help for one person crew /panasonic DVX100B

F

flean

Active member
hello,

This is going to be my first documentary as a one person crew. I will be following a family around in different places (airport, local public places, restaurant etc..)
During shooting, I will need to focus more on the subjects and their first reactions rather than on the tech aspect of the camera. I am a ONE PERSON CREW!!! :-(( due not only to the budget limitation but also because the family did not want to be filmed at the first place. They finally accepted if I am not in their way and I bring as little attention as possible in public places with my camera. So to stay as discreet as possible (almost like in a hidden camera show) what would be the best tips to filming? anyone who had experienced this type of limitation?

So my questions are : How do i set up the PANASONIC DVX 100B so i can just "point and shoot" anytime , anywhere ?
in terms of sound, any advice? They don't want to be wired up with wireless mics , no boom pole, so I guess I would just have to mount a shot gun on the camera, that's it. Any great and reasonable priced brands out there? What basic package do I need to still a good quality sound? any great tips on filming as one person crew in public places so I don't loose sound of the people I am filming?
I don't expect to be perfect. There will be mistakes but how do I avoid the biggest ones?any tips and advices welcome
Thanks so much to anyone who could help.
 
Well shotgun mics are excellent they will pick up everything Unless you are in a semi quiet place you will have a hard time getting good audio unless you are very close to the subject.

I shoot a lot of conventions with thousands of people in the background and i only rely on the shotgun when the reporter cant get the person wired up or cant get the handheld up to the person.

i would recommend a dead cat or other wind cover if you will be shooting outdoors, this will give you clear sound in mild wind.

Use a good set of headphones to monitor your audio.
 
In my expericence an on-camera shot gun is useless for everything thats further away than three to four feet max, especially if you are in a pretty loud/crowded place. But if they let you come that close your are pretty much in their face. Maybe you can hook at least one of them up with a mic and steal the sound from there? Otherwise you might re-consider you project... One of the most important things for sucessful documentaries is access. Sounds like you are only half way there...
 
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I would use lavs and get them to agree to a second shooter. You could have 4 wireless lav channels.


You could also try to tell most of the story through sit down family interviews and just use your family footage as broll.
 
Having shot reality shows I can honestly say - you NEED to lav them. If they expect you to be inconspicuous and for nobody to know your taping them and they won't even wear lavs - sorry to say - it's pretty much a waste of your time.
 
the sound is very important I use a condenser mic "MXL 991" ($60 at Guitar Center) it goes right in the mic holder. crank the levels up, you should get about Three red squares in the meter in order to sound good on TV, etc.
make sure you are not clipping out. that's just half of the movie, now just set your camera on F6 and you're ready to go. try not to zoom in and out too much (makes people dizzy) make sure your headroom is alright. if you can get a $14 stabilizer to follow them so that the camera moves smoothly. when you shoot think how can you cut those shots and how can you use them, try to visualize what you want to show in advance so you don't waste any takes.

a second camera would give it a more professional feel, make sure you keep both of your time code's in sync.

please keep us posted.
 
flean said:
hello,.....
So my questions are : How do i set up the PANASONIC DVX 100B so i can just "point and shoot" anytime , anywhere ?
in terms of sound, any advice? They don't want to be wired up with wireless mics , no boom pole, so I guess I would just have to mount a shot gun on the camera, that's it. Any great and reasonable priced brands out there? .......
Thanks so much to anyone who could help.
Click to expand...

Deciding to go on-cam or off is the first step. Next, what is your budget? The Audio Forum has a tremendous amount of good info--spend some time there in the stickies and searching. I have gotten some surprisingly good results with an on-board 4073a in relatively noisy environments. A cheaper version to check out is the AT875r, surprising for $200.
 
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