First time doc for theatrical distribution, would appreciate advice on gear

[Mercatus]

I've seen another thread similar to what this post is about. I believe Jonathan12uiz posted a list of gear he wanted to start his projects and he got some great feedback. I'd like to do the same here.

A little background: since I got out of college 5 years ago I've been working as a structural engineer in DC. Well, I've had enough of the crazy hours and the stressful deadlines and going home with my brain fried every day. Time to do something fun and creative (I should have majored in art). I have a subject that I basically feel that I absolutely have to make a documentary about. One those things where you feel like this is what you were meant to do with your life, ya know? I've quite my job and am traveling around the country in my Honda Accord with some basic film gear. I've spent the past two months cutting my teeth on short interviews, filming talks, and just plain playing around with my gear while hanging out with friends or shooting random stuff on the road. I have ZERO knowledge about photography, film making, editing, etc, so this should be a real blast. I realize that I have a lot to learn here (lighting, framing, scene composition, narrative storytelling, etc., etc., etc.) Even though I have no background in this stuff, I realized during my years as an engineer that I can figure out and develop skills in just about anything if I look at it with an open mind and put in the time and effort to learn it in an intelligent way. And thank goodness for the internet. I feel a great deal of gratitude for forums like this one. Also a great deal of gratitude should go to Anthony Q. Artis's “The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide” which has been a great primer for someone like me to get a handle on the scope of an undertaking like this. Oh and a very inspirational documentary for me was “Capturing Reality” it's a documentary about documentaries! Lots of documentary makers who had professional jobs like me that they left behind in their mid to late twenties.

My documentary will be primarily based around interview shoots (static interior & exterior, and maybe some walking interviews), cut with establishing shots of scenery, exterior and interior building shots, and occasional group action shots. And hopefully some animation down the road when I actually have some funding for this stuff. I won't need to do anything to fancy as far as camera work goes, my subject matter would be better complimented by smooth, slow movements and the interviews will be mainly in relatively controllable environments. Also I shouldn't have any need for keeping a low profile or filming in too many public places. So with these things in mind, the following is a list of the gear I'm putting together for this and I'd love to get peoples input. I realize that some may see this list as too much for a first time film by someone with no experience, but I like to jump in with both feet and feel like this is the level of gear that will allow me to produce the quality film that I want to make. Make no mistake, even though I know nothing about this stuff, I am aiming for theatrical distribution here (and probably further products considering the amount of footage I'm going to be obtaining). The subject I want to cover is extremely important to me and I know that the content is compelling enough to get a large market of people into the theaters to see this. Please wish me luck and take it easy on me. Thanks in advance.


Gear:

A-Cam:
AF100 (purchasing soon) – I currently own a HMC150 that I've been playing with for the past 3 months. The HMC150 is definitely a great camera – easy to learn with (especially with Barry Green's book) and makes run and gun stuff a pleasure, but for interviews, as I'll mainly be doing interviews I'd rather get a higher quality picture as this documentary WILL be hitting the theaters. The AF100 stretches my budget, but allows me greater creativity with how I shoot my interviews. I'll have about 6 different classes of interviews and I'd like to have each class to have it's own look. Sure I can do this with the HMC150, but I was already considering getting a 35mm adapter for the HMC150 and the combined cost justifies a step up to the AF100, in my opinion. Then I'll have two cameras where I can swap out lenses and get creative with stills and video. I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering this from AbelCinema to get a discount on the AF100 class that they are offering with Barry Green in May. Seems like a good opportunity for someone like me to get some great education from Barry and others taking the classes.
Manfrotto 055X Tripod w/ 501HDV Head (already own) – Definitely sufficient for interviews, but I do wonder what a step up to a 503 head would do for more fluid panning.

B-Cam:
GH2 (already own) – Great little DSLR for use as a video cam. The footage I get from it convinced me that I'd like to upgrade from my HMC150 to an AF100.
Sunpak – 6600PG Tripod – crappy little thing, got it because I needed something quick for the past two weeks and am not too thrilled with it. It's been sufficient for setting up a stationary second cam to cut to during close ups, and I appreciate the low weight. May keep it until I really have a need for something better.

Possible C-Cam:
Panasonic TM700 or a used GH1, doesn't seem necessary at this time, but i may want the extra flexibility in the future

Lenses:
-Lumix 20mm/F1.7 Pancake (already own. Mainly for taking low light stills, probably won't use for the documentary)
-Lumix 14-140mm/F4.0-f/5.8 (came with my GH2 kit, I used it with my GH2 to test run it as a B-Cam and am already running into problems recording talks in low light conditions over the past two weeks)
-Lumix 7-14mm/F4.0 Wide Angle – seems like a great lens from the reviews, and would interact great with both the AF100 and GH2, but that seems like an awfully slow lens for capturing wide angle shots of low lit interior spaces, which I may end up having to do some of. Any suggestions for a similar wide lens that would be quicker? Especially one that would allow me to put on a UV filter for exterior landscape shots (the Lumix doesn't seem to accommodate external filters)
-2 nice, sharp, fast primes (maybe a 25mm and a 50mm) or a single high quality short range zoom lenses for interviews. These would be what I would actually use for the bulk of the interviews (if the image quality is a great deal better than the above Lumix lenses). Will hopefully find some high quality used glass at a discount
-Lens filters, not sure about this yet, will probably think about this later

Accessories:
-Field Monitor – Would love some suggestions here. I want a professional quality monitor to really make sure I'm getting the picture I want while shooting (will hopefully make for less work in post and from what I hear on the forums the AVCHD codec may degrade with too much post work). Should I get 2 monitors? One for the AF100 and one for the GH2? Maybe I'll just start with one for use primarily with the AF100 and just plug in the GH2 before shooting just to make sure I've got what I'm looking for. Are the CoolLCD ones acceptable?
-SDHC Cards – I've been using Transcend brand cards with no problems for the past two months, may consider a more costly brand when I'm done playing around and start seriously recording interviews
-Extra AF100 7.2V 5800 MA Battery
-Extra GH2 Battery
-GH2 AC Adapter for extended interviews
-Petrol PWB-HDV Bag – got this at a discount when I got my HMC150, should be useful for the AF100, but still need a bag for the GH2 and any additional lenses.

Audio:
-Rode NTG-3 Shotgun Mic (already own, also have a wind muff and shock mount for it)
-Tram 50 Lav Mic (already own, boy this thing sounds great to my ears)
-Sony MDR-7506 Pro Headphones for monitoring audio
-Maybe a wireless lav mic in the future, but the above combination seems to be sufficient for the one on one interviews I'll be doing. I'd like to avoid an outboard mixer and keep the audio section simple by just using the XLR inputs on the AF100. I'm not sure if I'll need to capture my voice asking questions (a creative decision I haven't made yet), but I'm can always overdub that in post.

Lighting:
-Just thinking of getting a basic 3 light Lowell Kit (so many kits to choose from though! any suggestions?) and maybe a China ball. I've had decent success over the past two months using basic lamps that I bought from walmart, but that obviously won't cut it for theatrical documentary. Any guidance here? LED vs tungsten? Haven't begun to research this yet...

Backdrops & various set pieces:
Shouldn't need too much of this as I'll want to do these interviews with people where they live/work/teach. Will need to have some expression of them come through in the backgrounds and this will entail using what they have.

Editing:
-Laptop (need to buy)– I have a huge HTPC that I can edit on when I'm home, but it's in storage with all my other stuff as I don't have a residence right now. I'm traveling for most of this documentary and am looking for a new PC laptop with a sandy bridge processor and a high end graphics card capable of efficiently handling editing AVCHD files and burning blu-rays. Any suggestions? Side note: not looking for a Mac as I'm not looking to edit with FCP. I'm sure a new Macbook Pro and FCP are fantastic, but as I'm doing my first documentary with absolutely no knowledge of how to do it, I'm going to turn down also learning the complicated beast that is FCP on an operating system that I'm completely unfamiliar with.
-Software (need to buy)– As mentioned above, I'm looking for an easy to use editing program for PCs. I noticed that the guy who did Voices of the Strait mentioned that Vegas Pro would have been more appropriate for that talking heads documentary because it is simpler to use and he didn't need all the complicated versatility of FCP. Vegas Pro seems like a good option as it will let you author blu-rays, but does anybody have any other suggestions for a relatively easy to use editing program for people who don't need everything that FCP has to offer? How is Adobe Premiere (probably complicated)? I realize I should do my own research on this, but I'm not there quite yet and some suggestions would help point me in a general direction to research what program would be right for me.

For those of you who read this far down, thanks for your time!

 

[keylight]

A few quick thoughts:

First on the whole nature of documentaries. Documentaries work best when you show people instead of telling them. So lots of interviews of people talking about things that happened or facts, isn't the same thing as showing the audience. Show, don't tell.

Second, as far as gear goes, the best advice is to see who in your area might be working on a documentary and ask if you can visit and observe some of the process. You'll get more out of actually seeing the work being done than you will from people just telling you about it. (Okay, so show is better than tell for learning how to as well.) I don't have any specific thoughts on what gear to get. Get out there and try/play with as much as you can before you sink any money into it.

Third, if you get to observe a good documentary being produced, you'll see that they've probably got most of it pretty well structured before they start shooting. They'll at a minimum have a fairly well developed outline of the whole thing and will probably have shot lists and possibly some storyboards. They will also have scouted locations, have lighting plans, pre-interviewed a lot of people and chosen from that pool the select few on camera talent who are most persuasive. But again, they'll be planning to show people evidence on screen and won't rely on someone telling the story via interview.

There is an excellent book called Making Documentary Films and Videos. Although the author does tend to inject a bit much of his own political POV into the book, if you can look past his biases there is a lot of really good information in it.

 

[custerc]

A few quick thoughts:

First on the whole nature of documentaries. Documentaries work best when you show people instead of telling them. So lots of interviews of people talking about things that happened or facts, isn't the same thing as showing the audience. Show, don't tell.

Second, as far as gear goes, the best advice is to see who in your area might be working on a documentary and ask if you can visit and observe some of the process. You'll get more out of actually seeing the work being done than you will from people just telling you about it. (Okay, so show is better than tell for learning how to as well.) I don't have any specific thoughts on what gear to get. Get out there and try/play with as much as you can before you sink any money into it.

Third, if you get to observe a good documentary being produced, you'll see that they've probably got most of it pretty well structured before they start shooting. They'll at a minimum have a fairly well developed outline of the whole thing and will probably have shot lists and possibly some storyboards. They will also have scouted locations, have lighting plans, pre-interviewed a lot of people and chosen from that pool the select few on camera talent who are most persuasive. But again, they'll be planning to show people evidence on screen and won't rely on someone telling the story via interview.

There is an excellent book called Making Documentary Films and Videos. Although the author does tend to inject a bit much of his own political POV into the book, if you can look past his biases there is a lot of really good information in it.

All good advice, although for some docs it's impossible to plan that much out beforehand...it depends if you're shooting a doc about something that already happened or currently happening. If it's something current, you can't always storyboard or scout locations because you can't predict the future. BUT, that said, you should still be trying to predict the future, and you should have an idea about the film you want to make up front, even if you can't be sure how events will actually unfold.

As far as books go, I'd suggest picking up and reading "Directing the Documentary" by Michael Rabiger. That's all the doc history, theory, and conceptual stuff; with Artis's book for the more practical day-to-day issues, you're pretty much covered. I too am shooting my first feature length doc, and using those two books as a guide.

I agree with Keylight you want to be careful with talking heads, although it's hard to be sure without knowing your topic. After all, The Fog of War was basically just one long talking head interspersed with archive footage, and that was an amazing film!

Regarding gear, your list looks good, and is similar to mine. I also have, and frequently use, a very cheap monopod because I like the "personal" feel it gives interviews when the camera is moving a little bit (not as shaky as handheld, but not as solid as a tripod). I am shooting all the interviews for this film, my "talking heads" with a monopod for that very reason, even though I have a very nice tripod that we use for slow pans and other good stuff like that. Something to consider, if it fits the vibe and subject matter of your film.

I'm shooting my film with an HMC150 and Canon 60d for a b-cam. I think the AF100 and GH2 will be a similarly effective combination, although you might consider the hassle of fiddling with lenses on the AF100 if your doc is going to entail any need-to-get-this-shot-right-now moments. I wanted a camera with manual controls but that was also capable of firing up and starting to shoot within a few seconds, without worrying about switching lenses, which is why I ended up with an HMC. You already got one, so you know how that goes, and it sounds from your description like you won't be run-and-gunning, so the AF100 is probably a good choice if you can afford it.

Although...if I were you, I might also consider holding off on it for a little bit to see what Canon comes out with next. I don't follow too closely so I could be totally wrong, but have heard there's talk of a 5dmk3 coming soonish. If that is the case, and if it's coming soon -- again, I really don't know, just a hypothetical -- it might be worth waiting to see what they've added to it. I suspect we'll see the addition of some serious video-friendly features (at least I hope so), and if there are, it might be worth going for that over the AF100, since the sensor is bigger.

For gear, if you're traveling a lot, get a nice big hard case to carry as much as you can safely. If you can, get one of the ones with wheels! I have a lovely hard case that protects my gear very well, but it doesn't have wheels, and let me tell you, lugging that thing around the country there are times I really wish it did! I would also upgrade from the Transcend cards. Chances are you won't have a problem either way, and that if you do, your footage will be recoverable, but if it isn't and you had something important on there, you're going to want to kill yourself when you see that "card error" message.

Re: monitors, can't help there, we don't have any (trying to stay low key and mobile). For lens filters, I use UV filters on everything (mostly just to protect the lens itself). Consider ND filters too if you plan to do outdoor shooting with the GH2 a lot.

For editing, I'm using Premiere Pro and After Effects, but I haven't made anything super long with those yet (I recently switched from Final Cut) so I can't speak to how good they are. Definitely very powerful tools, though. If you've used any Adobe products you probably have the basic idea -- they aren't the most user-friendly programs in the world, but they can do tons of stuff, and with a few tutorials, it isn't too hard to learn to do whatever you might need.

As for the computer, learning OS X is about as difficult as learning where the "Take photo" button is on a stills camera. It's really very intuitive, and even if you've never used it before, I don't think that should stop you from considering it. Of course, considering other options is also worth it. I'm running CS5 on a 3-year-old macbook pro now, and premiere and AE work great, if a little slow thanks to my old computer's oldness. For what it's worth, when I upgrade in a year or so (right around the time we plan to stop shooting and start work in post), I plan to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro, then mod it to remove the optical (DVD) drive, put the HDD drive in its place, and replace the HDD drive with a fast SSD boot drive. (Not going to do it myself, since I'm not that good with tinkering, but pros can do it easily and it isn't as expensive as you'd think).

Re lighting, interview questions, etc., think about what your subject lends itself to, stylistically. For example, I'm making a film about kidnapped children in China, or more specifically, about a family trying to find their child, and a child who was kidnapped trying to find his family. This is a really personal subject, and that had a deep influence on some of the stylistic choices I have made. For example, the monopod interviews to make them feel more personal and less composed, I shoot with only natural light (OK, sometimes slightly enhanced natural light, but never 3point interview lighting or anything that's clearly "composed), lots of handheld stuff, zooms, etc. I shoot interviews in natural locations rather than controlled ones, places where there's some (although not a ton) of background noise so that viewers feel like they're actually there. I think this is a look and feel that will work for my film. But this would be an AWFUL series of choices if I was trying to make an "authoritative" film taking a stance on a major social issue or whatever. So, from that you can probably see how the subject affects even gear and budget considerations. It SOUNDS from your post like you have a good idea of your subject and how you want your film to look, but you haven't given a ton of detail so I figured I'd mention this just in case. If you haven't, spend some time thinking about what kind of cinematic style works best for your subject, and what implications THAT has for your gear.

Anyway, that's just my $0.02.