I'm sorry for the length of this post and if these are super basic questions but I'm a real noob at this so I'm not sure how to move forward. I have a few ideas for a short documentary that I'd like to make but I don't know how to start it and have a bunch of random questions about the process. Here's what I have so far:
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My Background:
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Besides a few dumb, goofy movies I made in high school, I've never worked on a serious film project. I didn't go to film school or anything like that so I don't have much background in film making besides some basic knowledge of how to use Adobe Premiere. I used to be pretty into photography so I know a bit about exposure and composition but not much about audio, cinematography, film theory, or anything like that.
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Gear:
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I want to do this with as small of a budget as possible just to prove to myself that I can make a movie and like it before I invest in something better. I plan on shooting with my iphone 7 with filmic pro. I have a rode videomicro to use along with it and a tripod. I also have access to adobe premiere CS5.
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Film Idea:
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I want to make a short documentary (~15-20 minutes) that I'll post online (vimeo or youtube or something) about what motivates people to rock climb. Ideallly I'd like to interview people who have been climbing over a range of years. I'd like to show how people first got into climbing and kind of how their motivations change as they do it longer and they get older, etc. There's a local climbing gym near me so I potentially have some people to interview but I don't really know anyone there. There's many different aspects of climbing that I could explore too (indoors, outdoors, bouldering/route climbing, training, competition climbing, etc).
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Questions:
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How does one even start planning this? How much do you outline before you start shooting? How much of it is "scripted" beforehand?
Does my idea work? Most documentaries have a story of some sort and I'm not really sure how to carve a good story out of it. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated?
How do I get people to interview? Just go up and ask a bunch of strangers and hope for the best?
I've never interviewed anyone before. Any general tips on this would be greatly appreciated. How much of their answers are you guiding them towards with your questions?
Who needs to sign release forms? Obviously the people being interviewed but what if I have some shots of random people climbing as B-roll or something. Do they need to sign releases too?
How do you guys get access to music?
Is my gear sufficient? Is there anything that I'm missing or just won't work?
Any literature that you would recommend on making documentaries?
Any general comments/concerns!
=============
My Background:
=============
Besides a few dumb, goofy movies I made in high school, I've never worked on a serious film project. I didn't go to film school or anything like that so I don't have much background in film making besides some basic knowledge of how to use Adobe Premiere. I used to be pretty into photography so I know a bit about exposure and composition but not much about audio, cinematography, film theory, or anything like that.
=============
Gear:
=============
I want to do this with as small of a budget as possible just to prove to myself that I can make a movie and like it before I invest in something better. I plan on shooting with my iphone 7 with filmic pro. I have a rode videomicro to use along with it and a tripod. I also have access to adobe premiere CS5.
=============
Film Idea:
=============
I want to make a short documentary (~15-20 minutes) that I'll post online (vimeo or youtube or something) about what motivates people to rock climb. Ideallly I'd like to interview people who have been climbing over a range of years. I'd like to show how people first got into climbing and kind of how their motivations change as they do it longer and they get older, etc. There's a local climbing gym near me so I potentially have some people to interview but I don't really know anyone there. There's many different aspects of climbing that I could explore too (indoors, outdoors, bouldering/route climbing, training, competition climbing, etc).
=============
Questions:
=============
How does one even start planning this? How much do you outline before you start shooting? How much of it is "scripted" beforehand?
Does my idea work? Most documentaries have a story of some sort and I'm not really sure how to carve a good story out of it. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated?
How do I get people to interview? Just go up and ask a bunch of strangers and hope for the best?
I've never interviewed anyone before. Any general tips on this would be greatly appreciated. How much of their answers are you guiding them towards with your questions?
Who needs to sign release forms? Obviously the people being interviewed but what if I have some shots of random people climbing as B-roll or something. Do they need to sign releases too?
How do you guys get access to music?
Is my gear sufficient? Is there anything that I'm missing or just won't work?
Any literature that you would recommend on making documentaries?
Any general comments/concerns!