Renting 35mm cameras

H

hmfilmer

Active member
what is every thing i would need to shot with a 35mm camera like "matte box, follow focus, lens, tripod, film, etc....

also if i were to film in another country, how would i do that? you probably cant just walk in with all equipment? can you? also do you need permission from the country? if the country require you to have visa then do tell them i am going go to from country to make a documentary or what any experiences? that will help thanks
 
Do you have a crew? Funding? Producer? If you have a producer you might want to ask him or her to look into that.

Kev
 
Unless you plan to shoot in North Korea, you don't need permission. It is a good idea to contact the consulate of the country you plan to shoot in. Most consulate can help you plan with your project. They can help you locate local crews if needed, they can help you with translators or locating places that can help you with your project, such as rental houses,etc... Most consulate have wealth of informations and most of the services they offer are free or inexpensive... And if they don't offer the service your are loking for they can point out who will...
 
Just an idea i had, would be better or easy to rent the camera equipment in another country? like if you were filming in russia, would it be easier to just rent a camera from a rent house there? instead of bring it, and just take the film with you? or does anyone see problem with that? thanks for the help so far...
 
Many countries have heavy restrictions on journalism and filming, also Russia. To work there as a journalist you must get a journalist visa, which is next to impossible to get unless you live there. Same thing in India, Nepal, Indonesia, you name it.

It is illegal to go to the USA to do a documentary or a newspaper article without a journalist visa. Forms to fill, recommendations from editors in chief, have to visit the consulate for interrogation, males between 18-45 years old have to describe military history, list all foreign visits for the last 10 years etc. and we have to pay a hundred bucks for the privilege. USA is NOT the land of the free for us European journalists. Thank god I am over 50, it would be impossible for me to remember how many countries I have visited and when during the last decade, as we can walk over any border in EU without showing papers.

As a tourist we can come to US without a visa, but many European journalists have been thrown to jail at the border and sent back, and after that you can not enter or get a journalist visa for several years.

Sorry, I degress. My third or fourth journalist visa just expired (good for 2 years at a time) and I have to go thru the paranod hell called US consulate to get it renewd.

NSA, are you reading this?
 
Journalism is not film making. A movie director / producer is not a journalist. One of the reason Journalists need to ask for a special visa is because of the investigative nature of journalism... Which basically is: we want to make sure you are not a spy!
 
I think i will go with 16mm for now, to expensive for every thing for 35mm...
if i were to film in russia, the documentry would be about skateboarding, and use russia as a trip to film there for skateboarding... not about russia
 
Case study: Nepal.

To shoot film or Video for TV means journalist visa, government liason officer, all material subject to government review before export.

Many countries are like that. My rant about US visa practices was directed against post #3 by "SomewhereinLA" who is quite naïve about the ways of the world, even his own country, which demands a journalist/business/whatever-classification visa for everybody not a certified tourist. And the process of getting one is paranoid. USA is the North Korea of the West.
 
SomewhereinLA said:
Unless you plan to shoot in North Korea, you don't need permission.
Click to expand...

This is a blatantly false statement. A great many countries are extremely restrictive about not only permission to film, but also what equipment you can bring into their country. Saying something baldly untrue like this is likely to get someone in serious trouble.

To answer your previous question, the more equipment you need, the better off you probably are just getting it wherever you're going. This may be a customs issue, or it may be an airline issue, or maybe just a personal health and safety issue. There are a lot of places I would be very hesitant to take a $100,000 camera package.

What I would probably do in this situation is find a local production company that specializes in facilitating production in their country. They will likely make your production a co-production of their company, which means your production will be granted the advantages of being "native". However, they'll of course charge you for this service, and you're still likely to end up paying whatever permit fees the host country requires, etc.
 
Oh, I see you've specified that it's Russia. I've been to Russia, and know more about there than most places. I did not film there, so I can't speak specifics, but in general:

Russia is very, very sensitive to visa and customs issues. You do need to pay for a visa to even enter the country. Do this far in advance if you don't want it to cost you a lot more money.

Also, I don't know if you've been following the news, but Russia a very serious and dangerous place for journalists. As a "documentary filmmaker", you may not consider yourself a journalist, but keep in mind that perception is everything. Be careful and make sure you have a contact who is fluent in the language as your guide and negotiator.
 
wow i need to rethink thing here, i seen alot of people go out to russia to film skateboarding there. though but thanks again for all the help and fee back...
 
I don't mean to alarm you; I'm sure it's perfectly safe to do that. I had a great time in Russia. Just don't show up expecting everything to work perfectly smoothly. There is a complex bureaucracy and you need to be aware of what their rules are, or you risk serious drama.
 
mainly rethink stuff about using 35mm camera, cause to get it process and telecine or whatever, is going to be too much... then runing the risk that some punk or something could try and jack the camera, and then traveling with that stuff on a metro, noway... i will need my only van or something... but thank you for bring up stuff i will never though about.
 
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