Shooting documentary got a few questions

Blindsight671

Blindsight671

Active member
Hi guys I am new to this website. Been lurking, but just joined. I am working on a

Documentary about a location in the pacific. Included will be history, wildlife,

activities.....Location shooting, interviews, cut scenes, animation..... The final product

will be put on DVD and distributed free of charge to military members thanks to

sponsors. I am shooting the whole thing on two DVX100Bs and using final cut pro

for the editing. I am shooting it in 30p. Here are my questions.

Do I need to get written release forms signed when there is a verbal agreement?
(I have been completely clear on the project with people interviewed so far.)

Can I get government footage of war time from the government cheaper than a private company? If so where and if not where is the best place? I am looking at periscope films.

Are there any places that sell footage of reenacted things like spanish galleons, soliders, sailing, church, magellan.....?

Do the same rules apply since I am providing the product free of charge?
 
You have a lot of questions.

I suspect you are filming in the Philippines etc.

You have U.S. Law as well as Philippine Republic Law to deal with.

The good news is both are fairly simple for what you are doing.

Your best bet is to get a book like:

The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers: A Legal Toolkit for Independent Producers (Paperback)

and go from there.

You will then have some specific questions left to as qualified legal council.

In all likely hood you can do what you want and do it fairly cheeply.

As to the footage you want, much can be found free in Government archives.
 
ESTEBEVERDE said:
You have a lot of questions.

I suspect you are filming in the Philippines etc.

You have U.S. Law as well as Philippine Republic Law to deal with.

The good news is both are fairly simple for what you are doing.

Your best bet is to get a book like:

The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers: A Legal Toolkit for Independent Producers (Paperback)

and go from there.

You will then have some specific questions left to as qualified legal council.

In all likely hood you can do what you want and do it fairly cheeply.

As to the footage you want, much can be found free in Government archives.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply I should have indicated I am in Guam. We are a U.S. territory so I guess just the US laws apply. The final product will be provided free of charge to military members through sponsors. So as of now all production costs are coming out of pocket. And I can't afford to hire help. At first it was a little overwhelming, but it is coming along. I have been looking around the net for government archives and can't find any. Could you anyone who knows please point me in the right direction? Also I am completely lost as to where to find footage of reenacted things like spanish galleons, soliders, sailing, church, magellan. I can only do so much animation and only use so many pictures. This so far seems like my biggest obstacle.

Thank you
 
Blindsight671 said:
Thanks for the reply I should have indicated I am in Guam. We are a U.S. territory so I guess just the US laws apply. The final product will be provided free of charge to military members through sponsors. So as of now all production costs are coming out of pocket. And I can't afford to hire help. At first it was a little overwhelming, but it is coming along. I have been looking around the net for government archives and can't find any. Could you anyone who knows please point me in the right direction? Also I am completely lost as to where to find footage of reenacted things like spanish galleons, soliders, sailing, church, magellan. I can only do so much animation and only use so many pictures. This so far seems like my biggest obstacle.

Thank you
Click to expand...

One avenue to try might be to go to networks like the history channel and the military channel. I would write up a mission statement of sorts, explain the scope of your project and the nature of it (free to soldiers) and they might be willing to hook you up with footage for a note in the credits or something like that. I hope there's still some charitable organzations out there who would see the merit of this. Best of luck!
 
RandomHero said:
One avenue to try might be to go to networks like the history channel and the military channel. I would write up a mission statement of sorts, explain the scope of your project and the nature of it (free to soldiers) and they might be willing to hook you up with footage for a note in the credits or something like that. I hope there's still some charitable organzations out there who would see the merit of this. Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I will definitely check out your suggestions. This project is taking up a lot of time. Estimated production time left is about 3-4 months and this is after almost 2 years. It is really hard doing this alone, but I believe in it so I can't stop now. Not to mention the search for sponsors to cover the duplication, distribution and such after production is complete. On a bright side there is very little high production quality documentary style productions about Guam so I am kind of learning as I go and integrating my style as well as developing some new styles i.e. shooting,interviewing, sound, lighting.......
 
And once your finished, your next production of a similar type will take half the effort, time, etc cause you'll have all this knowledge. Cheers
 
Would Tooble Work?

Would Tooble Work?

I have no knowledge of digital rights management, and am new to the whole video production world, but when I wanted a minute of dialogue from the Mad Men TV show "Don pitches the carousel " to use with my home photos slide show, Tooble/Perian was just the thing to pull it off You tube. Once I had the asset, had no trouble locating and importing into final cut pro. As there seems to be everything else on YT - why not what you need? Also, just listened to a TED presentation about digital library by Brewster Kahle (they are free on iTunes/HD podcasts...and most of them are awesome!). Anways - they are archiving books, music, TV, (movies?)- so perhaps something there. HAven't had time to look, and not sure if the web site would be "Electronic Frontier Foundation" or "Open Content Alliance"
Good luck - I'm assuming there is no Apple store on Guam (a great resource).
 
I think the website would be archive.org. They have a lot of "public domain"/stock video footage. Hope you can find something for your project there
 
Hey thanks guys. Yeah I have been looking for footage. http://www.archives.gov has footage, however it is fairly expensive even if it is rights free. You need to hire an intermediary at like 300 a day to do the leg work. I will check your suggestions thanks again.
 
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