I have been asked to make a doc. What to ask in the first meeting with the producer?

[tomperson]

Hi all,
Yesterday a band asked me to film a doc about a music tour in my country. As they want to submit the project to obtain a government grant, they need a budget and a plan by the end of the month. I'm having my first meeting with the producer and the band tomorrow, and i'd like to be prepared in order to make it more productive.

Basically, the band wants to tour in my country, and they want me to shoot their performances as well as the backstage, in order to make a DVD out of it. Their show is a duo (vocals + guitar) performance, quite intimate, so the venues will probably be small, and there won't be special effects on stage or a lot of trickery. Just they playing their music.

I have never done something like this, so maybe you guys could help me figure out what to ask in this first meeting.

I thought about:

- What do they expect to get out of it. What kind of final product they envision. I may ask for examples or references of other bands.
- How many locations
- Where are the locations
- How will we deal with lighting. Should we use what the venues have or should we bring our own?
- How do we deal with transport.

What else? What would YOU ask? How would YOU approach such a meeting?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Michael Friedman]

I would talk about story. Ask them what they expect from their trip, what is going on between the band members, their personal lives, etc. Get a sense of story elements you could follow. A musical tour piece become much more compelling if there is a story woven through.

Good luck.

 

[tomperson]

Thanks for helping, Michael! I see your point, and totally agree with you.

I bet they don't really have a preconceived idea of what to expect out of it. You see, I worked with them previously filming a "behind the scenes" on the making of their current album (the one they will play live on tour), and it was totally non structured, as it was almost by chance that I ended up filming it...So my guess is that they want to keep the "home made" attitude, letting events unfold and then seeing what happens...I don't think they want to make it into a "Don't look back" type of documentary, where the camera gets into their private lives, not much at least.

So...my bet is that they want to go out and play, and let me work out how to structure a documentary / tour dvd out of it. Which places me in a difficult situation, because i don't really know how much footage i'll need to film, or how, and worse, how to structure it beforehand, which would be ideal.

So, I wonder how would you (more experienced filmmakers) try to get them to think in terms of story/structure in order to be able to get some kind of skeleton from which to work out a plan / budget, etc? I mean, only they can know what's their artistical attitude, and what they expect out of this project, but since they are no filmmakers, I guess I have to guide them into realizing that...