GH2 Help me plan a gear list: Cambodian documentary

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peripatew

Well-known member
So, I'm still quite the noob, but I'm loving every minute of learning. I might have an opportunity to travel to Cambodia to work with an organization that is helping girls recover from being sexually trafficked. It's still early on in the planning stages, but I'd like to work with the organization to make an episodic documentary series of sorts. I have 3-4 ideas in which to tell of different perspectives of what is happening there, and I'd like to be able to have 3-5 episodes per story. I realize they will be rough, and that's a huge undertaking, but I think it would really help them communicate about what they do.

SO, I've been overseas a few times, but never in this capacity. So I know I'll need to travel as light as possible. I also know it is highly unlikely that I will be able to purchase all the gear that I will need, so I plan on renting what I can't buy (the trip will likely be less that 14 days). Even though I'm open to renting some stuff, I'd like to keep my gear list simple, and budget friendly.

Here is what I have:
GH2, w/ several large SD cards,
Intervalometer
MacBook Pro
20mm 1.7, kit 14-42, 24/2.0fd, 50/1.4fd, 35-105 macro/3.5fd
FaderND
Zoom H1 w/ wired lav
Videomic Pro
Small lowepro sling camera pack
Gorilla Pod (heavy SLR zoom one)
Monopod
And a igus slider
FlipHD

Please help me think through my high priorities for this type of trip, here's some things I have in mind:
SD card -> hard drive backup
Pelican travel case
Quality tripod
Stabilization rig, something like a Express35 run-n-gun trio, or maybe slightly bigger
Follow focus
Small HDMI LCD
On camera light
Upgrade H1 to H4n, rent wireless G3.
Rent better lenses, I plan on trial renting a big handful of lenses to see what would work best.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm not trying to win any awards, just produce some good quality videos to help them promote their work.
 
Having been to a couple of "extreme" locations I would strongly suggest keeping a second HDD for back up purposes. Even consider taking an SSD inside a waterproof/rugged case as a secondary backup, just in case. I could imagine nothing worse than a bag being stolen or a rainstorm saturating everything and then ending up with zero footage.
 
Power, power, power, no guarantee that when you come back to your hotel room or wherever that electricity is there to power your gudgets. Universal adapter for power, most countries use 220-240v while i think it is 110v in USA and you don't want to cut cables and modify your chargers to fit the local ones.
 
Hey I did a trip to Cambo last year and shot tons of footage. Are you going to be exclusively in Phnom Penh for the video shoots? I travel pretty light, but I brought a small slider, two lenses (50mm and 14-140), tripod an intervalometer, Fader ND and a netbook (which I did all the edits on). All fit within a small day pack except the slider. Next time I am ditching the slider and bringing a Flycam nano (very portable and very useful).

+1 on bringing a backup drive. I always bring one and keep my footage backups on there and keep it separate from all my equipment.

Here are the vids if you are interested:

http://vimeo.com/15787637
http://vimeo.com/14693261
http://vimeo.com/14348090
http://vimeo.com/14340728
 
Wow, great videos mojo! Very encouraging to see those were done with those two lenses. Great editing and composition. The killing fields one was tough to watch. What were your primary edits in post? What was your method for color correction, etc...? Love the look!

Would you rather have the flycam than a support rig?
 
+2 on backup drive


@mojo43,
you edited on a netbook? Which one do you use, was it a pain or reasonable enough editing with it?
 
I agree... try and travel as light as possible. Don't even consider bringing a follow focus and rods and that kind of setup. I too would think that a slider would require quite a bit of humping around but it depends upon how you travel.... I'd also think that a lightweight tripod would be an ideal thing and something that can be humped on the back of your camera bag... For bad weather, it's also good to have some raingear, and bring plenty of trashbags, ziplock bags, etc. Also, highly support what people say about power cause sometimes that will be all you'll need to go wrong to shut your whole operation down...

If you also shoot on smaller cards then maybe you could offload them to a DL DVD and ship them back to yourself. I've thought about doing that on my feature as the fear of loosing it, or getting it stolen would be a huge bummer...
 
peripatew said:
Wow, great videos mojo! Very encouraging to see those were done with those two lenses. Great editing and composition. The killing fields one was tough to watch. What were your primary edits in post? What was your method for color correction, etc...? Love the look!

Would you rather have the flycam than a support rig?
Click to expand...


Thanks. Killing fields was tough to shoot. I wanted to interview the people that went through it, but I just couldn't stomach it.

I did all of the editing and colour correction with Edius with the standard tools. I would have used Colorista and Looks for the grading but it wouldn't run on the netbook.

As for your rig question. If there are concerns about looking pro then a rig is definitely more useful. I just like to travel light (backpacking) and most of the time when I would want to use a rig it is too cumbersome to pull out so I end up shooting with a table top tripod rested on my shoulder as to not draw too much attention. I like shooting as spontaneously as possible.
 
stip said:
@mojo43,
you edited on a netbook? Which one do you use, was it a pain or reasonable enough editing with it?
Click to expand...

I just have a crappy acer netbook. What's nice is that it is tiny and portable. It was a bit of a pain, but I used proxy editing and it worked out well. Plus Edius is crazy fast! I had lot's of time for the edits so it wasn't a big deal... I wouldn't want to edit on it on a timeline.
 
mojo43 said:
I just have a crappy acer netbook. What's nice is that it is tiny and portable. It was a bit of a pain, but I used proxy editing and it worked out well. Plus Edius is crazy fast! I had lot's of time for the edits so it wasn't a big deal... I wouldn't want to edit on it on a timeline.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
mojo43 said:
If this is the case then make sure you have backups. There isn't much in Siem Reap from what i remember camera wise. Phnom Penh had more, but it wasn't like Hong Kong!
Click to expand...

I would plan for there being nothing available. So, batteries, batteries and batteries. Forget the slider. Travel light, it will reward you with sponteneaty and the ability to be discreet, something that I think will be very important considering your subject matter.
 
My Tips is to pack light and efficient. It really is one of the most important tips I can give you. Imagine walking around for several hours with a heavy backpack weighing you down. You'll get frustrated, annoyed, tired - which will end up affecting you and your shots! So pack light, plenty of water!

Ignore the Slider, Pack lots of batteries, lots of SD Cards. Be prepared that there'll be no electricity available. It's always to be safe than to be sorry.

Bring a Gorillapod with a Ballhead. In addition, try to get a Carbon Fiber Tripod for it's Portability and Weight. You will not regret it!

On top of that, remember to bring some UV Filters and ND Filters. You will not regret it! Trust me!
 
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