In mid-December, I agreed to move from Mexico City to a remote beach of the Oaxacan coast. By late December, I had decided on my equipment. By early-January, I was opening up my B&H packages that would be my gear for my first solo project.
That may sound strange as I have worked in video now for many years. But this project would be my first shot at something that had no given stricture, no rules, no funding, no maize, no wheat no scientific/organizational/governmental/not-for-profit-but-still-possibly-a-registered-trademark message.
So that meant I needed my own equipment. I trawled gear reviews while liquor, cinnamon and deep-fried turkey wafted in the air. And needed everything before January 4th, when I would return to D.F. So what was in my suitcase: an Iomega 2 TB hard drive, Cards Against Humanity, a Panasonic gH2, two new and six vintage lenses ranging from macro to fish eye, various stabilizing devices, an h4N Zoom, a Rode ntg2, two new bathing suits and "The Complete Rhyming Dictionary and Poet's Companion" by Clement Wood, 1936 edition
In the process of designing my acquisition system, I ran across the International Documentary Challenge, a timed filmmaking competition from February 28th to March 4th. It was 5 days to make a short, non-fiction film based on 2 randomly assigned documentary genres as well as a theme, like this year’s “harmony.” I sent the information to the guys at the beach and it was agreed upon. we would eneter the contest and hope that, for my sake, we were not assigned the genre “Sports.”
And we did not. But I was still nervous. I had been nervous. The average team included 8 people. So I made a deal with myself: turn something in even if it is not perfect. Learn from it.
And I did. Specifically, I learned about audio and that it is hard to hold and a boom and pull focus and interview and keep giant roaming puppies from licking equipment and take a bandana to wipe the high sodium liquid seeping out of skin and onto surfaces and electronics and glasses. I use to use Sennheiser lavalieres, which are microphones you pin to the subject. This allowed me focus for interviewing and filming. But I use to interview individuals in slightly more controlled environments. When I designed this system, I went for a shotgun microphone because this project was more about the group and day-to-day interactions.
My one regret is having not duplicated myself to hold a boom, even if that duplicate may have been a doppelgänger that I would have to tell every 4 minutes, "boom in the shot." And that made more sense, the duplicate consistently doing a sub-par job, after I did some extensive research watching the movie, “Multiplicity,” in which Micheal Keaton duplicates himself like four times just to realize he must take control of his life and send his extra selves packing. So I decided duplication was not the way forward (yet) but that I would need someone else on boom forever and ever, amen.
And, hey. Lesson learned. We did not win the contest and that was not, nor was it ever the goal. For me, leaving Mexico City for Oaxaca, gathering the equipment, creating the product and submitting all of the paper work correctly and utterly alone makes the effort a success. At least in my biased eyes.
Watch the final product here:
That may sound strange as I have worked in video now for many years. But this project would be my first shot at something that had no given stricture, no rules, no funding, no maize, no wheat no scientific/organizational/governmental/not-for-profit-but-still-possibly-a-registered-trademark message.
So that meant I needed my own equipment. I trawled gear reviews while liquor, cinnamon and deep-fried turkey wafted in the air. And needed everything before January 4th, when I would return to D.F. So what was in my suitcase: an Iomega 2 TB hard drive, Cards Against Humanity, a Panasonic gH2, two new and six vintage lenses ranging from macro to fish eye, various stabilizing devices, an h4N Zoom, a Rode ntg2, two new bathing suits and "The Complete Rhyming Dictionary and Poet's Companion" by Clement Wood, 1936 edition
In the process of designing my acquisition system, I ran across the International Documentary Challenge, a timed filmmaking competition from February 28th to March 4th. It was 5 days to make a short, non-fiction film based on 2 randomly assigned documentary genres as well as a theme, like this year’s “harmony.” I sent the information to the guys at the beach and it was agreed upon. we would eneter the contest and hope that, for my sake, we were not assigned the genre “Sports.”
And we did not. But I was still nervous. I had been nervous. The average team included 8 people. So I made a deal with myself: turn something in even if it is not perfect. Learn from it.
And I did. Specifically, I learned about audio and that it is hard to hold and a boom and pull focus and interview and keep giant roaming puppies from licking equipment and take a bandana to wipe the high sodium liquid seeping out of skin and onto surfaces and electronics and glasses. I use to use Sennheiser lavalieres, which are microphones you pin to the subject. This allowed me focus for interviewing and filming. But I use to interview individuals in slightly more controlled environments. When I designed this system, I went for a shotgun microphone because this project was more about the group and day-to-day interactions.
My one regret is having not duplicated myself to hold a boom, even if that duplicate may have been a doppelgänger that I would have to tell every 4 minutes, "boom in the shot." And that made more sense, the duplicate consistently doing a sub-par job, after I did some extensive research watching the movie, “Multiplicity,” in which Micheal Keaton duplicates himself like four times just to realize he must take control of his life and send his extra selves packing. So I decided duplication was not the way forward (yet) but that I would need someone else on boom forever and ever, amen.
And, hey. Lesson learned. We did not win the contest and that was not, nor was it ever the goal. For me, leaving Mexico City for Oaxaca, gathering the equipment, creating the product and submitting all of the paper work correctly and utterly alone makes the effort a success. At least in my biased eyes.
Watch the final product here:
