Ingesting all of the footage these last few weeks has been a mixed experience for me.
Sometimes I am thrilled about what I’ve shot, but most of the time I curse myself for not following up on an interesting answer to a standard question, or not rolling when it appears the subject is about to get “candid,” or not being more steady with my shot when a subject tells an interesting story.
Staying steady is an issue with the footage more times than I am comfortable saying – the DVX is a great camera (on so many levels), but it is too damn light to hold steady. Maybe this is my limited skills showing through, but a lesson I have learned (way too late for this project) is to stay on sticks.
Something I did learn from my last shooting experience (the 16mm “Blue Noir” shot in 1994!) was to get enough coverage for every scene.
And yet there are those who make my 45 hours of footage look inadequate:
Hank Rogerson shot 160 hours of footage for “Shakespeare Behind Bars,” and Nanette Burstein shot over 1000 hours for “American Teen” just to name two.
In the doc world size might not matter, but quantity does.
Maybe quality matters, also.
-Chris
