cinematography RUN n GUN documentary film shooting

shuttered

shuttered

HELP!!! documentary film shooting run ad gunn n

Hi Guys,

I need help of those who have a first hand experience in doing run and gun documentary film. Please help me on the following:

1.) SHOOTING TECHNIQUES/STYLE - What is the best way to shoot when you are following at least 2 subjects. You are following them on the streets and in some places. HOW to best shoot the dialogue of the subjects run and gun? I'm afraid while I'm shooting them I may miss shooting nice spots to shoot for B-Rolls. Or when is the best time to shoot B-Rolls? I tried doing test rolls on this asking a friend as we simulate a scene. I always have problems during CUTTINGs in editing as I find some shots to be too shaky or panning to fast and shot not long enough to be usable. PLEASE GIVE ME RULE OF THUMB :)

2.) AUDIO SETUP - I will be using Rode NTG-3 mounted on top of my canon 5dm2. Rode will be recorded on H4N which I am planning to stick in a belt bag wrapped around me waist. To ease my synching on post, should i let the audio recording running all the time? Other then CLAPPING, is there any other means to have a CUE for synching? I understand that when I shoot run and gun, a lot of times I will be putting my camera on standby mode. But becasue turning a camera ON/OFF(standby) is just a flip, how about audio? it's not that easy to turn on and off h4n audio. So pleased give me an easy way to record audio in harmony with my run and gun video.

Guys, I am still a Noob film maker, only few months in the field and I didn't study film making so please bear with me. :rolleyes:

Thank you! :yes:

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shuttered said:
Hi Guys,

I need help of those who have a first hand experience in doing run and gun documentary film. Please help me on the following:

1.) SHOOTING TECHNIQUES/STYLE - What is the best way to shoot when you are following at least 2 subjects. You are following them on the streets and in some places. HOW to best shoot the dialogue of the subjects run and gun? I'm afraid while I'm shooting them I may miss shooting nice spots to shoot for B-Rolls. Or when is the best time to shoot B-Rolls? I tried doing test rolls on this asking a friend as we simulate a scene. I always have problems during CUTTINGs in editing as I find some shots to be too shaky or panning to fast and shot not long enough to be usable. PLEASE GIVE ME RULE OF THUMB :)

2.) AUDIO SETUP - I will be using Rode NTG-3 mounted on top of my canon 5dm2. Rode will be recorded on H4N which I am planning to stick in a belt bag wrapped around me waist. To ease my synching on post, should i let the audio recording running all the time? Other then CLAPPING, is there any other means to have a CUE for synching? I understand that when I shoot run and gun, a lot of times I will be putting my camera on standby mode. But becasue turning a camera ON/OFF(standby) is just a flip, how about audio? it's not that easy to turn on and off h4n audio. So pleased give me an easy way to record audio in harmony with my run and gun video.

Guys, I am still a Noob film maker, only few months in the field and I didn't study film making so please bear with me. :rolleyes:

Thank you! :yes:

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I just shot a Run and Gun documentary. Will be uploading this tonight. Once I do, I will post it here and deconstruct for you how I do it! :)
 
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Well, it's taking some time to upload but anyways:

Record good reference audio on your camera. Like you said, RODE on 5D Mark II is great, will help a lot when you sync your audio.
Try and get radio mics with lavalier/pin mics for each of your subjects and run them into a recorder which can record multiple tracks. That way you always have clean audio of them talking.

Just leave the recorder running. You can button camera off and on any time, but i think it's a good idea to keep audio running.
Now, syncing isn't too hard in post. You just need to skim through the waveform and find patterns that 'match'.

Now any of the above is no replacement for an audio guy. I shot my doco with an audio guy and he did all of that, but I was recording reference audio into my FS100 with a NTG2 by Rode.

He was using various pin mics, lavaliers and I think a RODE NTG3 too!

If in doubt, keep rolling. There's nothing worse other than missing the moment. Oh, and normally I am all for controlled moves and steady shots, but when shooting a documentary, don't worry too much about everything being perfect! As long as you can hear the characters talking and telling a story, you're good! Oh and use a Zoom lens. You'll need it :)
 
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Hey Mate,

Still buffering, net sucks here on the rig :( What did you do here in Australia? I will give you my questions and critique on the film once i watched it. cheers

BTW, I saw in your description you used NTG-2. wow cool so your setup is similar to mine then. Did you directly hooked NTG2 to your camera? I am using 5D and my NTG3 needs phantom power and XLR to operate so I hookep it up on h4n.

ok, gotta watch your film now.
 
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