Confused about book

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pacey1800

Hi everyone,
Tonight I purchased a book called "The Down and Dirty Guide to Guerilla Documentary Filmmaking", and I read some of it, and while it has some good tips like how to research and conduct interviews, I'm fairly certain that the rest does not apply to the camera I'm getting, and I'm just not sure if I made the right decision to buy the book in the first place, because the advice I got on interviewing and distribution was stuff that I could have easily looked up online. I am on an extremely limited budget, and have decided to start out with a Flip Ultra HD (but only as a starter). I know I have no control over sound, and that the lighting will have to be dictated naturally by what's already there.

I've talked about making a documentary revolving around the week leading up to a local high school football team's first game of the season. I know that I want to shoot a lot of footage and not have the whole screen time being taken up by talking heads. I did learn at least to intersperse b-roll with the interview footage in order to give it more impact, but I just don't know if I wasted my money with this book if most of the advice about lighting and sound and crew (I'm the only person working on this) doesn't apply to my situation. I probably did, and I just don't feel very sure about this. Does anyone have any suggestions on other books or any free resources I can find on this stuff? Please let me know. Thanks.
 
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pacey1800 said:
don't know if I wasted my money with this book if most of the advice about lighting and sound and crew (I'm the only person working on this) doesn't apply to my situation.
Click to expand...

If you have no crew, then you'll be doing all that lighting & sound yourself - yes, this is stuff you'll need to know.

Furthermore, when/if you ever get a few friends to help out on "crew" positions, you'll have to be able to tell them what to do.


the advice I got on interviewing and distribution was stuff that I could have easily looked up online.
Click to expand...

You can never have too many sources of information.
 
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If you can do your interviews in a closed controlled room, then light it, kill all ambient noise (air conditioners, refrigerators, etc) and move the camera as close as possible to the subject, then it will look and sound much better.

You may not be working with a crew now, buy if you take on another project in the future maybe you will. It's all good info.

Oh, shoot some test footage and test interviews so you know what looks and aounds good before actual production. Good to get most of the mistakes and learning finished in tests that never see the light of day :)
 
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Thanks, everyone. I should mention that it did come with the sample DVD, which had a lot of good information about sound (mainly as a way to get you to buy the DVD instructional set that comes with it) and even though I am getting a Flip camera just as a starter, I am going to take everything into consideration regarding sound. As a matter of fact, the man who wrote this said that sound is more important than video, because while video can be fixed in post, sound is going to be a lot harder to fix unless done as properly as possible, the first time out.
 
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I have this book. You are correct in that it ends up being more of a general book on filmmaking than specifically about documentaries. However, the information within is extremely valuable and correct. Pay particular attention to what Artis says about the importance of SOUND, especially if you are going to use your Flip. And the bit on the DVD concerning sound is all the example you need for that point to be made.

And pay particular attention to the interviews with Albert Maysles...those alone are worth the price of the book. He is sort of a hero of mine, but no matter what you think of his films he definitely has a unique philosophy on the art of documentary filmmaking.

I wouldn't think it is a waste of money at all...keep it and find as many other books on filmmaking you can get your hands on. Learn from all of them...it doesn't matter what equipment you have or will have; lessons on cinematography, lighting, sound, etc. are universal to both narrative and documentary filmmaking.
 
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You're right. As a matter of fact, the more I look at it, the more I read it, I was wrong about it being a waste of money. There are a lot of useful things in it, and all of it is reinforcing what I learned in the video production classes I took at college. As a matter of fact, just so I can get good sound, especially during interviews, I want to get the camera as close to the subject as possible. Of course, I will have to take care of the lighting, maybe by taking advantage of the most light that a room can provide that's already there (electrically). This film I am planning on making, which is about the week-long preparations for a high school football game and the planning and strategies involved, as well as the people involved from the coaches to the players, is something I am making on virtually no budget whatsoever, except to account for the equipment (which, including accessories and Final Cut Express, totals around $350).

I know that unless I can find people to help me out on this, which I might consider, I will be doing the bulk of the work alone, from shooting to editing, as well as having to take care of distribution and possible entry into festivals. About the only thing I won't be doing is composing the music, and hopefully when it gets to that point, I will be able to find someone here who will help me out on that. I also bought, as a Christmas present, a book called "Archival Storytelling" by Sheila Curran Bernard, for when the time comes that I will have to use footage from other sources. If you have any other suggestions about books for the overall filmmaking process, mainly in the production phase, please let me know. Thanks very much.
 
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