Starting Documentary - Need Suggestions/Opinions -- Please

[saintdrew]

This is my first post here, and I'm hoping I'll get response or two from someone willing to help me out.

I am thinking about starting a documentary to film. It will be about a whorehouse that was once located in the small town where I live. The documentary would consist of sit-down interviews, with some shots of the town.

My problems are that I don't really know what equipment to use, AND the restrictions on my budget.

I know I'll need a lavalier mic for interviews, but the more pressing need is to decide on what camera to use. Someone told me I'll need to spend at least $10,000 on a camera for this, and I've had another person tell me I could spend as low as $250 on a camera.

I will probably put it on YouTube but a dream would be able to submit this into a local or small film festival. Which means the camera needs to have resolution good enough for a big screen and to watch online.

I just need some honest opinions/suggestions. I really have no experience doing this on my own. I took theatre classes in college and had to work on site for some films holding cameras and buffer mic's but that is about it.

I would greatly appreciate steps on what I need to do in order to achieve this goal of mine. I'm sure there are people out there who have or had a similar ambition I wish to approach.

Thanks.

 

[steve4505]

Few folk need a $10k camera now to do a documentary for film festivals, but $10k is a good starting budget for all the production items necessary to get a polished product. What I've found is its the camera plus all the other items necessary which add up quickly to $10k or higher. There is plenty of ideas for equipment necessary to do something like what you are talking about if you read the related forums here. Just look at what it takes to light a scene. If you are very skilled it can be accomplished with a small budget, in reality its much easier to light using tools made to do the job. Otherwise your talent is not lit right, color is off and/or the look is boring. There are a lot of conversations about this here, but the bottom line is it takes a variety of lighting gear in just a simple interview scene look good. Then change the scene to something else and you need a different setup (i.e. generally more money). The same situation applies to sound, camera, lens, stabilizers, storage, and editing. Top this off with items which add production value and $10k starts to be very little (even with DIY stuff). There are ways of course to save money (rich friends with gear, donated food for the crew, etc.), but inevitably its very hard to pull off a micro-budget doc without a $5k budget.

 

[starcentral]

Its really not the camera that matters, think more about your lighting, sound, backgrounds, locations, etc... for a doc I would definitely shoot on HD, but I would NOT use a camera with a large sensor if you are not use to those types of productions. Many docs are shot on 1/3", 1/2", 2/3" CCD's... buy what you can afford but save some of your money for all the other things mentioned.