This is a Public Topic geared towards first-time filmmakers. Professional members of The D-Word will come by and answer your questions about documentary filmmaking.
In reply to Diane Johnson's post on Sun 25 Jan 2009 :
I agree with Christopher to an expert usually doesn't get a honorarium, unless they insist. If they do and you are on a tight budget, you could specify a certain amount in the interview release form that will be given to him/her after the film has found a commercial release.
In reply to Sudeshna Chowdhury's post on Fri 20 Feb 2009 :
My advice is to think small. Write stories or produce 3-5 minute videos on topics that interest you for a website (could be an on-line newspaper). The experience will teach you 1) if it's something you really like doing 2) how to work efficiently and 3) get the attention of people who might want to hire you.
These days there are no shortage of people who will post your material.
Hi to all of you this is my first time to join D world.
I need some of your guidance about editing with Adobe Preme.
I am very new to make documentary and this is my first time.
i have already shoot video with different, different video camera using mini video tape. almost i have got 40 hours of video.
now i want to edit with using adobe preme. Can some one say, which format i should start editing and save file also. I am new to preme also.
Thanks
Welcome, Wang. Only very few people in the professional documentary world use Adobe Premiere to edit. So you might find better advice in the Creative Cow Forum on Premiere or in Adobe's own Premiere forums – sorry we can't be more helpful...
It's hard to tell from your description if you shot on different video formats or if you used different cameras that all recorded on miniDV tape. If you shot everything on miniDV tape, you can use that format to edit everything in Premiere. Simply select the PAL or NTSC option in Premiere.
Ben – before you speak for all, please ask. I have used Premiere, Edius, Avid, FCP, Speed Razor, Edit and too many other programs to edit docs.
There's always the good old bad old way...
Thanks Robert Goodman for your answer.
Really i do not know that in which format they shoot video because that time and even now i am very new to camera and shoot by so many different people and now i want to edit it. But i know all are in Mini Dv tape. But we shoot with good camera and now i have only tapes, i do not have those camera anymore with me. I have one question that when i edit and capture video then need to get first another camera to play tape and then can capture. I have my simple camera SONY DCR-HC26 so if i put that tape in SONY DCR-HC26 and then play and capture video then do you think that i will loose the quality of video because before camera was good and now this camera SONY DCR-HC26 is very simple. Please do not mind i am very new for this so asking this type of question.
Thanks
There is absolutely no difference in quality when you are just using the camera as a player.
Do check out the dedicated Adobe Premiere forum recommended above.
wang fu,
if all of your tapes on on MiniDV, then you can use any MiniDV camera to capture the video. you will not lose any quality in the capture. the only thing you might need to pay attention to is whether those tapes were shot in NTSC or PAL, and also what framerates the footage was acquired at (29.97, 24p, etc.). good luck.
Thanks for your answer John Burgan and now i am not worry ,
really i was little worry before that if i use simple camera SONY DCR-HC26 to transfer then i may loose the video quality.
I will check out the Adobe Premiere forum nicely.
Thanks
Thanks Christopher Wong.
I am not sure video was shoot in NTSC or PAL but i am sure it was in 24p.
But i want to edit with NTSC format.
I am sorry Christopher Wong i type wrong . Actually video was not shoot in 24p
to Wang Fu,
when you are successful getting your footage in the system, you should be able determine (in info about the clips) whether it was PAL (25 fps) or NTSC (30 fps).
If you want to edit (and deliver the final piece) in NTSC, then you will need to transfer any PAL footage into NTSC, something that any dubbing house can do there in your city.
Altnernatively, you can make that transfer using software like Nattress Standards Conversion:
http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconversion.htm
to make all your PAL footage into NTSC.
if your Sony Camera can playback the footage, you should be able to use that camera to capture the footage into your system with NO loss in quality.
hey guys, so im getting starting on a documentary and I'ts on social workers and therapy. Any ideas on this? or any films i can get ideas from?
Dustan:
The more details you offer the better the feedback we can give. This one is pretty broad. I will tell you, however, to not rely on the camera mic built into your camera and instead buy or rent wireless lavs and a good boom or shotgun mic.
yeah true say, kk so heres the pitch. Imagine elementary schools with children that behave badly. Now when these principles at these schools feel that there is nothing left to do, there is this company called bartimaeus to help. This company is a group of social workers that take up a class time and work with kids and teach them moral values and how to communicate with people. (basically this program teaches them how to be leaders, motivation, being independent... you get the idea) Now this company has hired me to shoot a 4-5 min doc describing what they do so that they can hand it out to schools.
I am trying to figure out what exact style this doc deserves to be. Any ideas?
I think it should be a combination of live action and animation with a Pink Floyd soundtrack.
Yo.
I wish to import some video into my final cut project. Should i download the material as HiRes MPEG4 or MPEG2? Does FCP import both of these file types? I'd assume the hi res MPEG4 but the MPEG2 is much bigger in size. Confused. I could keep googling it but eventually decided to google d-word so here i am.
In reply to dustan lewis mcbain's post on Fri 27 Feb 2009 :
Without knowing more about your level of experience, the easiest thing would be to do something something to a news report, similar to what you would see on your local tv. Watch some of those segments and you will see the elements you need to get, and the order in which to edit them together.
Yours would be about twice the length, but it would be a great place to start.
In reply to Evan Thomas's post on Fri 27 Feb 2009 :
Evan – MPEG2 and MPEG4 are highly compressed video formats not well-suited to editing. Not sure what you mean when you say "downloading" – do you mean from the Internet?
please suggest me ..
i want to record voice separately as narration which i will use for my documentary. which is the good instruments to use to record voice without using camera, means i want just record voice not the video.
Thanks
What kind of audio recording equipment do you have now? Is it digital? Do you use minidisc? Or anything else like that? What kind of microphone do you have?
You can record directly to your computer with the right equipment.
In reply to Jo-Anne Velin's post on Fri 27 Feb 2009 :
I do not have any audio recording equipement. but i want to buy whole things which can record voice in good quaility. i do not have any microphone i will buy so i need to know which is good, which equipement is good, i want only for audi recording which i will use in docoumentary.
Thanks
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