workshopping
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/writersblokproductions/Tutoring.htm
writers_blok_productions@hotmail.com