Documentary.

WitnessAdam

I am planning to travel through many high risk areas of the world in two years time to create a documentary with my brother and one friend.

My brother and friend are both media students but none of us have ever made anything like this before. Just wanted to ask a few questions.

What equipment is vital if we want it to be in anyway presentable? and not just like a home video of a holiday.

Mics,cameras etc. price rage is medium. Fairly broad statement but please try your best.

What is the best way to keep your camera backed up footage wise?.

Any other tips and advice would be much appreciated.

MariusTT

Well, since you have two years to learn how to do it, I won't bother saying anything about equipment. There are many options out there and you have plenty of time to decide what suits you best.

A documentary can be shot on an iPhone and edited in Windows Movie Maker. A pretty picture with nice sound isn't a documentary. And neither is a good story presented in careless way. A pretty picture with a nice sound and a fantastic story is a good documentary.

And you will need to gather experience making other documentaries.

Two years is a lot of time to think about it. Technologies, prices, people change. If you haven't made anything like this then you should start with a short documentary.

You won't remember 1% of what other people tell you here when things go pear-shaped. That's why you need experience.

Is that when you're finishing school, in two years? What will the documentary be about?

AnonoBoy

MariusTT wrote: »

What will the documentary be about?

That's the absolutely most important question.

Just travelling around and filming it with no plan other than 'we're travelling to high risk areas' will result in a film that has no purpose.

WitnessAdam

Thanks a lot for the reply!

It's gonna be about the dangers people face and mainly about totalitarianism. How peoples lives differ from the west and trying to gain a better understanding of how they live.

We want to visit Jews in Iran, Muslims in palestine and we also want it to be about the journey. We want to travel mainly by land from Istanbul to North Korea. Probably won't be able to do it all by trains but we can do a fair bit that way my research tells me. I think the journey is a good enough topic in itself.

like the long way round type thing.

AnonoBoy

WitnessAdam wrote: »

I think the journey is a good enough topic in itself.

Be careful of that.

Lots of docs become about the journey but you'll find they have a goal that's driving the journey. You are trying to get somewhere or do something in particular. It gives energy to the journey.

Your main story may well end up being the journey itself but without a central drive a doc can be in danger of becoming aimless.

Good luck with it though.

I would advise you to post footage back to Ireland as you go. Or find some matter of backing it up securely. If you're travelling in dangerous areas you run the risk of having equipment stolen or confiscated so have a plan about how you're going to make sure you keep whatever you shoot.