Math question?

B

Brian Schiller

Member
Hi, I've been filming a feature length documentary (for which I have grants to make) for about 5 months (with my dvx). I have close to 100 mini dv tapes that I've shot. If I shoot one more month, I think I can finish with somewhwere between 130-150 tapes. My question is, this being my first documentary, how many tapes do you think I'll need to end up with, to confidently be able to move back home, and go into editing?

I do have high hopes for this documentary as far as pursueing the upper echelon film festival circuit.

I know this figure must vary. I'm willing to be bet that some documentaries shoot thousands of hours and some might shoot as little as 100 or even less. I think it probably hs to do with the kind of story you're trying to tell and all the elements that are involved. So there's probably no easy answer for this question. Or is there? I'd like to get some feedback if possible. Thanks.

Brian
 
I don't think there is any formula to the number of tapes, or hours of footage needed to make a documentary. How familiar are you with the footage you've already shot? Do you have a good idea of the story you're going to be telling, and whether you have the footage already to support that story? How clear has your idea about that story been while you've been shooting?

In the great book, Documentary Filmmakers Speak, most of the filmmakers talk about a moment in shooting when they suddenly know that they have a film, when all of the elements that they have been wrestling with come together in something that had just played out in front of their cameras.

But I do think the key to knowing when you have enough is in knowing what you already have. This seems obvious, but it's very easy to shoot hours and hours of footage and lose track of what any of it is. Do you have the ability to step back for a time and seriously review the footage you've already shot, and then go back and shoot more as needed? Or do you need to get it all shot in a fixed amount of time? You mentioned moving back home to start editing, so I'm guessing you're in the field somewhere shooting this, and once you leave that's it.

We shot some 25 hours of footage in Copenhagen in September and because of other projects, I haven't really had a chance to fully log (much less transcribe) the footage we have. So we're scheduling a long weekend in August to sit down and watch everything and take extensive notes so that we know what we have, where we want to go with what we have and what we still need to get when we return in December. I'm actually thinking that the distance of time that has passed since we shot that initial footage is going to be beneficial in allowing me to view the footage objectively. But perhaps you don't have that luxury.

Anyway, enough about me! Best of luck with your doc. What is it about?
 
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