Directing the Documentary, 6th Edition

CHAPTER 24

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND BUDGETING

 

Budgeting and fundraising are a chicken and egg situation: you can’t work without funds and you can’t raise funds without a budgeted plan for your work. Deciding on the equipment and shooting schedule is the prelude since different levels of technology involve very different levels of cost. For a truly fascinating PBS survey of the most-used equipment by their documentarians, see www.pbs.org/pov/filmmakers/2013-documentary-equipment-survey.php#.UoT9B5Tk9bs. Their relative years of experience is also interesting.

For the workflow and technology information that follows, I am indebted to Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, my esteemed co-author of Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, fifth edition, whose knowledge ...