How do you do

[DunnWright]

Hello Fellow enthusiasts of spinning a yarn with moving pictures and high quality bass reverberations.
Enough with the small talk I am lookin to film a high quality low budget adventure documentary and could really use advice in camera selection Buy vs. rent old vs new bang for the buck and acomplish all of this with or without the use of a sound man??? We will be filming around the river with wind and other ambient sounds.I havnt searched the forums yet but thought it would be polite to introduce myself as I am new to this forum.Thanx

 

[Zensteve]

...and a hidey-ho and a pip-pip to you, too.

 

[Dreadylocks]

Welcome to the boards! Yeah there a LOTS of threads about cameras. It's even got it's own section: http://www.indietalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62

I would start there for sure.

And as for not using a sound man... CUE Alcove....

 

[Tinalera]

How do I do? Well, generally I set up the tripod and then turn on....


oh wait


Seriously, I do well, and hope you do too. Welcome to the boards, more info here than you can shake a stick at!

 

[Alcove Audio]

The way to any successful project is a complete, thorough, exhaustively detailed preproduction.

Shooting anything requires a lot of planning; it simply amazes me how many newbs think it is as simple as licking up a camera and starting to roll. So always remember the six "P"s - Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Or, in other words, you don't plan to fail, you fail to plan.

I am looking to film a high quality low budget adventure documentary

What is your doc about? Where are you going to shoot? What is your budget (low budget can be anything from fifty dollars to five million dollars depending upon your perspective)? What is your editorial bias? What assets are currently available to you?

Now a lot of people think "he only does sound, what would he know?" Well, I've worked with some amazing people. The producer and director of short (20 minutes) on which I worked several years ago handed each lead actor and department head (including the editor and yours truly) a binder with 20 pages of notes in addition to the script. The binders were about 50 pages by the time we finished preproduction and the shooting script was about 40 pages. Every aspect of the shoot and post production was discussed in detail.

The point is that logistics are what defines a successful project. What equipment does the DP, Grip and Production Sound Mixer need? What costumes and make-up/hair are required? Where will the shoot take place (locations)? Then there is scheduling, props and a hundred other details. The budget is totaled up and you say "Holy Crap!" Then you figure out how to strip everything down and still accomplish what you want to do. This requires that large scale modifications be made to all of the above. You may realize that you either need more funds or you are going to have to lower your expectations.

High quality on a low budget means you will have to plan more extensively and spend a lot more time to make up for your lack of funds. As far as sound goes you can start with my blogs here on IndieTalk. So begin your research and preproduction, then hit can us with your barrage of questions.



WELCOME!