settng for run and gun short documentary

R

raciere

Member
will be in central america for two weeks, taking a dvx100b kit and will be doing a variety of run and gun shooting in a variety of villages. some sit down interviews and lots of misc. b-roll. i imagine there will be a wide variety of shooting scenarios. i'll have an evolution wireless and a rode shotgun. no lights. 4 long lasting batteries.

i am also new to the dvx100b. most of my international shooting has been with a canon xl1, and i'm intimately familiar with strategies, scenarios, etc... on the xl1. trouble is, i just don't have a lot of time to do a lot of test shooting w/ the dvx100b, and so i'm wondering what are the EASIEST and most VERSITILE settings on the dvx100b?

at this point i'm thinking that i'll shoot 24p and zero everything out, use manual iris, and then hope to fix any troubles in final cut. one question is re: high contrast. i'll be in jungle, trees, direct sun, indoors in shacks and houses, etc... so again, am looking for the easiest and most versitle settings. for focus, white balance, iris etc...

what would you set up and strategy be? ANY info appreciated. thanks.
 
I prefer to do what I can to lower contrast when shooting under the jungle canopy. Whether by being aware of natural light and controlling the subject or being aware of my ND setting.

Apart from that...so many doc folks have their own personal settings depending on the "mood"...I agree with you about zeroing everything out then playing with the final product in post. That includes uping your contrast if you so desire.

Just a reminder...it's the rainy season down here. Don't forget to bring good rain gear for both you and your camera. There's no convenient place in this part of the world to get anything fixed if you get the camera too wet.

You may end up with humidity issues to overcome as well so plan ahead for how you will deal with them. Might be a good idea to pack a hair dryer "just in case".

Have fun! :)
 
Learn where the preset WBs are -- the 100a has 3200k and 5600k, not sure about the b. In a jam, one of those will always look decent.
 
We shot in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala with the 100a and largely went with the 5600k preset. There's a lot of green that can do harm to your flesh tones, so try to get your talent lit or flexed somehow whenever possible.

Practice your exposure methods for run and gun before you go to work. You only have a few stops, so keep the talent or subject a stop to a stop-and-a-half over the background if you are able to.

As was stated above, it is tough to explain or recommend proper exposure here without knowing what you plan to set your zebras to, what filters you're adding (pols, grads, nds) and on and on. Also, as a for-instance, if you're doing a geo-political documentary, you'll treat the jungle or other locations differently than a travelogue might - preferring darker, moody crushed landscape images over well-lit, hyper-saturated ones.

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