Hello everyone,
Pleasure to be aboard. I'm new to the D-Word and currently in pre-production on both my first documentary and my first feature length project. After obsessively agonizing on cameras, knowing full well the content matters more than the camera, I settled on the Panasonic GH1 for it's DOF capabilities, the fact that you could hack the bitrate settings (which I have done) and it seemed to be the only hi-def still/video camera that was capable of shooting for longer than 15mins at a clip without the camera overheating and or cutting off the clip at the 12-14min mark (as in the ever popular Canon DSLRs). So far I'm very happy.
I'll be posting more updates as I go but my main area of focus now is quality sound capture. I have a good indy rig but no wireless LAVs. I will post more on that in another section of the website and will certainly be looking for pointers and recommendations. I'm certainly in the market for some good multi-channel LAV mics if anyone has tips there.
My documentary is a "son gets to know his Jazz Musician father through his music and those who loved him and his music". And yes, I've seen "My Architect: A Son's Journey". GREAT film that was a major inspiration. If you've seen that film there are some very similar themes for me. My father was lost to me when I was fairly young (19), we didn't have much chance to get to know each other (family drama and his obsessive dedication to his music) and within the Jazz community he is rather legendary for those who really know his music.
I hope to explore the reasons why those fans and devotes of my father's music keep insisting he is a genius improviser and one of the top three improvisers of the 20th century (often listed with Charlie Parker and Lester Young others). These are odd things to digest about about someone whom you saw in a very different light growing up. I both seek to tribute my father but also get to know him better through his music. Hopefully both the viewing audiences and myself will get to know him a little better and come out the other side with a better understanding of what makes his particular stripe of musician so special.
So, next steps for me? Editing a fundraising snippet for Kickstarter and other online fundraising sights, finding some good wireless lavs and continuing to seek encouragement for this daunting task.
I do have a producer by the way. He is a former Cal Arts screen-writing instructor and huge fan/devote of my father's music. Wonderful fellow named Eddie Richey. My wife is also an ever-present producing partner and the other half of Leo Rising productions.
Here's to getting to know everyone better and most certainly sharing about the process.