Making a documentary, total n00b ;) « Videomaker Community Forums

TFXRaven
Member

My friends and I are looking at scoring a chunk of change to make a documentary about E3. We're looking at $10,000 for all of our gear, camera, hardware, everything.

The thing is, we don't have anything at the moment, so we have to buy everything. We're all artists and have various experience in animation and illustration, so we can work with several different programs. I personally do graphic design while I have a friend who does AfterEffects, another does animation, so on.

But here's what we're looking at setting ourselves into:

HARDWARE: I'll be dropping 2GB more RAM into this machine as well as probably adding in two or three 300GB HDDs for storage plus a DVD burner. This will probably be ~$1000 of the budget.

SOFTWARE: We hope to get Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 for editing. We get educational discount, so software should be no more than $1000 between that and any other programs we may use.

CAMERA: We were looking at either the Sony HDR-FX1 or the DCR-VX2100 for this. We're shooting in high definition, so our digital master will be at 1920x1080 and we'll scale down for other media. Now, both cameras do streaming through iLink, but I can't seem to find an iLink card or adapter and we don't have a MiniDV deck. When I was in school, I used the Sony PD-100 and PD-150 camcorders, but we had to use the MiniDV deck to get our footage off of them. That's one disadvantage of the Sony camcorders I've seen so far is they like to stick to their own proprietary media. We're looking at buying Medium-grade MiniDV tapes en masse to satisfy our footage needs.

I saw alohrey's HDR-FX1 footage and was more than satisfied with the video quality.

AUDIO: A Shure SM58 microphone and a Sennheiser wireless audio solution. Between this, tapes, the camera, and any additional related gear, this will be about half the budget.

The plan is to shoot almost straight through for the entire week of E3, capturing a little over 100 hours of footage between that and leadup planning and such. We'll be shooting in all sorts of lighting situations, between the 19 hour drive there (from Colorado) to the ultra-bright California dayside and the incredibly dark halls of E3 themselves.

The film will be about 2 hours (max) and be distributed freely via internet and DVD.

I was wondering what you guys thought of that setup and am looking forward to any advice you can dispense.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I guess I'm confused. The Sony VX-2100 is not hi-def. ILink is another term for firewire, which the Sony's have built-in. This downloads straight to your computer and no adapter is necessary except the $30 firewire card that most computers come with. You should be able to have that computer built for well under $1000.

You'll need more software than just Premiere Pro unless you're going to have a very plain film (Photoshop, Ilustrator, After Effects, Encore).

To distribute a two-hour Hi-Def film via Internet will take a very expensive streaming server unless you intend it to be in very poor quality. Even 2hrs on DVD, in Hi-Def... Well, I haven't done Hi-Def yet, but I'd have to kick my quality way down just to get 2hrs of Standard definition on a DVD.

Now, to really take the wind out of your sails - if by E3 you mean Electronic Entertainment Expo, I doubt you could legally cover that without permissions and licensing issues being handled. You may want to check out that aspect before writing any checks - except, of course, the one for my consulting fee. X-D

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
I guess I'm confused. The Sony VX-2100 is not hi-def. ILink is another term for firewire, which the Sony's have built-in. This downloads straight to your computer and no adapter is necessary except the $30 firewire card that most computers come with. You should be able to have that computer built for well under $1000.

My computer has IEEE 1394 already, so that's not a problem. My experience with iLink has been a proprietary small plug, so I figured I needed it on both ends. Guess not :D

You'll need more software than just Premiere Pro unless you're going to have a very plain film (Photoshop, Ilustrator, After Effects, Encore).

We're artists, we have and use the programs ;)

To distribute a two-hour Hi-Def film via Internet will take a very expensive streaming server unless you intend it to be in very poor quality. Even 2hrs on DVD, in Hi-Def... Well, I haven't done Hi-Def yet, but I'd have to kick my quality way down just to get 2hrs of Standard definition on a DVD.

We're doing a high-def master, but as I said, we'll scale it down for transmission and probably for DVD. We'll keep 480p in mind in editing.

Now, to really take the wind out of your sails - if by E3 you mean Electronic Entertainment Expo, I doubt you could legally cover that without permissions and licensing issues being handled. You may want to check out that aspect before writing any checks - except, of course, the one for my consulting fee. X-D

That's not really an issue as E3 is a 'show'. This will be my third year going. They let you film everything you want and if they won't let you, they just let you know to store away your camera and stuff. Lotsa people film there that aren't Fox Media or CNet and in the Kentia Hall in particular, I'm sure more than a few people would love their stuff on film.

Anyway, thanks for the concerns ;)

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

I should also mention that there aren't going to be a lot of stationary spots, so a nice stabilizer would be nice.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

A two-hour documentary shot from a hand-held stabilizer?

Hmm.. Have you ever used a stabilizer? First off, they take a bit of practice. Secondly, no sort of hand-held shot works with a stationary camera and a stationary subject. Two hours of a constantly moving camera is not an option unless you're doling out drammamine.

I've seen old people using a walker that is like a cane with four legs sprouting from the bottom. I've often thought of converting a monopod to have legs like this, to give a rock-solid mount without taking up the space of a tripod. You might try something like that.

If it doesn't work out - send it to me, I'll be old enough to need a walker like that soon! X-D

Posted 6 years ago #
phillips719
Member

TFX Raven wrote:

My experience with iLink has been a proprietary small plug,

The only thing proprietary about ilink is the name itself. The connections are standard firewire cable connections and are readily available.

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
A two-hour documentary shot from a hand-held stabilizer?

Hmm.. Have you ever used a stabilizer? First off, they take a bit of practice. Secondly, no sort of hand-held shot works with a stationary camera and a stationary subject. Two hours of a constantly moving camera is not an option unless you're doling out drammamine.

I've seen old people using a walker that is like a cane with four legs sprouting from the bottom. I've often thought of converting a monopod to have legs like this, to give a rock-solid mount without taking up the space of a tripod. You might try something like that.

If it doesn't work out - send it to me, I'll be old enough to need a walker like that soon! X-D

I've seen some shoulder-mounted videography that worked out quite well with a bracket. I have no experience with brackets or stabilizers, any ones you can link me with?

I can practice with a stabilizer with the time that I'd have with the camera.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

The shoulder-mounted bracket thing, I bought from an ad in Videomaker magazine, but a warning - Sony VX-2100s are very front heavy and really aren't made for shoulder mounts. We modified mine a bit and I get by OK with it, but it doesn't feel as good as the C7, which is built for shoulder mounting.

Again - this isn't going to work well unless camera or subject (preferably both) are in motion and parallel lines aren't too visible.

I recently got a Varizoom Flowpod. They take a bit of setup and quite a bit of fooling around with before you even get to the "practice stage". The weight of this rig will ensure you don't shoot all day with it. I work out regularly and about five minutes holding this thing with just one arm and I'm ready for a long break.

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
The shoulder-mounted bracket thing, I bought from an ad in Videomaker magazine, but a warning - Sony VX-2100s are very front heavy and really aren't made for shoulder mounts. We modified mine a bit and I get by OK with it, but it doesn't feel as good as the C7, which is built for shoulder mounting.

Again - this isn't going to work well unless camera or subject (preferably both) are in motion and parallel lines aren't too visible.

I recently got a Varizoom Flowpod. They take a bit of setup and quite a bit of fooling around with before you even get to the "practice stage". The weight of this rig will ensure you don't shoot all day with it. I work out regularly and about five minutes holding this thing with just one arm and I'm ready for a long break.

We were actually probably looking at the HDR-FX1 rather than the VX2100. I just read that the max resolution is 1440x1080, which would be 1080p at 4:3, so we'll probably have a 1280x720 master. No biggie.

E3 is 8, 9, and 7 hours on each respective day. What we would probably do is trade off every three and a half hours. There will probably be 6 of us going, so we'll probably pair off as a camera man and the audio handler (mic guy) and then we can switch off like that, so probably no more than two hours of mount time a day.

I don't know how heavy the HDR-FX1 is, but I read that cameras of this sort are around 4-6 pounds or so? That doesn't seem so bad considering I was carrying around about 15-20 pounds of E3 swag on shoestring-equipped bags last year for 6 or 8 hours.

EDIT: The HDR-FX1 is 4.25lbs.

Would the Varizoom work with the FX1?

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I think it handles cams up to six pounds, but double-check on their web site at: http://www.varizoom.com

I probably would have gone with a Steadicam, but I found owners posting good things about the Flowpod and I figured the monopod feature could come in handy. But what made me act was finding one on eBay.

I haven't had time to really play with this yet, but my thoughts at this point are that it will be OK for controlled shots, like product promos, etc., but not for event shoots.

I think you'll be better off tripod-mounted. If you don't have enough room for a full spread, just open the legs enough to get solid - a foot or so. At the least it would be better than a monopod and its weight will still prevent most shakiness if you must shoot handheld.

I recommend you find some small, local event to cover for a full day first. That will let you get the bugs out of your system before you go for the "real thing".

Please post us a trailer when you're done.

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
I think it handles cams up to six pounds, but double-check on their web site at: http://www.varizoom.com

I probably would have gone with a Steadicam, but I found owners posting good things about the Flowpod and I figured the monopod feature could come in handy. But what made me act was finding one on eBay.

I haven't had time to really play with this yet, but my thoughts at this point are that it will be OK for controlled shots, like product promos, etc., but not for event shoots.

I think you'll be better off tripod-mounted. If you don't have enough room for a full spread, just open the legs enough to get solid - a foot or so. At the least it would be better than a monopod and its weight will still prevent most shakiness if you must shoot handheld.

I recommend you find some small, local event to cover for a full day first. That will let you get the bugs out of your system before you go for the "real thing".

Please post us a trailer when you're done.

I checked out the Flowpod and it looks rather close to what we're doing. The monopod thing must be interesting. In this route, we may look at a seperate tripod for other shots. What do you think's a good average price for a good one?

I took a look at the vest-mounted ones and while they're neat, the whole series, doesn't seem to add much improvement to each other, but I guess they're rated for different weights.

Between the camera and the flowpod, it'd be about 8 pounds, which doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it must get tiring to have to hold out your arm while using that thing. It also looks like you can't get too much use of the viewfinder while using it, but maybe that's because they never showed off using one the pod up close.

Right now I'm just adding money to the expenditure list. We've still gotta acquire the funding (oh, joy) and we'll have a good two months to practice everything before we go.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

It doesn't sound like you're factoring in the weights with the Flowpod/cam estimate. You're asking about tripod costs? Not a lot of money here in Oklahoma, so we have to budget wisely - I spent about $150 each for our Velbons. Wouldn't consider anything cheaper, gotta have a good fluid head.

I read on a post somewhere (not here) that the vest things aren't very good for shooting, only for resting. Forget viewfinder when using Flowpod or Steadicam - just LCD.

So acquiring the funding is nearly an afterthought? Of course, the stuff grows on trees out there in Colorado, eh? :)

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
It doesn't sound like you're factoring in the weights with the Flowpod/cam estimate. You're asking about tripod costs? Not a lot of money here in Oklahoma, so we have to budget wisely - I spent about $150 each for our Velbons. Wouldn't consider anything cheaper, gotta have a good fluid head.

The specs listed the Flowpod as almost 4 pounds, are there more weights you can add to it, because it didn't seem like it. That's a fairly reasonable price for a tripod, too.

I read on a post somewhere (not here) that the vest things aren't very good for shooting, only for resting. Forget viewfinder when using Flowpod or Steadicam - just LCD.

Yeah, that's what I figured.

So acquiring the funding is nearly an afterthought? Of course, the stuff grows on trees out there in Colorado, eh? :)

We're a bunch of stupid kids that want to do something big, so we're seizing the opportunity. $10,000 isn't a totally weird number as I racked up $22k in student loans for the 9 months I was in art school ;)

It's just acquiring it without having to run to the bank.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Good luck with it. I'm looking forward to seeing that trailer. And when you're finished, you might consider a "How-to" video on how to raise money to finance a documentary. X-D

For raising that money, you might line up some weddings to shoot. Around Denver, etc. they're probably getting two grand. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon and a few days editing.

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
Good luck with it. I'm looking forward to seeing that trailer. And when you're finished, you might consider a "How-to" video on how to raise money to finance a documentary. X-D

For raising that money, you might line up some weddings to shoot. Around Denver, etc. they're probably getting two grand. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon and a few days editing.

Thanks ;)

Oh, one other thing: Lights. Suggestions? I've seen small ones that go on the top of the camera, but have you had any experience with them?

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

We just had a discussion here about on-cam lighting, about a month ago, I think. You might check the Search link.

I use a 50 watt Bescor. It has barn doors and works great. Of course, I have to lug the heavy battery around (maybe six pounds or so). I bought a small backpack to hold the battery when I'm shoulder-mounted. Could probably jump-start my van with that thing. But the light is great. Good enough for solo light outdoors on a moonless night, yet doesn't make people sheild their eyes and reach for their ID.

Someone was telling me they had a light that worked with the Sony VX-2100 batteries. Compact and lightweight. I'd like the see him try and jump-start his car with it though.

Posted 6 years ago #
visionquest
Member

Why would you use a Sony when you can buy a JVC GY-HD100U progressive scan camera thats much better for around $4,700 Street price and then use the new HD version of final cut pro studio which as a student you can buy for much less, it would have everything you need and I think you could pick it up for around 8 or 900 dallars and still have $4,500 dallars left in your budget for what ever else you need. You could always go with avid express pro HD to, they also have student discounts. X-D

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I must be missing something, because the Sony FX has a street price close to $3000 and is 1084i as opposed to 720p, right?

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

compusolver Wrote:
We just had a discussion here about on-cam lighting, about a month ago, I think. You might check the Search link.

I use a 50 watt Bescor. It has barn doors and works great. Of course, I have to lug the heavy battery around (maybe six pounds or so). I bought a small backpack to hold the battery when I'm shoulder-mounted. Could probably jump-start my van with that thing. But the light is great. Good enough for solo light outdoors on a moonless night, yet doesn't make people sheild their eyes and reach for their ID.

Someone was telling me they had a light that worked with the Sony VX-2100 batteries. Compact and lightweight. I'd like the see him try and jump-start his car with it though.

Cool, I'll go search. Nothing special as far as lighting. When I was in school we experimented with lights and we had stationary pole lights with barn doors and everything. That's just too much.

Why would you use a Sony when you can buy a JVC GY-HD100U progressive scan camera thats much better for around $4,700 Street price and then use the new HD version of final cut pro studio which as a student you can buy for much less, it would have everything you need and I think you could pick it up for around 8 or 900 dallars and still have $4,500 dallars left in your budget for what ever else you need. You could always go with avid express pro HD to, they also have student discounts.

If I didn't have a budget, that'd be a consideration. The HDR-FX1 looks fantastic and costs 2/3 of what that does. Yipe, $4700 . . .

I must be missing something, because the Sony FX has a street price close to $3000 and is 1084i as opposed to 720p, right?

1080i @ 4:3 (1440x1080)

Posted 6 years ago #
visionquest
Member

Im sorry I thought you said you had a budget of 10,000 dallars and yes the sony has 1080i but progressive even at 720p is great looking video especially when your shooting through professional glass and the fact that you dont have to worry about the any of the problems 1080i has such as motion artifacting when you pan the camera to fast or the fact that 1080i is not as easy to edit as 720p nor dose it convert to film as easy if you were to ever choose to do that.
GY-HD 100U 4700
APPLE COMPUTER 2500 STUDENT DEAL
FINAL CUT PRO HD STUDEO 900 STUDENT DEAL
$8100 TOTAL
That still leaves you with $1900 for your tripod mic and misc..... items you may need, this assumes you already have a monitor of your own. Now you have a system thats capable of making an awesome documentary! and can also edit easy and be bumped up to film if ever need be with out any problems. The skies the limit with this set up so what I am basically saying is if your budget is in fact 10k you cant do better than this for the money and yes the camera is more money but its also the closest thing to a pro camera you can buy thats reasonable in price, cinfram by Sony is junk. they missed the boat by going interlace instead of progressive. Most HD programs you watch including all of your football games are shot in 720 p I would have looked at buying a Sony my self (I've owned one before) if they had not gone with and interlace format. as far as softwary goes Final Cut Pro and Avid are the two top software programs out for HD editing you cant go wrong with either one. All of this is just food for thought, Good luck on your documentary I hope it turns out well. X-D

Posted 6 years ago #
visionquest
Member

by the way I just checked out apples site and the prices are as follows
$2299 for a dual G5 250 gigs
$699 final cut pro studio HD student price
That will leave you with $2300 left over instead of $1900 what a deal!

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

visionquest Wrote:
by the way I just checked out apples site and the prices are as follows
$2299 for a dual G5 250 gigs
$699 final cut pro studio HD student price
That will leave you with $2300 left over instead of $1900 what a deal!

I'm going to be upgrading my PC for editing, rather than buy a new machine. I'm also sticking with the PC because there's really no real practical reason for me to switch over.

So far, with the HDR-FX1 and the new gear I'd be putting in here, that's half our budget. We'll easily spend the other half.

Posted 6 years ago #
BUEYEHL
Member

TFXRavin

Make sure you post a link so I can peep your documentary. I'm an XBOX gamer so I would like to see it. Also, let me know how you aquired the $10,000. I'm trying to get enough money to purchase a good camera w/out bank assistance. I was thinking about the canon xl2, but I'm reading so much hype on the sony vx-2100. decision...decisions.

holla!

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

BUEYEHL Wrote:
TFXRavin

Make sure you post a link so I can peep your documentary. I'm an XBOX gamer so I would like to see it. Also, let me know how you aquired the $10,000. I'm trying to get enough money to purchase a good camera w/out bank assistance. I was thinking about the canon xl2, but I'm reading so much hype on the sony vx-2100. decision...decisions.

holla!

It'd be a group effort to raise the funds. We would probably formalize ourselves as a company.

Posted 6 years ago #
i43 Productions
Member

a couple legal issues you don't seem to have thought much about...

1: you can't legally use a Student liscense version of any software to make money. it's in the EULA for the software. I've got a lot of great Adobe stuff that i just had to upgrade to standard liscenses because i started doing freelance. Student prices are great, but legally, you're not going to get anywhere using them for commercial use. you can argue that this is for personal/educational use, but your plans on distribution and your last comment "It'd be a group effort to raise the funds. We would probably formalize ourselves as a company" pretty much goes directly against that.

2: i'm sure tons of people bring their handy-cams in to film at the event. that doesn't mean it's legal to make a documentary that way. you need to be careful to cover your butts as often as possible about getting permission from the convention, from individuals you interview, from companies who's products you show, from companies who's booths you show and any other media (pictures, video, etc) you reproduce intentionally or not. if you don't at least get a basic wavier you're setting yourself up for a major legal risk by getting sued by one company who didn't know you're filming them or didn't like what you had to say. freedom of speech doesn't get you too far when you're profiting off of this. you can say and do anything you want, if you have the wavier saying you have their permission to do so.

legal issues aside (and i'm sure there are more that i couldn't think of off hand)

making a documentary isn't easy. especially if you say "We're a bunch of stupid kids that want to do something big". you need to make sure you plan the crap out of this before you go in there and make sure you know what you're going to shoot and how you're going to shoot it. think of angles, topics, people you want to talk to, everything because if you get there and just start shooting, you'll come home with tapes of random stuff and your final documentary will look like you took a bunch of random shots and stuck them together.

also, if you're really thinking that the problem with "Sony camcorders I've seen so far is they like to stick to their own proprietary media" you have a lot more to learn than just buying a bunch of equipment. almost every prosumer camera out there uses Mini DV tapes and most have a firewire/ilink/ieee 1394 port on them to connect to your computer. make sure you take some serious time to get familiar with your equipment and storytelling abilities before you try this. otherwise, you're doomed before you step foot in that convention hall.

that's another part, storytelling. it's a good idea to read up on storytelling before you plan this out. a good documentary tells a story that brings the viewer through the experience. it acknowledges that some viewers have no idea what's going on and others do and makes sure both are pleased. it explains things and describes things using visuals, narration and on-camera hosts (if applicable). you can find a lot of great books out there on storytelling that will help you get ready for this.

the majority of my work has been 6-8 min short stories about a person or a few people and making one of those can be hard enough (there's a lot of information to distill down). you're going to have to worry about the other extreme: information overload. be aware of your audience. don't throw so much at them that you lose them.

there's a lot more that i could tell you about the planning and story side of this. equipment-wise you've gotten a lot of great advice already. you have a really cool opportunity here. plan like crazy before hand so when the time comes, you can come up with an awesome product.

Posted 6 years ago #
Rocktooloud
Member

you can't legally use a Student liscense version of any software to make money. it's in the EULA for the software. I've got a lot of great Adobe stuff that i just had to upgrade to standard liscenses because i started doing freelance. Student prices are great, but legally, you're not going to get anywhere using them for commercial use.

Once, I bought an educational version of Adobe Encore DVD 1.0 and NO WHERE in the EULA did it say for educational use only. I also heard that Adobe gives you the full license when you buy an educational product, the only difference is the price. I don't use that version of Encore anymore. I upgraded to version 1.5 and it wasn't educational, and that's what I use now.

Posted 6 years ago #
i43 Productions
Member

my version of Encore was a student price, but i think it's no different than the "normal" version. there are some programs though, that i have that specifically say "educational" on them. those are the ones that you need to be careful about. i'm pretty positive premiere and AE are both in that category.

Posted 6 years ago #
Rocktooloud
Member

my version of Encore was a student price, but i think it's no different than the "normal" version. there are some programs though, that i have that specifically say "educational" on them. those are the ones that you need to be careful about. i'm pretty positive premiere and AE are both in that category.

The educational version of Encore 1.0 that I bought did have a permenant stamp on the side of the box that said "educational version". However, the actual software isn't any different and the EULA on the disc didn't say anything about it being educational. I think all Adobe educational products have education prices but full licenses, whereas other software must only be used for educational purposes.

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

i43 Productions Wrote:
a couple legal issues you don't seem to have thought much about...

1: you can't legally use a Student liscense version of any software to make money. it's in the EULA for the software. I've got a lot of great Adobe stuff that i just had to upgrade to standard liscenses because i started doing freelance. Student prices are great, but legally, you're not going to get anywhere using them for commercial use. you can argue that this is for personal/educational use, but your plans on distribution and your last comment "It'd be a group effort to raise the funds. We would probably formalize ourselves as a company" pretty much goes directly against that.

I acknowledge this, so it's definately that's firmly in mind.

2: i'm sure tons of people bring their handy-cams in to film at the event. that doesn't mean it's legal to make a documentary that way. you need to be careful to cover your butts as often as possible about getting permission from the convention, from individuals you interview, from companies who's products you show, from companies who's booths you show and any other media (pictures, video, etc) you reproduce intentionally or not. if you don't at least get a basic wavier you're setting yourself up for a major legal risk by getting sued by one company who didn't know you're filming them or didn't like what you had to say. freedom of speech doesn't get you too far when you're profiting off of this. you can say and do anything you want, if you have the wavier saying you have their permission to do so.

Yes, this is also acknowledged. I have connections with IGN, so I can communicate to them the reqs of some of this stuff. The goal isn't about 'games' specifically as it is about the show in general, so references to any specific games or systems will be minimal.

making a documentary isn't easy. especially if you say "We're a bunch of stupid kids that want to do something big". you need to make sure you plan the crap out of this before you go in there and make sure you know what you're going to shoot and how you're going to shoot it. think of angles, topics, people you want to talk to, everything because if you get there and just start shooting, you'll come home with tapes of random stuff and your final documentary will look like you took a bunch of random shots and stuck them together.

Every day is planning, it's always in work, always in progress, it's always something.

also, if you're really thinking that the problem with "Sony camcorders I've seen so far is they like to stick to their own proprietary media" you have a lot more to learn than just buying a bunch of equipment. almost every prosumer camera out there uses Mini DV tapes and most have a firewire/ilink/ieee 1394 port on them to connect to your computer. make sure you take some serious time to get familiar with your equipment and storytelling abilities before you try this. otherwise, you're doomed before you step foot in that convention hall.

Like I said earlier, I've had some experience with filmmaking in school as well as editing, especially in-camera. We've messed with MiniDV and IEEE 1394 before.

that's another part, storytelling. it's a good idea to read up on storytelling before you plan this out. a good documentary tells a story that brings the viewer through the experience. it acknowledges that some viewers have no idea what's going on and others do and makes sure both are pleased. it explains things and describes things using visuals, narration and on-camera hosts (if applicable). you can find a lot of great books out there on storytelling that will help you get ready for this.

We know.

the majority of my work has been 6-8 min short stories about a person or a few people and making one of those can be hard enough (there's a lot of information to distill down). you're going to have to worry about the other extreme: information overload. be aware of your audience. don't throw so much at them that you lose them.

there's a lot more that i could tell you about the planning and story side of this. equipment-wise you've gotten a lot of great advice already. you have a really cool opportunity here. plan like crazy before hand so when the time comes, you can come up with an awesome product.

Thanks for the advice :)

Posted 6 years ago #
TFXRaven
Member

For those who were keeping track, we started taking donations yesterday.

e3unveiled.com

Posted 6 years ago #