Best equipment for short film?
I'm in the process of beginning to write, shoot, and edit a short film for a local student film festival. Because it is a student film festival, obviously no one's submissions will be high tech, but all I have at the moment is a short tripod, iMovie, and a JVC Everio camera.
I've read that lighting and sound are often overlooked by first-time directors, so for as little money as possible, what equipment would I absolutely need to make the sound and lighting worth watching in my film? Really, it'd be great if someone could tell me about any basic equipment that I'd really need for this to make it look good.
Thanks 
P.S. If some of this stuff isn't too expensive then I'll probably just buy it (I would like to buy a camera lens attachment, for instance), but other stuff I'd probably rent if possible. I live in Rockland County, NY, could anyone tell me if there are places that do this nearby? My online searches didn't come up with much.
Your current equipment will be great for shooting the film. You do not need a bunch of fancy stuff. You can make a very respectable film on a low budget these days.
These students are doing it on the cheep.
http://www.sfett.com
you can find tons of information through that site.
When I shot my first movie we had one camera one boom mic and some small lights. You can even use clamp lights like you get from home depot or lowes. You might want to see if you can find some red, yellow and blue gels. If you dont know what that is, they are basically colored plastic sheets. You hang them in front of your lights and it gives you a blue light, basically. Then you would have one or two blue and one or two regular or open. This will give you cool lighting effects for cheap. Dramatic is cool, just use what you have and make sure it shows up good on camera.
Sound
Sound is more important than lighting, in this case. No one will watch a movie if the sound sucks. So get some kind of mic. I would suggest a boom. You can capture tons of good sound with just one boom mic. This might cost you a few hundred dollars but it will be worth it. If you end up not catching a certain line or sound, dont freak you can always capture the line afterward and put it in. But you will want to make sure to capture the ambiance sound from each location this will be background noise. If you get that you can always fade in lines.
Oh yeah call B&H photo and video and tell them what you are doing and your budget and they will hook you up. They are in NY but its in the City. They are really great with returns so if something stinks just return it.
You can find them by doing a google or I have links to them on my website
http://www.TysonJamesPhotography.com
Good luck!
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