EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS
Motion Picture Institute provides all camera, lighting, grip, electrical and sound gear for student films. Students are required to have their own computer laptop or desktop computer and associated editing software. Below is a list of the specifications for the computer and software. If students have questions about any of the specifications they are welcome to call the school for more information.
Desktop or Laptop General Specs
Operating System: PC Windows 10.4.1 | MAC OS
Processors: Intel i7 or higher, or AMD Risen 7 or higher
RAM: 16GB Minimum | 32GM Recommended
Graphics Card – GPU: 4GB VRAM
GPU recommendation for Davinci Resolve 18 2024: https://www.richardlackey.com/the-best-gpu-davinci-resolve-nvidia-amd-2020
Storage: 2TB | two separate drives are ideal for workstation
Camera and Microphone: Laptops typically have these built in | Workstations typically do not
Logitech Mouse with scroll wheel: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-mouse-m185?crid=7
Laptops should have the same specs. It is recommended to search for a “gaming” laptop, which typically have the specs to run editing software such as Davinci, for Apple Macs follow the specs listed above.
Software Requirements
Editing
Davinci Resolve (also includes Fusion and Fairlight)
Free version: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
Full version: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Davinci%20resolve&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma
Davinci Resolve (full version) | $299.00 flat rate
2 options: USB dongle or an activation card
USB Dongle: Allows you to go to any workstation that has Davinci preloaded and use the dongle for the full version.
Pro: Portability
Con: Dongle can be misplaced, don’t lose it!
Activation Card: Allows you to go to any workstation that has Davinci preloaded and log-in using your activation card ID number for the use the full version.
Pro: Portability
Con: System must be able to access Internet.
Producing
EP Movie Magic Scheduling (student version) | $185.00 flat rate
Download: https://www.ep.com/movie-magic-scheduling/
Purchase: https://www.ep.com/ep-store/
EP Movie Magic Budgeting – Optional (student version) | $185.00 flat rate
Download: https://www.ep.com/home/managing-production/movie-magic-budgeting/
Screenwriting Options – Choose One
Final Draft (student version) | $94.00 flat rate: https://store.finaldraft.com/final-draft-11-edu.html
Celtx (scriptwriting version) | $20.00 per month subscription/$15.00 yearly: https://www.celtx.com/pricing.html
Camera
RED Cine-X | free
Windows: https://www.red.com/download/redcine-x-pro-win
MAC: https://www.red.com/download/redcine-x-pro-mac
Important Note: MPI offers all of these resources at the school location for free.
The minimum requirement for students is to have a mobile device with a camera or a computer with a camera and microphone to attend the online class days remotely.
Students not wishing to outfit themselves with computer hardware and software for personal use for doing assignments outside of the school, will be required to come into the school to access these tools. This may be done during normal class hours or normal non-class school hours.
Storage
Students are required to have a portable hard drive to store their digital media (i.e. digital footage captured with school cameras, digital audio recording, project files for Davinci & Fusion, screenplays, EP scheduling files, etc.).
Hard drives should have the following:
External Drive Specs:
2 terabyte capacity
USB 3.0 or higher
Estimated cost: $125.00
Students are also required to purchase their own SD card for use in school cameras and audio recorders.
SD Card Specs:
32 gigabyte or higher
95MB/s or higher
Estimated cost: $25.00