Doco-Style Shooting - Need Advice

[Tyler Black]

I've shot hundreds of commercials, dozens of industrials, and a feature film or two. But I've never shot anything documentary-style, really.

I've been hired for a shoot for a video magazine show, much like 60-minutes. It's a 1-day shoot where the majority of the shooting will be B-Roll and then a couple of interviews at the end of the day.

These are my questions:
1. How much will I be allowed/expected to manipulate the situation? If I see someone shoveling coal and they stop, can I ask them to do it again? Or in a different way?

2. How much time do you spend lighting a real-life situation like this? If I'm not able to light, can I ask that the subject move closer to a window when pealing carrots?

When I was first starting out, I interviewed for the PBS station in Denver. They sent me out for the day to shoot some B-Roll. I got dozens of usable shots for them to put together a story, but I didn't get the job. Later I realized they probably didn't want 20 usable shots, they wanted 5 great shots. So how do you balance getting enough coverage with taking time to set up beautiful shots?

The producers for my shoot next week are out of Chicago and call this a run-and-gun style shoot. But they are bringing a light kit and mics. I have no idea what to expect and I don't want to disappoint them. Is it un-cool to ask what they are looking for?

ANY advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

Ty Black

 

[Frank Mirbach]

Hey Tyler,

been shooting lots of documentary stuff with RED lately.

1. Even "real" people can be directed up to a certain limit. And they should. Explain how it works, what you expect from them and you´ll be fine. Sometimes they will be surprised to have to repeat things, but the´ll understand and do what you want them to do.
2. Depends on the situation. If there´s light needed, you should go for a general approach in order not to spend too much time with re lighting each shot. If there´s no lighting possible, move them. They´ll understand. Normally, I only have about 20 - 30 minutes for my lighting on shows like that, with a very small crew.

Concerning your producers: It would be unwise not to have them specify what they need and expect from you, so ask them. Every show is different as you know.

Frank

 

[Rob Gardner]

An awful lot depends on the producers, their experience and expectations. If they are low-ball guys, they won't want to wait for anything and won't care what it looks like as long as you cover it they way they want by reading their minds. If they are good guys, they will appreciate your input and work with you to make the best footage possible. Of course the problem is, you won't know until they either thank you or bitch you out...

 

[Alex Sutherland]

Coming from the print photojournalism world, I can't say many journalists I know would approve of posing your "directing" your subjects to any significant degree, as was suggested by Mr. Mirbach. There are of course different considerations with video (and with Red particularly) because of the nature of what it takes to compose a video shot, find focus, etc all BEFORE the action happens.

The main thing I would suggest keeping in mind is to make sure what you're doing isn't misleading the viewer. Doing that kind of thing would get you fired from a paper. TV news teams are notoriously lax with their ethical standards when it comes to such things so I wouldn't look to them for guidance if you want to have something with integrity.

 

[Frank Mirbach]

Coming from the print photojournalism world, I can't say many journalists I know would approve of posing your "directing" your subjects to any significant degree, as was suggested by Mr. Mirbach. There are of course different considerations with video (and with Red particularly) because of the nature of what it takes to compose a video shot, find focus, etc all BEFORE the action happens.

The main thing I would suggest keeping in mind is to make sure what you're doing isn't misleading the viewer. Doing that kind of thing would get you fired from a paper. TV news teams are notoriously lax with their ethical standards when it comes to such things so I wouldn't look to them for guidance if you want to have something with integrity.

Hi Alex,

you´re right, trying to get things in one take with the RED proves to be impossible on many occasions. So "directing" those shots means you just ask people to do things again to get the shot. This doesn´t actually change things, but get´s you what you need. With ENG style cameras this is way easier, but simply looks ENG style instead of cinematic, which is what you want when choosing RED.

Frank

 

[Steve G]

Don't agree. You can shoot cinematic stuff with 2/3" eng style cameras. It is not only the tool. Mindset also counts.