Best Documentary Film Gear: Everything you NEED to get started.
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- This video breaks down the best documentary film gear I have used over the course of my career. After I had all my gear stolen I had to think about all the most important filmmaking gear I would need to be able to produce my documentaries.
My sports Documentary Lut pack www.alexzarfati.com/luts
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases #commisionsearned
My Camera Bodies
Ursa 12K amzn.to/3AyXpnT
Bmpcc 6K Pro amzn.to/3TuW7Do
My Lenses
Sigma lens 24-70mm amzn.to/3RltOoK
Sigma lens 50mm amzn.to/3CCR7X1
Sigma lens 24mm amzn.to/3RmYl5R
Sigma lens 50-100mm amzn.to/3PTUpIF
My Drone
Mavic Pro 3 amzn.to/3AyXpnT
My Audio Gear
Rode NTG3 amzn.to/3wAZIWj
Cheaper Lav System amzn.to/3Q1eYD1
Better Lav System amzn.to/3e0bcwd
Zoom Recorder amzn.to/3CHmC2q
Patch Cable amzn.to/3R4a1uy
Get this for Rodelink lav set amzn.to/3pSyO8H
Boom Pole amzn.to/3wFwoy8
My Monitor
Feelworld Monitor amzn.to/3PZLa9C
SDI Cable amzn.to/3R16cWV
HDMI Cable amzn.to/3pVpzoo
My Lights
Aputure 120D II amzn.to/3q9ue60
Aputure 300D II amzn.to/3RfaXeY
Aputure Mini Lights amzn.to/3RlUDte
Aputure light dome amzn.to/3cxC3zs
Aputure light dome Mini amzn.to/3ATJIl1
Tripods and C-stands
Tripod amzn.to/3AtMRXn
Cheap C-stand amzn.to/3PYuYWq
Better C-stand amzn.to/3Rvw4d8
Accessories
Ursa sticky circles for lav amzn.to/3Ax6Iov
Sandbags amzn.to/3e6Fzky
Clamps amzn.to/3QYSZxS
Gaff Tape amzn.to/3wETbdo
Painters Tape amzn.to/3wHAQMN
Tool Set amzn.to/3AwYLQ9
Contents of this video:
00:00- Intro
00:17- What inspired this video
01:18- Audio
03:19- ND Filter
04:11- Lights
05:01- Very Important Tool
05:28- Tripod
06:20- Lenses
AUDIO
I want to start by talking about the audio. The first thing that you should purchase for audio is a good shotgun Microphone, this is almost as important as camera because capturing good sound is half the battle.
The reason why you want a shotgun mic is because its extremely directional and when your filming a Documentary a lot of the time your in an environment where you cant control that. So by using a directional mic like a shotgun mic your able to capture more of the sound that the mic is pointed at and filter out the noise around it.
The shotgun mic I went with was the Rode NTG 3
The next thing your going to want to do is get yourself at least one good lauv setup. If your in a situation where your subject is far away or there's a lot going on and your not sure if your going to be close to them, best thing you can do is throw a lauv mic on them and hook it up to an external recorder so you can capture that audio
And that brings me to the next piece of gear you need and thats an external audio recorder. I use the Zoom H6 recorder and theres a few reasons why this is an essential piece of gear.
#1 to record interviews you definitely want to use an external recorder with high quality preamps, and depending on your mic you'll need something called phantom power to power your microphone which a lot of these external recorders have. And a lot of lower end cameras don’t have.
The other benefit is that they allow you to monitor the audio levels and they have a limiter so if your subject talks too loud it could limit their audio so it doesn't peak in the recording.
ND Filter
Moving away from audio, a tool that every filmmaker should have in their kit is a good ND filter. The reason why you need an ND filter is to be able to control your exposure when your shooting outside or even if your inside and its way to bright.
So instead of increasing your f-stop and having an uninteresting shot without depth, get yourself a good ND filter.
LIGHTS
One thing that you will always need is a good light. I can't stress this enough. I have bought cheap lights in the past and they turned out to be a complete waste of money, but when I finally bought my Aperture 120D I noticed a significant change in production quality right away and I still have this light to this day so If there is any light that I would recommend to someone just starting it would be the aperture 120D for sure!
LENS
Now i'm going to go into lenses, this is such a tough one because every situation is different and theres definitely not one lens that will be perfect for everything.
The way I think about lenses is simple, I ask myself what do I need to use everyday and you need to ask yourself the same. The big question is Prime or Zoom lens?
Zoom lenses are great because if your in an uncontrollable situation which im in a lot of the time then you have the ability to adjust the focal length and zoom into a subject. There's been so many times where i've been stuck in an area and there's something happening 30 feet away or really close and I've missed shots because I was using a prime. - Фільми й анімація
Excellent video! Thank you
Hell yeah. Been looking for a video like this for a long time. Thanks Alex!!!!
Hell yeah brother man, glad I could deliver. Means a lot coming from a fellow comeback kid. Remember they say its darkest before the dawn. Now get out there and make some film!
wow.........first time ive seen the script of a video included! big thumbs up on a great vid!👍🏾
Thank you brother, first time someone’s noticed lol
Great video! 🙏🏻
Great video. Packed with valuable information, just earned a sub.
Thanks man! I appreciate it coming from a legend like yourself! 🤘🏻
A Basic Truth really good video
Thank you brother I really tried my best to strip down only the essentials that you would need in order to make your first documentary. I hope it helps! If you have any questions about anything please let me know
@@Alexzarfatifilms it's simple No question
Maaaaan! That 2 audio sources... I'll keep that in mind because I've messed up a couple of projects because of bad audio... Well done again, man! WELL DONE 💥
ME TOOOOO BROTHER, Once that happened I said nope never again lol.
Great video man!
Thank you brother!!!
very helpful thanks
really appreciate
Glad I could help! Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding documentary filmmaking.
Great video Alex 👍🏻 that is so true bro 😉 I think I must improve my lightning 🥴 best cinematic greetings from germany
I appreciate my brother. Yes Lighting is HUGE a good light is so important! Hope everything is well my friend 🙏🏻
Amazing job my man! Keep it up🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 would love you to show what is the best way to monitor and use shotgun mics!
That’s a great video topic! I will definitely do write that one down! Thanks for the support my brother!!!!
great job
Good stuff
Helpful
Great video Alex!
You mentioned you usually plug the shotgun mic into the camera and then use an external zoom recorder for the lav mics. If making a solo documentary in the field, do you have any tips on how to record both shotgun-mic AND lav mic (røde/dji mic etc.) that still fits on a relative compact handheld setup? Maybe a zoom F3 field recorder that I can attach on the handheld rig is a solution? I really dont want to use a big external zoom recorder that doesn´t fit on the handheld rig if possible, but I understand that this might just get you the best quality..
FYI I have a Sony a7c ii.
I totally get what you mean, what I typically do is take a magic arm and attach it to the back of the zoom recorder and my cage so when I’m filming interviews, I don’t have to hold it or set it somewhere else I have it attached to the camera.
But if that’s not an option for you I’m sure there’s some smaller recorders out there that will give you good quality.
In the description, you have accidentally placed the Blackmagic URSA link in the Mavic link slot.
what shockmount are you using on your boompole?
What ND filters do you recommend? I'll rewatch this but I didn't hear you mention the brand you have that doesn't do the X thing..
I like Polar pro or Prism lens VND
Hi man, can you give some advise about easyrig, which model are you using?
The Easyrig Minimax
@@Alexzarfatifilms thanks a lot Alex!
That what she said!
Was your gear not insured?
Nope 😔
@@Alexzarfatifilms sorry to hear that it was an expensive lesson on insurance
@@michaelmlyn yeah a very expensive lesson
@@Alexzarfatifilms that’s unfortunate
promosm
I'm sorry!
I thought this was for a TINY Tiny tiny budget?