Good news for Florida film production companies and professionals – new financial incentives for shooting in the Sunshine State begin today. Florida’s new Film and Entertainment Incentive Program offers tax relief incentives for both major film/TV productions and low-budget indies choosing a Florida production locale. It’s all part of the $175 million “Jobs for Florida” bill recently signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist.

The new law allows major Florida film productions and Florida TV productions that employ at least 50% of their production cast and below-the-line crew from Florida tax breaks of up to $8 million. Films and video games with family-friendly content may qualify for an added 5% tax break. Small independent, digital media productions and emerging media productions can apply for up to $125,000 in tax incentives.

Senator Don Gaetz (R-Destin) sponsored a new bill that allows tax breaks of up to $8 million for filmmakers shooting in Florida.

“With an unemployment rate worse than 12 percent, Florida families and Florida businesses are hurting,” said Republican Senator Don Gaetz of Destin. ‘This package of incentives actually loosens government’s grip on the private sector and gives companies solid reasons to stay in Florida, expand in Florida and come to Florida.”

Gaetz sponsored the bipartisan bill, CS/SB 1752. Democratic Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate co-sponsored. In the House, primary sponsors were Rep. Will Weatherford of Chapel and Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale. The bill passed unanimously in both houses.

To qualify, your production must have a start date July 1 or later. Apply online to the Office of Film and Entertainment beginning today, June 9 at noon EST. And if you need help with any portion of your Florida film production, from concepting to post-production and packaging, contact Digital Video Arts at 888-340-1010. Good luck!

To assure the highest possible quality video production in Jacksonville, you’ll want to make sure your footage is shot in high resolution, preferably in HD (High Definition) digital format. Not only will your images turn out far crisper and cleaner, but you’ll have a much easier time managing your footage.

The move from analog to digital format videotape began in the 1980s with the introduction of Sony’s D-1 format, the first major professional digital video format. Its standard definition (SD) images were of higher quality than anything on the broadcast market at the time. It stored uncompressed digitized component video, audio tracks and timecode on a ¾-inch cassette tape and used a tremendous amount of bandwidth for its time. But the machinery was monstrous, taking up full rooms and forcing television stations and companies offering video production in Jacksonville to make heavy investments in not just the camera and editing equipment but in the facilities infrastructure to house the systems.

Fast forward to present day and we’ve seen multiple advancements in digital video production cameras and equipment for the professional market, consumer market and prosumer market. Today’s digital video can be stored on digital tape or directly to memory sticks and cards, allowing for completely tapeless editing. Tapeless storage and editing means you won’t lose a generation (quality level) when transferring or dubbing your footage. And it means your footage will be easily accessible for later projects.

For top-quality film and video production, Jacksonville’s DVA does all of its digital film acquisition on high resolution formats, including SONY HDCAM, Panasonic VariCam, RED HD and other digital film format cameras. We were among the first companies offering video production in Jacksonville to use the RED HD camera, which offers a resolution several times that of traditional HD film or video, yet is more cost effective than expensive 35 mm digital film acquisition. And we’ve redesigned our postproduction workflow procedures and facilities to accommodate tapeless editing.

For your next video production, Jacksonville’s DVA has all you need in the way of broadcast quality shooting and editing capabilities. Take a look at our online portfolio for a sampling of our work, then call us toll free at 888-340-1010.

So your project is scripted and your footage shot, now you just need some top-quality video editing that will make your production truly come together in a standout way. Digital Video Arts is among Northeast Florida’s top production and post production companies, offering digital video editing including visual and sound effects, plus original musical scoring. When we designed our new 15,000-square-foot production and post production facility, we included several video editing suites equipped with Sony, Avid and Final Cut Pro video editing systems. We’ll handle all your post production for you, or you can secure time and do your own video editing in one of our post production suites.

Because all of our production and post production is done digitally, we’re able to offer timely, cost-efficient video editing services. Digital footage means easy color correction and the addition of digital computer effects including 2D and 3D motion graphic created in-house by our dedicated motion graphics and animation artists. You’ll never have to take your project to multiple post production facilities or professionals. DVA has all you need under one (state-of-the-art and very stylish) roof.

All of your various digital video and audio files are created and saved in flexible video and Internet formats so that you can take advantage of all the major media outlets including television, radio and online social networking sites. And you’ll have them for safekeeping should you decide to reuse any of your existing footage or sound in future projects.

Our post production system is designed to offer you video editing with the highest production quality at the most competitive price around. For more information or to schedule time in one of our post production suites, contact DVA today at 888-340-1010 or via our convenient online email form.

One of Digital Video Arts' state-of-the-art digital video editing suites.