Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Hello there-
I just joined the forum. I have spent the past year working on a
documentary about women working in survival sex in Vancouver, Canada.
Between 1986 and 2002 sixty-eight women virtually disappeared from a
tiny area in the dowtown eastside. However, for a variety of reasons,
a full-scale investigation was not launched until 2000.

My major problem is one of ethics. There are three major advocacy
groups that service women in the area. In order for them to
participate in the film and to assist us in anyway, they demand that
women working in the sex trade that agree to participate in the
documentary be paid an honorarium. This is my first film but it is my
understanding that documentary participants should not be paid. We
are about half way through filming and while several people have
participated in the film, the women that are actually still on the
street have been paid an honorarium thus far. Are honorariums ever
acceptable? If we want to find a market and have the film be
considered credible, can we use any of the footage that women were
given an honorarium for?

My concern is this: people will think that we exploited these very
poor and most often addicted women by offering them "easy" money to
be interviewed (without showing their faces or using their real
names). Yet without the support of the advocacy agencies, we really
would not have been able to get anything done; also because we have
met most of the women while they are working on the street, offering
an honorarium shows them that we respect that they are, in fact,
working and that their time is valuable. Any advice or insight would
be greatly appreciated!

A small honorarium will not cause concern for most. Given the
circumstances you really have no choice. Just keep it small and the
same for all.

Welcome, David and Leah. I know Leah has already registered, and
David feel free to join our forum for doc professionals, too. your
journalism background definitely qualifies you:

www.d-word.com/community/join.

Hi Steve, no I'm not currently a member of IFP Chicago. Have
looked into though and will likely join in the future.

Kenzie, if you'd ever like to grab a cup of coffee and compare
notes sometime let me know.

Hello to all -
I just signed up on this forum and am extremely excited to join
the communal discussion. I, along with four co-conspirators,
created a production company out of Chicago called Fly Back
Productions. The company was created during my last semester in
film school in order to begin fundraising for our first
documentary feature. This documentary, 'The Future's Past', is
now nearing completion. It examines the nuclear age and the
nuclear threat we face today and into the future. We centered the
film around several powerful interviews we conducted with the men
who dropped the atomic bombs on Japan - the only humans in history
to use nuclear weapons!! We have also interviewed other notable
figures such as Noam Chomsky, Gar Alperovitz, Al Franken, and
Howard Zinn. This project, being our first, has been SLOW and
difficult. Meanwhile, our company has taken off and is now
(barely) my full time job. After accumulating our equipment, I am
now able to split my time between our independent projects and
hired production work for clientele. I recently completed the
second installment of a video podcast series for Washburn Guitar.
The series is called 'Chicago Guitar Shop' and is available for
download on ITunes. We also in the last 6 months have begun our
second feature documentary. It was spawned by my desire to finally
kick my 10 year old cigarette habit. I realized the potential
conflict I faced and decided I wanted to capture it. This small
idea turned into a much larger one. The film, entitled 'Smoking or
Non', has entered production. After gaining the support of our
local American Lung Association, we spent the month of May on an
intense 20 day journey examining the Science, Culture, History,
Business, and Truth of tobacco in American society. We returned
with over 70 hours of amazing footage and then I, along with three
other members of my crew, quit smoking, documenting our toils
along the way. As I write this, we are on day 17 off the nicotine
and it does feel good. We are now entering an intesive fundraising
phase. What we completed on our road trip comprises about a third
of the final project. If we are able to raise our budget (and my
fingers are crossed) , I think we really are on to something that
could be amazing. Anyway, I'm blathering, so I will quit. I just
wanted to let you all know what I am shoulder deep in and I look
forward to participating in worthwhile discussions and meeting
people with similar drives and passions as my own.

Ryan Ferguson
Producer/Director
Fly Back Productions
ryan@flybackproductions.com

Great! Another Midwesterner! Welcome, Ryan.

Hey!! I just want as many people as possible to know about this newly
released film - and see it!! Its an awesome film documentary based on
ALL the music of beautiful Brasil- the soundtrack is out too- check
it out its amazing!!

heres the only site i know of so far:

www.myspace.com/moronobrasil

Kacie, the Classifieds topic is the place for announcements/shameless
self-promotion like this.

Hi, I just posted a request for info in another forum and then noticed
that I should introduce myself here! So I will.

I'm 36 and live in New York. I love documentaries and one of my
favorite things to do is have "documentary club" nights for friends at
my apartment. I'll get out a classic documentary on 16mm from the
Donnell Media Center here in NY and then we eat popcorn and watch the
movie, then have dinner and discuss. It's like a book club but
without the homework!

I'm primarily a shooter, mostly DV, freelance for four years, but I
also do freelance producing, sound recording, editing, etc. In short,
I'm a product of the DV generation. Roughly once a year I'll
"one-man-band" an entire promotional video for a non-profit such as
the Science Industry and Business Library of the New York Public
Library, or a summer camp for physically disabled kids. The most
recent one of those that I did was a pro-bono for a medical school in
Mbarara, Uganda. Beautiful country, huge health care needs.

I'm also trying to do independent documentary filmaking as and I've
done a short about an abortion clinic that won the audience award for
best short doc at the 2004 SF indie fest. For the past two years I've
worked off and on with one other colleague on an indie historical doc
feature about a drug rehabilitation prison/hospital that was in
Kentucky in the mid 1970's. We'll be beginning the edit sometime near
the end of summer or by September.

I guess that's enough about me. Nice to be here! Look forward to
meeting you in cyberspace.

Luke

great to have you here, luke. feel free to register for the
professional forum: www.d-word.com/community/join

Welcome, Luke. Sounds like you've made major deposits into the Bank
of Karma. How did you swing a trip to Uganda?

Hello All

Rehad Desai here, Iam a doccy filmmaker from South Africa, just
finished my second feature length doc, and looking for inspiration
and intelligent discussion around our craft.

Welcome, Rehad. This is the public forum. With your experience, you
should join the professional forum immediately:
www.d-word.com/community/join.

Hi. My name is Monster Jimenez. I have a production based in Manila
called Arkeofilms (check out www.arkeofilms.com). I LOVE MOVIES--All
kinds. We have been producing independent films and using the
resources we get from client-based projects to partly finance it. I
recently co-created a movie called "Big Time."

Fiction Features are a lot of fun to create but I think I would like
to start exploring Non-fiction Features more. My next project is a
documentary that is ambitious to put together (at least for me)and
sensitive in nature. My past documentaries were always about pop
culture and I have never handled any serious topics until now. Just
reading everyone's posts is already inspiring me.

Welcome, Monster (love the name). Feel free to join our professional
community, as well.

Haha. I was trying to. I just got indimated by the question: What can
you contribute to the group? I'm sure living in Manila as it is makes
me a good resource for those who want to know more about our chaotic
but lovable city. I also do a lot of Final Cut. So for those who want
to ask technical stuff...ask away.

yeah, well, coming from documentaries from a fiction film
perspective, that's always something interesting to us.

I guess. It's very different. I'm actually planning to put the feature
film process that I'm used to when I do my documentary. You'll hear
more about it when I start asking questions.

Greetings Everyone.

My name is Brent. I have a B.F.A. in film productions from Rowan
University and am currently enrolled in graduate film school at
the New School University to earn my M.A. in Film and Media
Studies, with an emphasis on the documentary format.

For the past 14-months I've been in production on an historical
and cultural documentary on an 80-year old vaudeville/motion
picture theatre in Southern New Jersey. Its my 1st feature project
thats independent of my scholastics and it happens to take place
in my home town.

Thats me in a nutshell!

welcome, brent, in a nutshell.

And let's face it, you've got to be nuts to be in this business
sometimes...

Welcome Brent & Monster!

Hi all,

I'm Jesse. I'm new to film making, but have high hope for what I can
accomplish. I'm from NJ but I will be leaving the US for Israel in
the next week to make a documentary on special scools there that
promote mutual understanding between Arab-Israelis and Jewish-
Israelis. I am posting in hopes that someone who has experience
working in the Middle East and Israel, in particular, can give me
some advice about working there. What resources are available there?
What must I bring over with me from America? That kind of stuff.
Thanks so much in advance.

Best,

Jesse

My name is Gary (or Mr. Green as my students say). I teach at Adele
Harrison Middle School in Sonoma, CA. Each year I have my GATE
students shoot films, edit on iMovie, and burn onto DVDs. I want
them to make a documentary this year and want to give them the basics
of a documentary. Does anyone have a good list of what should be in
a documentary? For example, is there a "set-up piece" followed by
other, specific pieces?

Would really appreciate help on this so that I am giving my 6th, 7th,
and 8th grade students the correct information.

Gary - are you asking the students to do a news piece - typically
40-90 seconds -- or a documentary?
Documentaries have no set structure. A news story does. For example,
watch how three of your local stations cover the same story. You'll
get the idea pretty quick. The best way to start thinking about
documentary is to watch some. Suggestions: Any doc by Jon Else, Werner
Herzog, Ross McElwee, or the Maysles. Hope this helps.

Welcome Jesse and Gary. Wish I could help, Jesse, but can't. Gary,
Robert is absolutely right - have your class watch a doc or two and
talk about it.

Gary, have your class watch more than a few docs since they vary so
much in tone and structure. For contrast with Robert's suggestions,
offer up one or two "by the numbers" programs from the cable
channels so they'll see how an independently done doc differs from
what they may be used to catching on TV.

Hello all, I am so new to documentaries, i can barley even be seen as
a noob. I have been searching for sites about docu, and found this
forum, this is my first reading in a thread, and am so far very pleaed
i went throught the trouble of actually signing up. normally i just
look for the easy to get ones. anyway, home to see some of you in the
forums!!

justin time for what? anyway, always good to have another noob here.

hello all,

I am joining this forum to float an idea/offer to be part of one of
the more unusual performance car events that happens each year; The
One Lap of America, or more commonly known as the Cannonball Run. I
have driven this event for the past couple of years and think it is
a decent subject for a short film. There is real drama (not the
invented sort of NASCAR), a plethora of personalities and the cars
and tracks make for interesting filming/angles etc.

My idea is to find someone who wants to participate as the co-driver
of my car. His/her duties would be to help me pilot the car between
events and be on their own at the tracks to pursue the film thing.
If there is interest, reply on this board and i will arrange an
email contact or phone call to discuss the details.

PS: we will be piloting a Corvette-powered Porsche.

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. Just came to New York City after finishing my
MA in documentary filmmaking from the Documentary Institute,
University of Florida. I am originally from Mumbai, India, and had
worked in mutual funds industry for three years before I came to the
U.S. for school.

I am interested in making social issues documentaries concerning
immigrants, minority communities, India, etc. I am currently working
with Carrier Productions, New York, for their documentary film on
Native Americans.

While at school, I had made a 25-min documentary, "Tell Me a Story."
The film witnesses an unusual friendship between an oral historian and
her 84-year-old Japanese patient, as the historian helps her patient
overcome severe depression by sharing memories. Shot in cinema-verite
style, I have been able to capture their relationship since the
beginning. Right now I am also busy marketing the film and need
advice on film festivals and stuff.

If there is an informal get together of doc filmmakers in New York
City, I would like to be screen my film and get feedback.

Thanks

Hemal

greetings, hemal. try docuclub: www.docuclub.org. they usually
screen feature length docs in progress, but might pair yours up with
another shorter one.

Thanks!

I am also new to this forum, I live in Los Angeles and am currently
working as a freelance shooter. I love shooting, but I love all
aspects of documentary production. I recently have been focusing on
creating a production company (www.occupantproductions) with the goal
of producing my own documentary series and films. I am hoping that
this forum will give me some guidance along the way.

Chris Baron

welcome, chris. notice you've also posted on the d-word community,
so double welcome. if you haven't posted an intro there already,
please do.

{erased by cmaclean Sat, 23 Sep 2006 06:01:03 GMT}

{erased by cmaclean Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:16:39 GMT}

hi corina. link doesn't seem to work.

Hi
I am Alessandro, an italian documentarist.
I am a freelance somethimes I write docs, some thimes I shoot and
somethimes I edited (but I never did all of this in a single
doc....)
I am a member of doc-it, the italian indipendent documentariy
association.
I am also a journailist for a football magazine. I just start
(we'll have the first interview tomorrow afternoon, mmm I'm so
excited...) to find stories for an enviroemental issues tv show
made in NYC (the name is built green).
I never know what to write in presentations...I hope it's enoguth,
isn't it?!!!!
so that's me! I hope to know good people and know each other.
greetings from rome
Alessandro

Welcome Alessandro, you sound like a busy guy. Tell us about Doc-it -
is it only in Rome or are there members in all Italy. Is there a
website?

Google found this - is this the association you mention?

<http://www.documentaristi.it/eng/societa.htm>

Welcome, Allesandro. Visited Rome last December for the first time,
LOVE your city! Glad to have you here.

Hi,
My name is Christopher Wong, and I'm a first-time documentary
filmmaker working out of Los Angeles. I am currently in
post-production on two separate documentary films -- one about
one-year-in-the-life of an experimental new school in the South Bronx
(NYC), and another about television game show fans and their quest to
appear on their favorite game shows. Both are shot "verite-style" with
a minimum of interviews and no narration. I'm interested to keep
learning from other filmmakers out there, and to discuss any current
trends in the doc world.

welcome, christopher. your experienced enough to join the
professional community, if you haven't already:
www.d-word.com/community/join.

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site. I'm an old time wanna be documentary producer.
I haven't done anything for a long time. My last was a doc about
California Art History back in the 70's. Also a short on religion
for a local TV station. I have several projects that I am working on
now and need contacts to move forward. I am looking for professional
producers, etc. Of course I lack funding like everyone else. I'm
hoping that if I get the right team together, I will be able to get
the funding I need. The companies that I intend to contact are not
willing to give away bunches of money without a track record. The
projects are of an historical nature. One of these will lead to a
full length motion picture.

Hi there,
I'm Ken and I'm a film/video post production professional from
Vancouver BC. I enjoy post but my passoion lies in the art and pain
of storytelling. Other than student productions and other frivolous
(but fun) stuff, I have done nothing. That's about to change. I am
emarking on a new personal journey to explore my past and how that
relates to everyone else who has a past. I think this will be the
hardest thing I have ever done and at the same time the most
important. I hope to find like minded people here and by the looks
or the posts I believe I will. I look forward talking to you.

Hello,
I am an aspiring documentary filmmaker, currently pursuing
Documentary Media Studies at the New School University. I'm just
starting to shoot a 30 min film which is a part of the curriculum,
and I'm sooooooo thrilled about it (I know I probably won't be half
way into production, and especially post-production). But, for
anyone out there, who's interested in getting some documentary
education, I would deffinitelly recommend this program at New
School, which is a one year Graduate Certificate program, and is so
well organized and engaging (we had D.A. Pennebaker yesterday as a
guest speaker, and he was amazing). This is the first year they're
doing it, so I guess we're sort of their guinea pigs. But anyways, I
know I will need some advice, once I delve deeper into this amazing
adventure of documentary filmmaking.

Welcome, Ken and Tiana. Ken, good luck with your personal journey
into the past. I know exactly what that process is all about:
www.51BirchStreet.com.

Welcome, everyone, from a co-host who has lately been too busy to
hang out here.

J.E. - I filmed the Playersrun twice in the past. Other documentary
makers film weddings for a living, I did silly stuff like this:
<http://www.playersrun.com/roadrally/d02/Slides/38.htm>. However, I
can't see how anyone can make a decent film about such a rallye
while being stuck in one car for most of the time. We had our own
van, and in one year, two additional cameramen.

Alessandro - See you in our professional forum,
{LINK NOT IMPORTED}.

"oldmetal" - Welcome, what's your real name?

Hi Ben, I'm Gary Parker. I didn't realize that I removed my name
when I first posted. I moved over to the Mentoring Room. I'm in
preproduction on an historical documentary. All the research has
been done. Now it's time to review about 40+ hours of taped
interviews, letters, pictures, etc. I've contacted several
institutions for resources and have preliminary approvals for use of
copyright materials. I'm also working with the main historian about
the subject. I'm looking for other interested parties such as
producers, editors, writers, cinematographers, etc. I plan to have
this made for broadcast and haven't decided whether to go with
digital video or film for the final product. That's one of the areas
that I need advice about.