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Hi James,

Its awesome to be in a forum with such great filmmakers as yourself. Ok, so Ive had something that ive wanted to tell you for a couple of years now. It all started about 3 years ago when I watched Iraq In Fragments. At that point I was on my 1st year of Film School and although I was learning about the sensitivity in storytelling, I was more impressed with camerawork. When I saw that film I was blown away. At that point I thought it was only the camerawork what was amazing and I managed to find your contact at DVX user and I sent you a note asking you ONLY about the presets you used to achieve these images. You replied in no time with all the numbers and I punched them into my newly purchased DVX 100A as if those numbers alone would aquire those pictures.
Now.. for all of these years i have regretted enormously just having asked you about those presets.. I have grown out of the tech freak school mentality and I can watch your film now without focusing on shutter speeds, or framings or whatever. That film has taught me lots of things. I go back to it once in a while to learn when Im feeling stuck creatively.

Ok so all of this is to say.. sorry for just asking what the numbers in your DVX setting were, when you had made such an amazing, human piece.

pablo

Thank you, Pablo. You're very kind.

But if you're looking for humanity and sensitivity, there are a lot of filmmakers who've been able to capture that better – and a lot of them are on this forum. Take a look at Doug Block's film 51 Birch Street, just for instance.

Hi. My name is Preston Hart. I am a Brooklyn based composer and producer of music for films and have scored a couple of documentaries by DC's Eidolon Films. I am looking for new projects so please feel free to contact me.

Welcome, Pablo and Preston!

Thanks, James. I'll trade some humanity for your presets, though.

These are okay:

http://dvfilm.com/maker/dvx100settings.htm

the settings are nothing special – keeping the iris open is more important. Oh yeah – and get close to your subject and shoot wide.

Hi everyone,
Stumbled upon this site via 2-pop and so glad that I did. I am currently working on a feature length doc working title: Jimi Hendrix: The Early Years
It's about the time right after the Army when he and Billy Cox were living in Nashville. It's about him but it's also about the thriving R&B scene in Music City at the time. It's a side of Nashville that really hasn't been told.

I finished the interviews (30+) and currently working in FCpro, researching archives, licensing, figuring out to pitch it etc.
I ran out and got the interviews first because these guys were not getting any younger...3 have already passed away that I got including Larry Lee last October. I have an hour interview with him and it was probably the last one he did.
I shot everything on a GL2 & an FX1 in SD Have gathered a few more people to help and things a moving forward. I'm sure I will have lots of questions. Grateful to have a place like here to ask them. Looking forward to getting to know some of you.

Glad you found us, Valerie. Sounds like a fun project, hope it all works out. And you find the money for those music rights ;-)

thanks, luckily most of people i interviewed have their own cd's so won't be using much (if any) hendrix tunes. we'll see. you know they did a documentary about bluesman robert johnson (at the crossroads) and all they had was a photo. we'll see...haven't approached Janie Hendrix yet but have a feeling it would be way out of my budget.

happy to be here with the d-word. I'm a filmmaker from a book background which means I'm still learning to work with a more engaging visual style. I've got my first documentary CONNECT USA premiering at the FirstGlance Film Festival in Hollywood next month. Much of my work until now is oral history based (interview heavy), and CONNECT USA is the story of me traveling across the USA interviewing people over a game of Connect Four (see the trailer at www.bodegavision.com)

Going forward as I look to make more documentaries, I look forward to not making it in the woodshed like I did this one, but among a community of doc filmmakers.

very cool idea, gregory! welcome to the D-Word...

Welcome, Gregory. You should consider applying for full membership, which will give you access to all the topics. It's free, but not automatic.

thanks for welcome, I'll apply for the full membership when I get a breather. Right now looking to poster and drop postcards in LA, Marj have any ideas on how to get someone to help me over there? I can be reached also at connect@bodegavision.com

Hi everyone,
I'm so happy to have found the D-Word and look forward to learning from and connecting with you all! I am currently finishing a film about human enhancement technologies (bionic limbs, brain-machine interfaces, prenatal screening technologies, etc...)and disability rights called Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement. In it, I follow three main characters, each of whom has a severe disability and each has a different perspective and stake in these emerging technologies. The film is trying to raise ethical/philosophical questions for us all to grapple with: how will these technologies change what it means to be human, "who" is allowed to be born, what values are embedded within the culture that are perpetuated by these technnologies, etc... I'm very excited about it, and have received great feedback so far, but am feeling a bit stuck about where to go from here. I started the project as my thesis for my master's program at UCSC in Social Documentation (Documentary Film) which I completed this past June. While the program is excellent in supporting us to go deep with our research and analysis and thinking about story structure, voice, etc.. it was quite light when it comes to post and to distribution or anything relating to the business side of things! So I am looking for advice here on these fronts. (I'll post more specific questions in various threads but do welcome any feedback).

I also want to share that after working on my film intensely for the last three years, I'm really excited to connect with other documentary filmmakers and am looking for other projects to crew on. So if anyone is looking for help, i.e. camera, research, writing, assistant directing, PA, editing, even just brainstorming ideas together, please keep me in mind (especially in the Bay Area, but I'd be very willing to travel too for the right project).

I am also about to invest in a camera in the next few days, but am still wavering between the HPX170 and the HMC150 (I'd love more advice on this, but I'll take it to the camera thread).

So thanks to all, especially the hosts! See ya on the forums!

Welcome, Regan. I highly recommend you start by reading the vast archives of the Marketing and Distribution topic. Or at least the past year or so. You'll get up to speed pretty quickly just from that.

i am a member of kodao productions here in the Philippines. Kodao is an indigenous word meaning journal. we make social and political documentaries. We also have a radio program that was blacklisted by the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo because of being outspoken about the administration's corrupt management of our country.

Welcome, Ariel. Do register for full membership .

Hello Everyone,
My name is Graeme Orr and I was born in England, grew up in Australia and now live in Canada. I am finishing of my first feature length documentary at the moment. I am very glad to have found this site. I live in a kind of creative bubble. Been working hard on my doc which I am producing, directing, writing, shooting and editing on my own. I love the art forma nd have a subject I am very passionate about.

My film, 'Road to Nirvana' is about how a chance meeting with a humanitarian has changed my life for ever. It was kind of lost. Knowing only that I wanted to learn more about the world and had dreams of using my passion for Documentaries to somehow positively impact the world. Then I was shooting for the local news one day and had to interview a man who builds schools and orpahanges all over the world and bring medical aid to those in need. He still holds down a full-time job and helps his wife run a business. At first I didn't know what to expect but the more time I spent with him I realised he was the answer to a lot of my personal neds aswell as proffessional ones. We travelled to Kenya, Egypt, India, Nepal and Sudan on crazy adventures to see some of the poorest people on the planet. It didn't take long for me to realise how spoit the western world is. I came back from each trip a little different. With a new perspective. I knew I had to make this into a feature and get as many people as possible to see it. I was extremely fortuate and now I feel it is my duty to spread AShid (my subject) message. 'In helping others lies the true significance of living'.

The drama and arch of the story revolves around Ashid's realization that he isn't getting any younger and after 30 years he needs to find some way of making his society survive after he is gone. After being a humble man who did very little self promotion he now realizes he must bring a new generation into the mix so when he is gone it won't all fall away. That is were I come in. Together we are taking his message to the world from the point of view of some one who at first had no really understanding of what he was talking about to now dedicating what has been 2 years of my life on fulfilling what I believe to be my duty or calling if you like.

WOW!! I really can rant on about this project.

Long story short (kind of) .. that's what I am doing at the moment. We have one shoot left in Cambodia and possibly another in The Dominican Republic. I'll be at Hot Docs in Toronto at the end of the month trying to learn the pitching process and aiming to meet the people who can help get this story out to the world.

I look forward to interacting with fellow passionate documentary filmmakers here at The D-Word. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for you all. I also look forward to researching some of your films so I can pick your brains even more about specifics. This site is just what I need. Wish I had found it sooner.

Graeme

Great to have you here, Graeme. Like with Ariel, feel free to sign up for full membership here ...

Thanks, Doug. I'll be sure to check it out.

Regan, it's really great to have enthusiastic, fresh young blood infusing The D-Word. So jump right in to any forum without hesitating. We'll all be the better for it. And that goes for everyone who's registered recently or lurking out there in the dark. We simply don't exist without your posts. No questions too unenlightened. No sharing of experience we don't welcome wholeheartedly.

Thanks for sharing that, Doug, (I especially liked that part about being referred to as a "young" blood). =)

It can seem intimidating to chime in with questions and thoughts sometimes, but I'll give it a go! I'm sure I'll have lots of unenlightened quandaries to pose along the way that may, if nothing else, amuse the wiser, more experienced ones among us. Maybe they'll take pity on me and share some insights...? ;)

Thanks to Mikal Jakubal for getting me on here!

hey regan, you must know Renee Tajima-Peña pretty well, yes? she's my Executive Producer for my film WHATEVER IT TAKES. Renee was a big help to me (and continues to be) – hopefully, you've been able to get some good documentary instruction from her...

Hi Chris, That's great Renee is your Executive Producer. I did get to know Renee well and learned a great deal from her. What a fabulous woman and gifted filmmaker/storyteller! Your film sounds really interesting, by the way. Sounds like an incredible journey making it too.

Hi everyone. I'm really pleased to have found this site and looking forward to connecting with other documentary filmmakers.

I'm fairly new to the industry, having been thrown in at the deep end on a project in Thailand about AIDS orphans. The children are from a small rural village and are preparing to take part in an opera in Bangkok. They are being taught by an American composer and musician and filming has been on-going for the last 18 months.

My biggest concern at the moment is to do with releases. I know there is plenty of information available on the subject but it isn't always very clear. I have full permission to film the children, but there are obviously countless other adults appearing throughout the film. I understand that everyone who is interviewed must sign a release. What I'm less sure about is other people who appear in the shot.

When I speak to Americans they always say that everyone should sign a release. It's obviously easy to say than to carry out. Europeans seems to be less strict and concentrate on those being interviewed. I know that Thailand is not a litigious society compared to America – is this a factor a distributor or broadcaster will take into account if people haven't signed?

We're all looking forward to the big performance in July and then we can start to edit.

Hope to get to know you guys!!

Mike

Welcome, Mike. I'm no lawyer but I'd mainly be concerned with people you've interviewed and those who are featured fairly prominently in a scene (which is usually a judgement call). If they speak at all I try to get a release. If they're just in the background I don't worry too much, though you might later have the occasional broadcaster who'll want a face blurred.