1st Documentary, Larger than Life Subject

J

Jokerswild

Well-known member
Hello fellow filmakers. I would appreciate your suggestions for my upcoming scenario. Here is what is happening:
I am making my first full Docu. My equipment list is as follows:

Pair of Canon XH-A1 cameras
Portable battery operated Frezzi lights
Coolights, FL Lights, Fresnel Lights
Shotgun Mic, Lav Mics
Tripods, monopods, steadcams
Final Cut Pro Edit Suite

The project:
I cannot be too specific at this point but I have the exclusive opportunity to make a docu about a person who has contributed a well known symbol that has been adopted all over our Country by veterans of war. The gentleman is now in his eighties and I will be doing the interviews in January. I am based in the Northeast and he is out West. I will be flying out to his location then. I have access to a friend's photo studio so I will do the formal interview there with specific ideas I have for lighting and the mood of the interview. My friend has continuous lights so I am debating shipping my lights out there or should I just ship my camera gear and accessories? There will also be some genre shots at outdoor locations after the main interview and later this Spring, other related interviews on military bases and with a Secretary of the Navy and other "top" officials, who have endured war and torture as prisoners.

Here is a very important question I have:
Is the Canon XH-A1 up to the job?
Should I definitely shoot the docu all in 24p?
How should I phrase my releases?
I have no idea at this point where the docu will be shown, I have the opportunity and I am doing it. Marketing will come later on.

The rest is more technical and aesthetics but right up front, I need to know if I can use the Canons and should I shoot in 24P?

Thanks for any help on this. I value the opinions read here.
Steve
SJ Barao Photography
www.sjbaraophoto.com
 
still seeking input

still seeking input

.......so I guess regarding my previous post, my main questions remain:

" Is the Canon XH-A1 up to the job?
Should I definitely shoot the docu all in 24p?
How should I phrase my releases?"
 
Yes, the Canon XH-A1 is more than adequate for documentary.

24P is up to you, I've shot full docs in 24P. I like the look better and if you're material lends itself to a dramatic feel 24P is a good choice.

Not sure what you mean about phrasing your release forms, do you already have an appearance release made? As long as the language is clear and if it has some language releasing people's likeness for all forms of media existing or to be invented you should be fine. You should look into getting permission to use the symbol in your doc. It sounds like the symbol is trademarked which will cause you problems later on if you don't have that cleared ahead of time.

Be up front with your subject. If your intention is to get it widely seen or even just publicly shown at festivals or on television tell him that. Openness breeds trust.
 
releases

releases

Issac. Thanks for that input. The symbol was never trademarked. It is the symbol that is known worldwide to US Veterans of War, that we all have seen. It was intentionally never trademarked for us all to use. Can you direct me to a simply phrased release form with some verbiage? I too believe in upfront honesty and I have spoken to the lead in this Docu about this. We have a great understanding but I want it in writing. Thanks again.
 
I think I have settled in on shooting 24p. I was wondering about this though. If my Canon 5d2 comes in, in time, I may take that as well as my XH A-1. I realize that I will shoot in 24p and the 5D2 shoots in 30. Can I bring the 5D2 footage into a 24p timeline in Final Cut Pro? What will I be giving up if I do this?
 
Shooting in 24P, I understand my shutter should be set to 1/48th a second but this prevent me from using a higher speed if needed? or is that just the lowest I should use?
 
I was told by a Providence Broadcast videographer that if I plan on having my film get picked up locally for broadcast, I might want to consider shooting it in SD and not HD because the local outfits have no capability to broadcast HD unless I want letterbox or anamorphic squeezing. He said shooting in HD may limit my chances of local broadcast stations picking it up. I dunno, I reallly hate to go backwards and shoot this in SD. Personally letterbox doesn't bother me that much but indeed it may limit my distribution.
 
Just shoot for a 4:3 safe zone if letterboxing is really a turn-off for local broadcasters. Downconvert it in post and crop the sides off in 4:3 project a la pan and scan. Or just letterbox it. I would definitely shoot HD if you can.
 
If you have a choice, always shoot HD, it is somewhat futureproofing your project. Almost all editing software will allow you extract a 4x3 SD output of your HD timeline to DVCAM/DBeta, etc. What if you shoot SD and then someone becomes interested in something bigger like film fests or HD broadcast, you are screwed. Shooting HD is the only way to go since about 2006.

If you are talented and know what you are doing, the A1 is a great little camera. If you are shooting two cameras, stick to the same model, don't mix the 5D with the A1 unless you don't care if they match.

Get everyone to sign your releases and keep copies. I usually make them sign one, then give them a copy of it so they have a record of what they signed. Don't forget location releases, they screw over more newbie filmmakers than talent releases. Everyone knows about talent releases but did you know that no studio will touch your product without location releases? Cable networks will generally not be as strict as the studios about this stuff but lawyers are a PITA and the more paperwork/releases you can throw at them, the happier they are.

Hire a soundmixer if you can, most projects like this are sunk by lousy audio.

Good luck!

Dan
 
Puredrifting and Jeff. Thanks a lot. I am definitely not going backwards and shooting in SD. It will be HD or nothing. Getting close to filming time. Going to fly out first week of January. For my studio interviews, I have obtained the use of a photo studio from a friend out in Colorado Springs. He has continuous lights and I will set it all up with him the day before. In preparation for this I have watched about 12 hours of war related documentaries. I am going to be very specific as to my lighting for my subject. I think I will be ok for the studio sound without getting a pro mixer. One camera will be boomed with a shotgun mic and the other camera will be using a wireless LAV. I already made tests in my studio (similar to Colorado studio) and that worked out well. In fact the LAV actually sounded better but I will use both for insurance. The Rode2 shotgun sound had more reverb which is tougher to correct. I will ask my studio contact in Colorado to get some cheap carpeting for his floors and that should help the sound quality a bit from the shotgun mic.

I also just picked up a Sony MRC-1 Compact Flash Card recorder again, as insurance. I can film this entire documentary with much less pressure but without this first interview with my main subject, there is no documentary.

I can't be specific until after January but this gentleman designed a symbol that has been adopted by the Veteran community and is very personal to them. I am having a bit of a quandry deciding if this docu should be on the man, the symbol, or both. I could expand it to veterans and their stories but I think that is getting off track and this has been done before. I realize though as I interview vets, they may go into their personal stories but I have decided that I will just let them speak and edit later. That would be the respectful thing to do.

I have spoken to some psychotherapists also as how to react should the vets stories become a little gut wrenching. Most agree that I just have some tissues available and ask them if they would like to stop or take a break.
 
Well friends, I just returned from Colorado Springs from filming the first phase of my first documentary. I researched this for 9 months and put over 500 hours of research and preparation that culminated in this past, very hectic weekend. I am doing a documentary on POW/MIA Veterans and the flag and the designer of that flag that symbolizes the POW/MIA plight.

I recorded 9 hours of riveting interviews. One of which was a 6 year "visitor" of the Hanoi Hilton. Probably the first time in recent years where I have been at a loss for words. It was a remarkable interview.

I shot on dual XH-A1 cams each running seperate audio. One camera had a Rode2 Shotgun close to the subject, the other camera had a Sennheiser Lav. From monitoring the audio, the Rode had a little echo as expected and the Lav seemed very clear and distinct. I had shipped many yards of fabric to hang in the studio while recording to muffle some of the echo. Had a large rug placed under the person being interviewed. Recorded the import subjects with a Sony MRC-1 compact disk recorder as a backup. So, two sources of audio and two sources of footage as a backup. Shot 9 almost full tapes.

Now the dilemma of trying to get it all to Gel as my original concept of the flag story has snowballed into Veteran's, POW stories, and Veteran issues. I figure I will get some story experts to sit thru all the roughs and then formulate the concept tighter. Thought you would all like to know.

As far as technical issues, I found that the Glidecam monitor and the Varizoom monitor were not all that helpful for focusing etc. I seriously need to invest in a HD battery powered monitor for the field. I shot in 24F at 1/48th sec for the inside shots and 60i outdoors for my shots that I wanted to use as slo motion footage.
 
Sounds awesome. Yes, it can be tough with docs to make the film about the story you thought it was going to be about. But there have been many very successful docs where this has happened with good results, including, "Sherman's March" and that one from last year (the name escapes me) about the couple living in New Orleans that went through Katrina and post Katrina, just to name a couple.

Keep on going and make it a good one.

Dan
 
Thanks..I really need to just take a week off from this though and not over think it just now. A break is really called for to give me a fresh look at it again in a week or so.
 
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