Funeral - I have been ask to film a funeral

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
I have been asked to film a funeral tomorrow night. I’m going to use the Dvx100. I have always used the 24p/widescreen setting for short films but for the funeral what would be the best setting? Have anyone here filmed a funeral before? Thanks
 
Sorry, I'm not answering your question, but, I'm intrigued!

What an odd request.

I have a funeral to go to next week, and I'm not sure that it would be 'the done thing'.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why anyone would want to film a funeral?
 
That's an interesting situation. Maybe take lighting into consideration and how everyone is going to probably wear a lot of dark colors. So maybe a slower shutter? Might not want to bring the master ped down so that the dark colors aren't under exposed. I'm just listing stuff here, never shot a funeral.

Although when I first read the title I was thinking of all the ways you could edit the footage in poor yet hilarious taste.
 
iSTy said:
Sorry, I'm not answering your question, but, I'm intrigued!

What an odd request.

I have a funeral to go to next week, and I'm not sure that it would be 'the done thing'.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why anyone would want to film a funeral?
Click to expand...

Filming funerals is actually becoming a lot more commonplace - not to the same level as weddings, but it's definitely heading in that direction.

It's a big thing in the grief and loss community, to help with therapy/coping, especially for children. A kid sits through a funeral, doesn't really know what's going on, doesn't appreciate everything - then, a few years later, they can watch the video and really get what the deceased meant to people.

Make sense? I've got a buddy who runs a grief and loss center for kids, that's the only reason I know about this kinda thing.
 
Plus in the age of 'the global village' lots of people live far away fron their families and friends and can't make it. this was true for my family recently.

Hey New_Zealand - where is the funeral? Would a second operator be useful? It's a field I am seriously wanting to expand into since weddings are too small - if it's in AKL and you don't mind then I'd be interested in helping - PM me?
 
jackscoldsweat said:
Plus in the age of 'the global village' lots of people live far away fron their families and friends and can't make it. this was true for my family recently.

Hey New_Zealand - where is the funeral? Would a second operator be useful? It's a field I am seriously wanting to expand into since weddings are too small - if it's in AKL and you don't mind then I'd be interested in helping - PM me?
Click to expand...

I'm in Anchorage Alaska at the moment. I will be back in Auckland late this year and will be filming another project which most of it will be shot in Gisborne. Will PM you some info.
 
Chur! All the best with your shoot. For my money I'd stay with 24P - I use it all the time for weddings and with the exception of panning it causes no headaches for me. But I haven't shot a funeral. I can't envisage a problem with it unless (as I'm sure you are aware) you are planning to convert for slow motion - if so I'd load up one of the F settings with 60i and one with 24P with matching settings and go from there
 
Unless things have REALLY changed in the last year or two, here are some guidelines:

1) Be completely unobtrusive
2) Be at the back, on a tripod.
3) Wear stage black or funeral attire.
4) Deal with whatever lighting is there. Use a slow shutter speed. If your audience is older (elderly), use 60i (an exposure advantage, too) or 30p (with a slow shutter of around 1/36). If you think your audience has newer progressive scan TVs, you might consider 24p.
5) Don't linger too long on anyone who is in emotional pain (unless they are speaking as part of the ceremony).
6) Don't fiddle with the camera any more than absolutely necessary.
7) Be completely unobtrusive.

What are you doing for audio?
 
Many years ago I was asked to shoot a funeral. A young lady from Jaimaca came to the US for a vacation and was killed in a car accident. Her family couldn't afford the trip to the US so the video allowed them to attend while never leaving Jamaica. I would totally agree with Ullanta. The only thing I would add is to place a wireless (lapel mic) on the podium (unobstrusively) to capture the audio. The podium is the only place where audio is important or you need to record to capture. By all means, don't consider handholding or roving around. Be an attendee.
Gary
 
I'd also add that many funeral chapels have their own sound system - so if you can take a feed off that onto mini-disc, mp3 etc - you can also capture the music nicely and you have backup podium audio.

I'm sure you will but: Get there early! At my father's funeral the video guy I hired was late and was asking me questions right at the start - I didn't appreciate it. It is a funeral so being a little charitable and giving more time to be there early is probably a nice thing to do.

And like all shoots - design it in advance with sensitivity foremost in your mind (as the others have said) and you'll do well- Can you get the service sheet early?
 
and thank you from me too, for enlightening me, i guess it does actually make sense for the children :) :(
 
I've recorded a funeral before too. I thought it was odd but they had me film a particular part and than they told me when I needed to stop.
Mainly they wanted the people up there speaking about the individual.
I didn't feel real good about it.

Good luck.
 
from wedding video experience, scout out the location in advance and try to talk with whoever is running the service. if it is in some sort of church, then you can lav the podium, or place a shotgun on the podium or in the general direction of a speaker. better to have control of your own sound rather than trying to hook up to the main feed. if there is an organist, then you can lav it, or grab a handheld mic and put it on the organ or piano (whatever music source). be sure to put your main sound source (the podium) on ch. 2 so you can have it on L and R during the talking, then you can quickly switch to ch. 1 easily. just one main thing: if it is in a large room like a church, NEVER HAVE YOUR MIC IN THE BACK!!!!!! too much hiss... my parents' wedding video from the 80's had the worst sound quality ever! the wedding was in a small church and the genius sound guy thought he would get the best sound by having the mic on stage and pointing it out to the audience so the echo of the sound would bounce back! it did not work out too well!!! i know you are all way to smart to do that, but there's some stupid people out there!
 
My first paying job was a memorial service. Originally I was brought in to rebroadcast the service from the chapel to the basement. It's a small church and the family knew they would run out of room. I ran a feed to a couple of flat screens and the audio to a receiver. I had already planned to tape it just for review but the family asked at the last minute to tape it.

The family took some time (a month or two) to watch it, but they constantly tell me how much it has helped them. During the service they had friends and family stand up and tell stories. There was also the pastor and family that read scripture. The parents had almost no recollection of any of this (they remember the service, just not the story details) due to the shock and grief. Once they watched the video it helped them deal with the grief and slowly they are getting better at living with it. I have yet to make the jump into marketing (is that right to say?) for this, but there is a market.

Technically speaking it was similar to a wedding except for the stories. These were done spontaneously and from their seats. I used a DVX with an Azden SGM2x mounted on it. The sound was well below my standards now but it did ok. I would let the camera run the whole time unless you are asked to stop; I can't imagine you would be though. If there ends up being something questionable just ask the family. You can always cut it, but you can't use it if you don't shoot it.

Hope some of that helps.

Cole
 
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