Equipment Help! Filming a Documentary...Advice Greatly Appreciated!

T

TheWebGuy3

Hey all, So I'm brand new to filmmaking. But over this next few months I'll be going through and doing some things I want to create a documentary about.

I've been spending a ton of time reading all of the threads about equipment but I'm not sure what I need.

Basically the camera will be with me while I film these events in my life or someone else will film me doing them (I also will have a couple interviews).

So what kind of equipment will I need? I am going to put a ton of time into this documentary so I'd hate to be finished filming months from now (maybe over a year from now) and find out I had the wrong equipment the whole time. It'd be pretty bad if my documentary ends up being good but nobody will take it serious b/c it's poor video/sound quality.

Keep in mind that it's a documentary so I don't know if video quality expectations are different for this genre; however, my dream would be that it would be shown on some big screens!

I've heard good things about ROD VIDEOMIC and the Cannon T2i however that's going to be pretty expensive for me. Do I need something that nice (or even much nicer) for a documentary?

Also, is there any good guide online I can read for a nooby about compression, video quality, fps, and all that?

Thanks so much! Any advice is very much appreciated.
 
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Depends on what kind of budget you have and what you're planning on doing with it when you're done. If you're going to try and enter it into festivals then you probably need better equipment to be competitive.

As I have extremely limited practical experience with filmmaking, I won't go into specifics about what you need. However, you should probably get a camcorder, plenty of batteries, a few good mics, a boom pole, and maybe lighting for interviews or something. I'll wait for someone more knowledgeable to add on to or correct me. :P
 
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What is your budget?

You've been spending a ton of time reading all of the
threads about equipment so you know the first thing
we need to know is how much you can spend.

Balance that with your dream of the final film being on
the big screen. Some cheaper cameras will be fine for
a film transfer - many will not. No way to help without
knowing how much you can spend.

Have you seen Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me"? It was
shot on a Sony PD150, a standard definition camera. Today's
iPod Touch camera is better. But you won't be using that
so what is your budget for camera and sound?
 
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re:

Well I'd like to keep it under $1,000 but then again...if $1,000 worth of a equipment won't get me taken seriously at a festival...or on the big screens :) then I would wait to get more money before I began. However, because it's a documentary then I wasn't sure if having super nice equipment is necessary (the supersize me example was great) because it seems like documentaries are typically a much lower video quality than feature films...I just don't know if there is a minimum you'd all recommend to be taken serious.

All I've got right now is a jvc everio s! haha which is like $135 bucks.
 
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TheWebGuy3 said:
Well I'd like to keep it under $1,000 but then again...if $1,000 worth of a equipment won't get me taken seriously at a festival...or on the big screens :)
Click to expand...
You need to attend several festivals. I suggest at least five. See
what documentaries are accepted. Festivals take good movies
seriously and are not fixated on what equipment is used. If you
made an excellent doc using an iPhone or iPod camera it has an
excellent chance of getting into festivals.

You aren't going to get "super nice" equipment in your budget
range, but you will be able to buy a nice camera and a mic that will do the job.

Get the Canon HF M40 and the Audio-Technica AT8035 shotgun
mic.
 
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