First time Doc questions

T

tcmultimedia

New member
Hello,
I am in the pre-production phase of my first doc. Have it planned out with needed equipment, and feel like I am about ready to move forward. I have a couple questions I haven't seen answered anywhere, so:

1. My doc is about a former pro boxer, not a known name. He has given me a bunch of tapes (1980's timeframe). These tapes have footage from espn, usa network, some local channels, from both canada and us. These were taped from tv broadcasts on his own vcr, not supplied by the networks. Do I have the rights to just be able to use the footage, or do I have to apply or something to get the rights to use? If I have to get the rights, where do I start?

2. The title of the Doc - what are the possible issues with the title of the Doc? If similiar or the same title of a previous movie or Doc, is that an issue?

3. If my new footage is high quality HD (interviews, B Roll), and I have lower quality VHS footage to incorporate into the main HD timeline in Premiere Pro 6, do you recommend enlarging the footage to fill the larger HD size, or keep original size and not fill the frame? Will the lower quality video be an issue with broadcast specs (if I am lucky enough to get it that far!).

4. Finally, I am purchasing a Sony Ea-50 camera. There are so many different options to shoot the new footage, like 1920x1080 60i, 24p, 30p, etc.Any recmmendations on what to shoot with,as far as all these settings to choose from? Hard drive space and other PC editing specs are not an issue as I have a new PC that can handle.

Thanks for any assistance.
 
1. You do not have the right to use the broadcast footage. It could belong to the network that broadcast it (like ESPN) the promotion that put on the fight or some other entity. The first place I would start is with the channel/station that broadcasted the fight.

2. Confusion would be the main problem if it is similar to another doc.

3. Since the source footage is 4x3 I would leave it 4x3 in the edit. VHS is so low quality you want to enlarge it as little as possible plus if you blow it up to fill the whole 16x9 frame you've killed the framing of the source material (and since it's sports footage that could mean losing lower thirds, ring clock, etc.,).

4. I would stay away form 60i. 24p is known as the 'universal format' as it can be easily converted into other standard frame rates but 30p would play nicer with your archival footage which will all be 30fps interlaced.
 
Prioritization of equipment for increased client satisfaction.

I am about to start a documentary on a historical site (inside/outside, 4-season recording) with two narrators, no crew.

I have a good camera i.e. Panasonic AG-AC160A; solid tripod; excellent remote w/ on/off, zoom, focus, iris; Gliders Grey shoulder rig for off-tripod work, good lighting and OK sound equipment.

Which of the following add-ons in decreasing order of bang-for-buck are likely to result in increased client satisfaction?

smoother pan/tilt tripod head
hd video recorder (I want to end up with 720/24p output on Blu-ray).
slider
external HD monitor
(other.... please specify)
 
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kwkeirstead said:
Which of the following add-ons in decreasing order of bang-for-buck are likely to result in increased client satisfaction?

smoother pan/tilt tripod head
hd video recorder (I want to end up with 720/24p output on Blu-ray).
slider
external HD monitor
(other.... please specify)
Click to expand...

The slider is the only one of these that will actually allow you to make shots you couldn't create otherwise, so it is most likely to make a difference to the client. The tripod head may improve the look of your video as well, but that depends on how bad the one you're currently using really is.

Unless you're doing very extensive green-screen work, actual viewers are unlikely to notice any advantage from an external recorder. And the monitor is mainly for your own convenience, which might speed up your shooting and make setting focus and exposure easier, but doesn't actually enable you to do anything you can't already accomplish with a little more effort.

How's your lighting gear? How about microphones, shock mounts, windscreens, boom and a good preamp/mixer or external recorder? Light control and audio quality may make a bigger difference than anything you do on the camera side.

- Greg
 
Thanks, Greg... I will go for the slider.

I built two 12 foot high light stands that seem to work well for me.

As for audio, I have a a Rode VideoMic Pro and a Tascam DR1000MKII. Difficult with the DR100MKII to align the sound for music stage presentations but for these I usually am able to get an XLR feed from a sound board.

What do you think about the DR100MKII on a stand\boom compared to a microphone that I could connect direct to the camera?
 
As for increasing the client satisfaction, AUDIO. Outside of actual content that you capture, that is the NUMBER ONE factor that will boost the quality of your film. I'm editing my first doc, and damn am I glad that got good audio gear and researched and tested everything before I started shooting. It sounds top notch to my ears. Everybody that has seen my private teaser thinks that I had a half-mill budget, but I did it for $50,000.

Regarding the clips from broadcast, you have to look into Fair Use. It is a very fine line. It doesn't matter if you recorded it from a VHS player, youtube, or hacked their site... don't make a bit of difference. The ability to use that content without permission depends on if you use it in accordance with the Fair Use Act or not. The main criteria is whether the copyrighted content takes on a transformative nature in the new work; meaning are you using it in a different way than originally intended, or use it to show it in a different nature. More often than not most uses do not fall under these requirements.

I am not a lawyer, so don't take my words as definitive legal advice.

Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Fa...=UTF8&qid=1365137021&sr=1-1&keywords=fair+use
 
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