Starting my first feature-length doc and could use all the advice I can get

FiddlerMD

FiddlerMD

Well-known member
I recently was able to secure some (minor) funding for a documentary I've been wanting to do. Part of the "catch" with the funding is that the project needs to be done in a year. The project is to document the wave of Russian Jewish immigration in the late 80's. During that time, most people came via Austria and Italy to the USA and many were denied refugee status initially causing them to wait for months in a sort of limbo while they were in Italy.
First, I want to get some facts on the time period. The state of affairs in the USSR as well as the United States to see what were the actual decisions behind these refusals as well as other issues the people had to deal with.
Second, I want to find good candidates to interview (already have a few lined up, including my own family).
Finally, I want to find officials in Russia, Italy and the US that were involved in the process - this is the hardest thing for me so far - for instance, I want to find people who used to be customs officials in Moscow during that time.
One of the challenges for me, will be to find the right questions to ask and to get people to tell the more interesting / human aspects of the process, so any help there would be appreciated.

If any of you have done anything of this scope, I'd love to know what you've learned from the experience, how it could've been made easier, etc.

On the technical side, I plan on shooting with my Nikon D7k. Anyone see any issues with that?
I am looking for tips on how to make a talking head interview more visual engaging. Also, any particular equipment you would or would not recommend? I am not great with lighting (and will be looking for a DP) but if it comes down to it, will do it myself. I would love to use natural lighting wherever possible but may end up getting a couple LED panels cause I kinda hate working with huge hot lights.

I'm sure there will be 100 other questions I have, but for now - any advice you guys can offer will be tremendously appreciated.

P.S. - if you are or know a good DP and would work for practically nothing on a project like this, do let me know ;)
Currently the project is sponsored via the BluePrint Fellowship offered by COJECO (www.cojeco.org)
 
Using a DSLR to conduct your interviews could be problematic if you are shooting by yourself. The shallow depth of field of DSLR's, while giving things a great filmic look, means maintaining focus is challenging without a dedicated camera operator. I shot by myself with a Sony FX-1, and it was easy enough to set it and forget it with sit down interviews as the depth of field was fairly wide. With a DSLR, if the subject moves even a couple inches backwards or forwards, they'll go out of focus. Invest in a decent lavalier mic (not wireless) for your interviews. If you are shooting by yourself, monitor with headphones as you conduct the interview. Shoot interviews with two cameras if you can. One wide, one close up. It will make editing much easier. I wouldn't depend on natural light for interviews as it will give things a cheap, camcorder feel. Interviews are just about the easiest thing to light, as the subject is stationary and the background simple, so even a novice should be able to do a decent job. I used a britek light kit. For the bulk of my interviews, I just put a softbox on the talent as my main light, and then a kicker rim light to separate them from the background if necessary.
 
I have a decent lav mic but am running it to a portable recorder so in order to monitor I'd have to run a long-ish 1/8" cable to headphones.. but I guess that's doable. As for focus, depending on amount of light, setting the lens to something like f6.3 should probably give enough room for error .. I dont particularly want to invest in a new camera at this point.
 
Shoot with 2 cameras (cams are cheap - 7D can be had for $1000). To avoid boring framing you need to see what's out there (meaning other films) and discover what works for those films and what don't. Traditional framing with traditional headroom is boring, so is flat soft lighting on your subject. Have a look at some interview set-up from a feature-length doc we are working on (somewhere between all the b-roll):

http://tupeloproductions.com/work_dev_SWL_screengrabs_kansas.html
http://tupeloproductions.com/work_dev_SWL_screengrabs_SR.html

and some behind-the-scenes:
http://tupeloproductions.com/work_dev_SWL_behind_kansas.html
http://tupeloproductions.com/work_dev_SWL_behind_SR.html

Get an assistant - maybe someone who can do audio or 2nd cam.
Get a small HD monitor to monitor your focus.
I don't know the camera you are using but double system for audio is mandatory (!) - recording to the camera AND external recorder has saved my ass at least 2-3 times.
 
Thanks Patrick, I've seen you post about this doc on FB and it looks fantastic. Really creative work. Good point about double recording the audio (do you just run output of the recorder to the camera or rely on different mic for the camera?) I already have someone signed up to do audio so that'll help I'm sure. I'd love to get a proper DP but don't know if budget will allow it.. unless someone wants to volunteer :)
 
We used wired lav and a boom into mixer from where we run wires into external recorder AND into camera - 7D allows for manual audio so the 7D's internal recording is almost as good as to external recorder (meaning if something happens to external recorder files the 7D's are perfectly usable) - some DSLRs have AGC which will ride automatically levels up and down - not something i would consider as a back-up.
 
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