I own a canon xl2 along with a tripod. I'm planning on making short films, as well as a 118 min film this summer. I am a newbie when it comes to film festivals. If I was planning on submitting a short to a film festival would it be accepted from a digital camera? I've heard that film festivals only accept film? Once again, I'm a newb when it comes to this. Is there anything I need to know before I start making films? Thank you.

Most film festivals will accept a DVD for submission (I believe Sundance is one that requires film). One of the best sites for festivals is Withoutabox. They will tell you what the various festivals accept and not accept.

http://www.withoutabox.com/

As for your last question, "Is there anything I need to know before I start making films?"

Yes. But do it anyway!

Good luck.

Sundance also accepts film.

I should be alright using the Canon Xl2 though for most film festivals?

Sure, what's most important is that you have a good story. Also get a good DP and sound guy/gal.

Okay, thanks. Also, I'm shooting mainly 16:9 and 24... anything else I should consider that is important for editing and post-production?

DP= Director Photography???

Yes director of photography. I got a question for you. How do yo know that your feature is going to be exactly 118 minutes?

I obviously don't know exactly. My script is 118 pages so I made a quick estimation...

While we are on the subject, when film is used for low-budget films. What type of camera is used specifically?

I think a lot of low budget films, are transferred to film from digital. So it's made digitally, and after production is done, the final is transferred to film. When I looked into that, it was about 20 to 30 grand to do that, so not really low budget in that respect.

One thing that you need to worry about (your camera is fine) is sound. Without good sound you generally can't have a decent movie. Make sure that you have more than the camera microphone, cause you can't do anything with that. You can get a good mic from 50 to 300 dollars from Anzus, or Audio-Technica, or Stennhouser. Very important, as you can doctor through editing the film, sound is pretty hard to fix though.

Chris

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am taking sound and lighting very important, as I have heard this suggestion before.

While we are on the subject, when film is used for low-budget films. What type of camera is used specifically?
Most likely Ariflex. Some use Panavision.