Ideal gear for run-n-gun doc

C

custerc

Well-known member
So, I'm starting a new doc project soon and the funding on Kickstarter is going really well -- almost $7500 so far. Let's say that whatever else comes in goes to our travel expenses. With that $7500, what gear would you buy to make a run and gun doc in China, assuming you already had:

-Countryman EMW wired lav mic
-Rode NTG3 shotgun mic and associated accessories
-Nice headphones
-A photo tripod (fine for interviews, but no fluid head for panning)
-One camera bag big enough for most panny video cameras and some extra gear
-One pretty rugged backpack that could hold other gear.

What would you get to add to that? Here's what I'm thinking about (I want to shoot this in HD so...)

  • Panasonic HMC 150 (or 153, asia model)
  • Canon 60D or 7D + stock lens
  • Extra Batteries and SDHC cards for both
  • Two sets of sennheiser wireless lav mic systems
  • depending on what's left after that, pro video tripod
  • some diffusion paper and small hardware store lights.

By my calculation, if we go with the 7D, the cameras will total about $5000, the wireless sets will be around $1200, which leaves around $1300 for the rest...SD cards, batteries, tripod (maybe) and lights.

I'm not 100% sure whether the tripod is worth it, though. The tripod we have now is fine for sit-down interviews and anything that requires a stable shot but no panning. And aside from that, I think many of our other shots may need to happen to quickly to set up a tripod, so I'm thinking about going totally handheld. This also means we don't have to cart a tripod onto trains and stuff when we travel.

The reasoning behind the cameras is this: I want something I can hard-wire the sound into, something that's built to be pick-up-and-go pro video (hence the HMC, which will be our A-cam). But I thought it would also be good to cover most things with another camera too (good insurance in case we lose an SD card or something) and the 7D seemed like a good option for a couple reasons: (1) sexy depth-of-field shots for b-roll (2) small and looks like regular camera, so doesn't attract much attention (3) since this is a doc, we may have some need to shoot some stills as well.

Thoughts? What would YOU do?
 
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I certainly wouldn't use a DSLR for run and gun docs, if that is what you are considering. For controlled shoots yes, run and gun no. The HMC150 is the way to go. I "ALWAYS" travel with at least a tripod and you should also. Or consider a collapsible "monopod". Certain situations call for it if you don't want to make the viewers sea sick. Any time you have to zoom to frame a shot with a hand held camera you will wish that you had a tripod. Your shots will end up looking like someones amateur vacation movies. Of course if you are resourceful you can use the environment for camera stabilization... Park benches, walls or fences, hood of a car etc etc anything that you can put your camera on for support is better than nothing. But than again a small sized tripod will be no problem to carry along... If not the tripod you might consider at least shoulder mount for the HMC150.

My business partner and I traveled all over Russia via "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" with a lot of equipment, lights, boompole, C-stand, 2 tripods, 48" camera slider, mics, monitor and stand, plus all the accessories and essentials. I wasn't about to compromise production values for personal convenience. We have good Pelican cases for everything to travel in. Good planning and packing is the key. You have to decide what level of production you are trying to achieve. Yes it was a lot of work.. but worth it when we got home and viewed the results of our labor.
 
Tommy K has some valid points. I would say as a B-cam, the HDSLR would be nice, but a pain to sync and edit in post. A second HMC150 or HPX/EX camera might be a better option. One thing to think about is archiving media during and after the project. Docu stuff has a high shooting to final footage ratio. Would you ever consider something with a tape, like HDV. I am not a fan of HDV and love the ease and stability of P2, but tapes on a shelf are a little 'safer' long term than data on a hard drive. (BTW - I use P2, but just sayin')

Lights are very important and $1300 is not going to get you much. Nothing says amateur and "run, fire!" like hardware store lights. I would skimp on the dual wireless audio, if walk and talks are a must, than maybe just get one g3 and throw the rest into a better tripod and decent lights (I use a sachtler tripod and Arri lights). My personal taste is to keep the camera gently moving on interviews with a fluid head tripod. Most of it is going to be covered with b-roll, but its wonderful to have a subtle move on a talking head (if you are interested, see some sample work here: http://awakenedfilms.com/reel.html).

Also, you may want a small on camera light, depending on what type of shooting situations you are planning for.

You will also need hard drive storage for all of that footage, and redundant backups if you are shooting to cards. That could easily be $1k or more for a few TBs in a RAID solution.

Travel expenses are going to add up. I flew to VA with an 80lbs light kit and was charged $300 each way! I could have hired a local DP with lights for that price!

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions and I'd be more than happy to help.


Jason
 
Tommy K: My aversion to using a boom pole or hardcore lighting setups is not so much that I'm too lazy to drag it onto a train as that I'm trying to shoot this without being arrested*, so I want to keep a relatively low profile wherever possible. I also have no intention of using the DSLR primarily, my thinking was it would make a good b cam for some prettier shots, and a good way to get some extra coverage/cut always while the main cam (HMC covers the interviews).

AwakenedFilms: Yeah, I like a lifelike camera for interviews too, I've been using a monopod (came with my crappy photo tripod) for that to nice effect. As for lights, my concern is just that (1) it's going to be impractical to drag them across the country and (2) I could only use them in set interview situations where, hopefully, most of the video on't be used anyway.

*Always a danger no matter what you're shooting in a country with pretty much no protection of freedom of speech, especially for foreign nationals. I don't have filming permits (these can cost millions and are basically impossible for foreigners to get for a documentary esp.) and the topic we're shooting is somewhat sensitive. We're going to do the best we can to protect ourselves, and we're avoiding at all costs going after the "political" aspect of this issue, but nevertheless, I fear that setting up a bunch of lights and a boom mic is inviting a lot of police attention we don't want. That's another reason I want a DSLR b-cam -- there are situations when having one of those is going to be useful because pulling out a big HMC is going to attract too much attention.
 
You didn't tell us you were attempting to do a "clandestine" documentary to avoid being arrested... Big difference than just asking about your choice of doc equipment, and not telling us how you intend to use it... Why not use a smaller cam than the HMC150? LIke the Everio GZ-HM550 that is around $700. Use very small hand held cams that tourists might use.

Obviously be as light on your feet as possible. Take only the absolute essentials. And yes, don't flash a big camera in sensitive public areas. Keep as low a profile as you can, and try to do interviews indoors or private areas. Keep yourselves looking like tourists as much as possible. You can light an interview in a dark room with a single light bulb if you have to. You're in China.. use a Chinese lantern for lighting.

This type of project will have to focus on good content.. not the best possible production values.

We were stopped twice by the Russian Federal Security Bureau (formerly KGB) and questioned. But when we told them our topic.. they just let us go:)
 
Tommy K said:
You didn't tell us you were attempting to do a "clandestine" documentary to avoid being arrested... Big difference than just asking about your choice of doc equipment, and not telling us how you intend to use it... Why not use a smaller cam than the HMC150? LIke the Everio GZ-HM550 that is around $700. Use very small hand held cams that tourists might use.

Obviously be as light on your feet as possible. Take only the absolute essentials. And yes, don't flash a big camera in sensitive public areas. Keep as low a profile as you can, and try to do interviews indoors or private areas. Keep yourselves looking like tourists as much as possible. You can light an interview in a dark room with a single light bulb if you have to. You're in China.. use a Chinese lantern for lighting.

This type of project will have to focus on good content.. not the best possible production values.

We were stopped twice by the Russian Federal Security Bureau (formerly KGB) and questioned. But when we told them our topic.. they just let us go:)
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Well, I want a nice camera like the HMC because in plenty of situations, there shouldn't be a huge issue and I want to have most of the pic to have good IQ. And it's small enough that I think in some situations, I can still play myself off as a rich tourist (anything bigger or shoulder mounted and there's no way) as long as we don't have a big (or obvious) audio setup (hence the wireless lavs).

I have been thinking about getting a little consumer cam, something we could use for any "hidden cam" situations and any public situations where I think we're in danger, but I'm also kind of hoping that the DSLR is an alternative to that. The Canon DSLRs, especially, are everywhere here; setting one of those up on a tripod is (oddly enough) probably going to attract less attention than handholding a HMC or another pro video cam. But I may also invest in a small handheld cam like the GZ-HM550.

It's sort of hard to explain why I think in most cases the HMC would be ok, but a boom mic or a big light kit wouldn't. I guess it comes mostly from experience (I've shot some shorter stuff here in China with a DVX 100, which I gather is basically the same size as the HMC...

Yes, for lighting, we will probably use a lot of Chinese lanterns (at least in the interviews and other situations where it's practical for us to control the lighting...

So the KGB let you go, eh? What kind of rights do you have as a foreigner shooting in Russia? Or is it similar to China (where the law on the books is pretty much meaningless and it's all up to local cops and officials' judgement, especially the further you get from the capital and major cities)
 
custerc said:
So the KGB let you go, eh? What kind of rights do you have as a foreigner shooting in Russia? Or is it similar to China (where the law on the books is pretty much meaningless and it's all up to local cops and officials' judgement, especially the further you get from the capital and major cities)
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You basically have no rights as a foreigner. We hired a Russian driver (who happened lived in the USA for a short time), and he knew how to keep us out of trouble. We kept a separate "fund" just in case he needed to pay someone. We only needed to pay a local policeman one time. He gave us access to an off limits roof top on a city landmark building, so we could shoot and get a good view of St Petersburg from above.

Our rented apartment base camp, was literally 50 feet directly across the street from the KGB headquarters. They saw us coming and going for almost a month.. if they wanted us, they didn't have far to go to get us...
 
So, did you get your equipment? Just wondering what audio you got for your shoot. - headphones, mics etc. Any advice would be welcome!
 
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