"documentary in africa"

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thewill

Member
So...I have a team of four to travel from New York to Angola and shoot a documentary on children abused because they are accused of being witches. Children are stoned to death and burned alive, buried alive...all sorts of terrifying things. We are staying in an orphanage and going to be shooting the children survivors of these "witch hunts", the villagers who condemned them and possibly the faith healers who try to "beat the devil" out of the young kids. It will be delicate and perhaps a little danerous.

I am the director and producer. I have planned to be behind my DVX100b as well but am wondering how hard it will be to direct from behind the camera. We have an interviewer/ interpreter who will be conducting any interviews and taking my lead as to what to follow and what questions to ask, he speaks the language. We also have a sound recordist who will operate a boom or lav mics depending on the situation. He might also be a very capable DP if somehow sound and image could be combined. The fourth guy isn't as much of a film maker, wouldn't think he could handle sound or camera but he's here as more of the administrative, fundraising, Producers assistant if you will. My questions are as follows if anyone has some advice:

Do I need a camera operator who is not myself? Someone who can act as DP? Imperative? I've never shot feature documentary before and am not sure as to how hard it will be to follow action from behind the camera as well as "above the action" if you will. The all seeing director, eh?

Can I use OIS? I've heard it compressed the footage and you get 66% worse resolution. In that case i couldn't project it for screenings. If that's true and I can't use OIS how can i stabilize my image more fluidly without spending a ridiculous amount of money?

On a non-documentary low budget film my sound man can operate from the camera as you have rehersals to set sound and he knows the camera movement. In this case the on-the-move style will be inevitable. Is there anyway to get around having to buy a seperate sound unit for recording or do I need to buy one? If so what would be an affordable unit?

The main situation is that we need to try and keep our crew small as the subject matter is very vulnerable. Having all sorts of americans around in small villages in africa will compromise my ability to get honesty and comfort from my subjects proportionately to how many crew members are huddled around. I'd like to only have an interviewer, then myself and the sound recordist on one machine. But I am starting to worry that I will need to hire a separate DP/camera man to come along. Any advice from those who have done these delicate projects before will be super appreciated. Hell, any advice at all will be appreciated....even a plain good luck. Thanks,


Will
 
Last edited:
thewill said:
So...I have a team of four to travel from New York to Angola and shoot a documentary on children abused because they are accused of being witches. Children are stoned to death and burned alive, buried alive...all sorts of terrifying things. We are staying in an orphanage and going to be shooting the children survivors of these "witch hunts", the villagers who condemned them and possibly the faith healers who try to "beat the devil" out of the young kids. It will be delicate and perhaps a little danerous.

I am the director and producer. I have planned to be behind my DVX100b as well but am wondering how hard it will be to direct from behind the camera. We have an interviewer/ interpreter who will be conducting any interviews and taking my lead as to what to follow and what questions to ask, he speaks the language. We also have a sound recordist who will operate a boom or lav mics depending on the situation. He might also be a very capable DP if somehow sound and image could be combined. The fourth guy isn't as much of a film maker, wouldn't think he could handle sound or camera but he's here as more of the administrative, fundraising, Producers assistant if you will. My questions are as follows if anyone has some advice:

Do I need a camera operator who is not myself? Someone who can act as DP? Imperative? I've never shot feature documentary before and am not sure as to how hard it will be to follow action from behind the camera as well as "above the action" if you will. The all seeing director, eh?

Can I use OIS? I've heard it compressed the footage and you get 66% worse resolution. In that case i couldn't project it for screenings. If that's true and I can't use OIS how can i stabilize my image more fluidly without spending a ridiculous amount of money?

On a non-documentary low budget film my sound man can operate from the camera as you have rehersals to set sound and he knows the camera movement. In this case the on-the-move style will be inevitable. Is there anyway to get around having to buy a seperate sound unit for recording or do I need to buy one? If so what would be an affordable unit?

The main situation is that we need to try and keep our crew small as the subject matter is very vulnerable. Having all sorts of americans around in small villages in africa will compromise my ability to get honesty and comfort from my subjects proportionately to how many crew members are huddled around. I'd like to only have an interviewer, then myself and the sound recordist on one machine. But I am starting to worry that I will need to hire a separate DP/camera man to come along. Any advice from those who have done these delicate projects before will be super appreciated. Hell, any advice at all will be appreciated....even a plain good luck. Thanks,


Will
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Is this going to be interview based? Fly on the wall? What STYLE of shooting are you going for? What are the results you're expecting? If you can answer these questions, your course of action should become quite clear.
 
When you say Producer, do you mean that this is self financed? I only ask because it is hard to have a clear take on your project when so much is personally invested (especially when it hits crunch time).
If the question to this answer is no, then no worries... if yes, I would say you need a producer to look after finances first and foremost to leave you to the creative /directing... which it does sound like you want/need to be. This helps during crunch times, or when big decisions need to be made... There is obviously a lot of detailed factors that go into this... But...

To answer your question directly... I personally would say yes... you probably would like to have your attention more on your subject (child) or on the monitor, rather than measuring the distance between them and the camera etc... the less hats you wear the better... and 9 times out of 10 there is a reason there is a producer, DP and Director all on set...

This being said, it's also obvious that your project is a sensitive one, due to the subject matter and atmosphere circumstance (one that I think is great that your covering BTW) ... with all the knowledge you know about what you want in this project, you probably already know the answer simply by way of asking it means your concern would tell you, you do need a DP...
 
thank you both...I envision the image being a character of itself...a sort of vagabond traveler along for the ride but also a catalyst for action to take place...i feel that the nature of our subjects will drag them into a storytelling mode just because the camera is there...having a team of Westerners following impovershed africans around will offer these people an opportunity to share their stories. I imagine that the style would be somewhat of a cross between fly on the wall with interviews cut between the action...a narration from the subjects. I also plan to use a second camera that will be used as a point of view of the children. Dreamlike wandering shots with deep shadows and vibrant colors to relate that sort of grey canvas with explosive pops that seem to be what childhood memories are like. At least for me. The interviews and main thrust of the action will be more of an adults point of view appealing to our rational thinking as well as the more grounded curiousity which will hopefully contrast nicely to the free flowing and ever-changing curiosity that we will capture with the second camera. The second camera by the way is a cheapo panasonic gs19. I think it will work as blurry focus and low image quality is sort of the goal. I also plan to use black and white photographs of action to frame an integral moment. meaning the action will be suspended for a matter of seconds and then it will kick in again.

And no...I am the producer but by that I mean it has been my job to raise the money from private donors. Not all my own cash...

Also, any thoughts on whether or not to use OIS....the image stabalization if i will eventually be projecting the image on large screens?

Again, can I use the on camera levels and recording or is it best to get a separate recording unit so the sound recordist doesn't need to be on the side of the camera all the time?

Thank you in advance for your advice and knowledge,

Will
 
where did you hear that OIS makes the resolution 66% worse? That's pretty drastic man! I would also like a confirmation on this. I thought it was just that you leave it off for tripod pan and tilt, but didn't think there was actual image quality loss from having it on.
 
Me too....I feel like that can't be true but I heard it from a filmmaker who has made features on the dvx....I'm really curious.....does anyone out there know....?
 
The optical stabilizer should not effect your image resolution at all. Digital image stabilizers used in post will eat your resolution based on how much shake it is having to compensate for. Anything more then 10% is way too noticable IMHO.

For your audio, you will need a minimum of an external mixer. This will free up the sound op from hanging over your shoulder which is a horrible place for him to be anyways. A good wireless link to the camera is also a huge advantage. Dragging the cable around between you two is often very obtrusive and hazardous. The perfect setup would be an external mixer and recorder on your sound guy with a wireless link to the camera.

Every documentary I have ever done has a minimum of a cameraman/director, sound guy, and AD who needs to be in perfect sync creatively with the director. The AD runs around, preps the talent, deals with paperwork, takes care of transportation/foord, etc. A well-oiled 3 man crew can shoot just about anything.

Cheers
 
It may take some time for people to get adjusted,
if you have any South Africans in your group make sure its an area not sore over the Angola-Namabia conflict....
The smaller your crew in theory the less attention you'll attract, but not too small, 3 is a good number
perhaps have some fake or valid press credentials, a contact with an embassy, and a little put away for bribes or gifts..
Who is the orphanage run by?
An international agency?

Good subject matter btw, let us know how it goes,
 
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