Project in mind - need advices how to execute

T

Timo

Hey

Recently I decided to persuade my film making aspirations and go for my first project. My idea is to make a documentary for a trip I'm going to make.

Basic ideas are;

- edit the short clips of the footage "on terrain", I don't know the correct term but my idea is to edit the footage every few days, on the spot. to make short segment of the trip, possibly for "trip progress so far" type of video. Any recommended hardware for the job, Macbook pro or something else?

- besides the short edits, after I finish the trip, I would like to edit the footage to make a full length documentary/travelogue out of it.


So, what cameras are recommended (it would be nice to have few choices, to get best bang for a buck hehe) for broadcast use

Is editing in Premiere an option? Will it be good enough for TV? I would like to get my movie on my local TV, and judging by the program they air, I really think I have a shot.


Also, what about using music from published soundtracks? I saw quite a lot TV programs and segments (both on commercial TVs and national TV stations) that use "famous" soundclips in their short segments. Do I need to get clearance for those things?



Thanks for any answers :cool:
 
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The other questions will have to be answered by those more knowledgeable than I.
Timo said:
Also, what about using music from published soundtracks? I saw quite a lot TV programs and segments (both on commercial TVs and national TV stations) that use "famous" soundclips in their short segments. Do I need to get clearance for those things?
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If you don't have a $300 per hour entertainment attorney on retainer you can't afford to get them for your project.
 
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Sounds like a good plan.

As I worked for a local TV station the station yearly paid for a license which made it possible for us to use "whatever music we wanted" -in their broadcast only, of course. If you want to put your documentary up on the internet you must have the right to use the music you use from its legal owner. By searching you'll find good music for free.

When you ask for advice on which camera to buy you need to be very specific about your budget.
 
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Well if I get some sponsors interested and pull few strings I think I may have a 10000 $ at my disposal for camera and equipment.

About the "sound is half of the experience" remark - I know :)

I'm a rookie but when filming I always stick to "my rules" - I never ever zoom when recording, I try to visualize the scene I want to film before I actually film it, and the good ole sound...nothing beats it.


Because you can have perfect shots and compositions but if the sound isn't on point it will ruin the experience. And yet somehow a good soundtrack or sound effects can "save" average or below average filming.

Or something along those lines :)


Anyway, one important aspect of the filming is that I'll have a lot of high speed filming - meaning I will have scenes on boats, practically entire film will be shot in open air.


So besides the camera, I would also need a good mic. Not for the talk sequences, but for car drive or boat ride scenes.

I plan on taking the shots of those runs first, and recording audio separately. I feel that will give me much more freedom with the camera and with the sound effects afterwards.


I was looking for some cameras on Vimeo, EX3 is probably the top echelon choice right now, but who knows if I'll be able to get that kind of budget.



What about terrain edit? Can I achieve the "broadcast quality" standards with EX3 + Final Cut on Macbook pro?

Final edit will be done in the studio, but I will also do terrain edit, so portable edit is a must, yet I don't want it to occupy all of my luggage space :)


Thanks for any help :)
 
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"on terrain", I don't know the correct term
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The term you're looking for is "field editing". A great idea to organize footage after you've captured it while it's still fresh in your mind but, (in my experience, especially when traveling) don't expect to get any substantiative editing done. You're going to be tired every night after all that traveling, you're not going to have the proper material to put together the sequence exactly how you want it, not having everything you're not going to be sure how to organize it.

I'm not saying don't do it... it's great to get a head start, just know (as you said!) that most of the editing will PROBABLY happen upon your return.

The reason I bring this up is that if this is what you're looking for, you should be focused more on computer stuff than the camera itself. Here's why:

Cameras can record (basically) to two different mediums, tape or reusable media (flash, hard drive, etc.). Replaceable media is expensive, because you're expected to dump the media to hard drives at the end of every day. Which means that going with a media-capture camera, you're going to either need to a) Spend TONS of money (I mean upwards of $1500) on flash media for your camera, or b) Know that you HAVE to dump your media to a computer hard drive at the end of every day.

Which also brings me to another important point:
BACKUPS BACKUPS BACKUPS.

You don't dump your media to one hard drive, you dump it to TWO. ALWAYS. Professional feature sets usually do 3 or 4. I've lost hours of work and the end of a day because a hard drive failed or a memory card in the camera became corrupted. Having a delicate instrument such as a hard drive bouncing around on your back or in a boat is not what it was built to do and at some point, it WILL FAIL. Happens all the time to my friends & I who work in the field, it's why we have backups.

So, this brings me to two recommended configurations:

A Tape-based HD camera. The Canon XH-A1 or XL-H1 are both great tape-based HDV cameras. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/589903-REG/Canon_3238B001_XH_A1s_3CCD_HDV_Camcorder.html and lots of DV tapes - they're $3 a piece.


OR

A media-based camera with a laptop and a backup hard drive
Check out LaCie's Rugged disk:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11356 (note that you need a Firewire/7200 RPM drive if you're going to edit HD footage off of it)



To carry this all, I'd recommend taking a look at a Lowepro AW 300
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/487266-REG/Lowepro_LP35019_PEU_Vertex_200_AW_Backpack.html

It can carry a laptop, tripod, and a bunch of your camera equipment. It's weather resistant and has a weatherproof cover.
 
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Oh, to answer a few other questions...

an I achieve the "broadcast quality" standards with EX3 + Final Cut on Macbook pro?
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Most certainly.



Now, as far as mics go, I would buy a shotgun and a lav mic. Good quality microphones are expensive (more than $1000 a piece), but you can TELL the difference.

Audio-Technica and Sennheiser are both great mic brands.

I've own the AT835B and really like the sound of it. It's about $250 last time I checked. Again, needs phantom power, but if your camera has XLR, then it should also provide that '48k phantom power' that your mic needs to run.

If not, then the mic also has a place for a single AA battery, which makes the pickup weaker, but can power you through a pinch.

I'm not sure about lav micas, but expect to spend maybe $100 on one. Again, that's a guess, but if you're looking for interviews this is the way to go.

People sell wireless, but I just say if the camera's gonna be right in front of the person, go wired. Don't have to worry about extra power, charging the mic, getting noise interference, all that stuff. Great for working in the field.


If you're looking for dynamic mics Nady SP-5 is okay (but at $20 is a steal; I bought 3 just to have around) and the Shure SM-57 is the industry standard (at like $45 or something).


Don't forget you'll need cables, and headphones to monitor the audio that you're getting. Never just rely on levels! You always want to have some kind of headphones around.
 
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Thanks a bunch for the insightful help guys!!

Let me try to describe the project, if it gets the green light and we get the budget. It's a trip we're planning to take on a boat, for a month, so there will be a lot of boat scenes (2 boats), engine sounds, pan shots of the ride, all that...

And there will be harbor/city/village/whatever footage, people, food, you know, travelogue stuff.

The crew is limited to 5, and I'm the only one who will be in charge of video stuff. So portable outdoor stuff is a must.

I'm watching a XH A1 videos on Vimeo, I'm pretty impressed. It's not crazy expensive, and even though we thought about renting the camera, maybe, just maybe I will decide to actually purchase something like that.

Sound - thanks for the tips. My plan is to spend 2-3 days recording the engine/waves sounds, and then after, I won't have to bother about engine sounds while filming, I'll have enough recorded material to replace it if needed, or in some scenes, completely overdub it.

So what would be the ideal "engine recording" mic and "daily camera walk around conversation" type?

Since I will be the only guy with the camera, can I do the daily scenes without those fuzzy mics on a pole :)


I definitely decided to completely leave alone the idea of copyrighted music. So where to look for, browse and listen to some royalty free good materials?


Also, I'm aware that this thing won't hit NG or Discovery, but I hope it will make it to local TV and maybe on some DVDs and most importantly open me some doors in a field I really want to be in.


I really appreciate your input...off to read the XH-A1 vs. HVX200 comparison I ran across
 
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That sounds pretty damn cool, and it also sounds like you're in the right direction for equipment. Let us know how it goes, eh? I'm certainly interested to see how it turns out.

Hell, I might even learn something, and Lord knows I struggle enough with that as it is.
 
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Will I be needing some sort of field recorders for this? I don't quite understand that part of separate audio recording...anyone care to explain quickly ? :)
 
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For something with as much footage as you're going to generate on a documentary, I'd say don't worry about it. No need to worry about extra equipment/batteries/synching and everything else when you're out in the field moving around. I would just tie in to the camera.

But, if you do get set on field audio, check out this:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrackII.html

Great sound, tiny, tons of options, and long battery life. And it uses CF cards, which are cheap, universal, and can store a lot for the price.

Oh, and it DOES give out phantom power over XLR - you just need these cables to hook into XLR mics:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/158490-REG/Hosa_Technology_STX_110F_Stereo_1_4_Male_to.html
 
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There is a lot of information we don't know. You're taking a road trip, but what are you going to be doing while on the road? Visiting historic sites? Doing interviews? White water rafting? Mountain climbing? Visiting grandma? Infiltrating terrorist camps? Will you be set up on a tripod or doing run & gun or both? Are you doing it all by yourself or will you have additional crew? The type of shooting you will be doing and the size of the crew will dictate how you should gear up.
 
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:D

Here are the basic descriptions of the project;

5 man crew overall, everyone will have task for themselves but I guess someone will be able to help me out every now and then, I'm the only one with the camera, mostly outdoors...whether it's driving a boat or going around towns

Permits for shooting in towns? Who should I ask that for? In advance or on the spot?
 
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