Gear, Games & James
Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 3:05PM 
Hey Everybody,
We’ve been getting a fair bit of emails asking about our equipment and workflow. Enough, that we thought it might be interesting to do a little post about what we’re using to make this film.
We are just at the beginning of a 3 month long road trip in which we will not be back home at all - which means...lots of gear to pack.
This is us packing...
That video is a little misleading as the majority of our traveling will be in our trusty Toyota Yaris and not by plane (sadly). In fact, we just logged a 33 hour driving stretch right before this video.
This is the gear...
- Canon 5D Mark II Body (2)
- Canon 50mm 1.4
- Canon 24-105mm F4 IS
- Canon 24-70mm F2.8
- Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS
- Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro IS
- Assorted ND Filters
- Vari ND Filters (2)
- Canon 5D Mark II Batteries (6)
- Canon 5D Mark II Chargers (3)
- Kingston 266x 32 GB CF Cards (6)
- Lexar 400x 16 GB CF Cards (2)
- CF Card Reader USB
- CF Card Reader FW800
- Zoom H4n (2)
- Rode VideoMic
- Sennheiser MKE 400
- Rode NTG-3 Shotgun Mic
- Shotgun Mic Accessories
- Sennheiser G2 Lav Pac
- Sony Lav Mic Set
- Lectrosonic Transmitter/Receiver
- Multiple Lav Mics (4)
- Rycote Softies
- Cool Lights 1x1 LED 600 Panels (2)
- Zylight Z90
- Small AA powered LED Panel
- V Lock Batteries (2) & Charger
- 5 in 1 PhotoFlex Disc
- JEM Lighting Harps (2)
- 500W 3200K Fluorescents
- 18” China Balls (6)
- Manfrotto Tripod (2)
- Manfrotto Monopod (560B) / 701 HDV Head (2)
- Gorilla Pod
- Lowel Lighting Stands (6)
- Grip Heads (2)
- Red Rock Micro EyeSpy Deluxe Rig
- GlideTrack
- Kesler Slider/Pocket Dolly (not pictured)
- Gaffers Tape
- TONS of AA, AAA, D Batteries
- Extension Cords (2)
- Lots of wires and accessory pieces
- MacBook Pro (2)
- LaCie 2TB D2 Drives (4 ... for now)
- Seagate 1 TB GoFlex Drives (6)
That’s the majority of it. Probably a bit of over-packing going on here. And I’m sure the gear list will slowly creep larger as we go. But actually, for what we’re doing, this isn’t too crazy a list.
If you have any questions about what we use, feel free to give us a shout.
I’m thinking that we’ll likely do a follow up blog nearing the end of the project. A post that looks at what worked, what didn’t. What we wish we had, and what we wish we left.
Sooo, That’s the Gear :)
Reader Comments (21)
I saw a Gorilla tripod in there, I have one, they are pretty handy. Nice video, have a great trip!
Really interesting list.
You really have a good selection of lenses, lights and mics. It would be interesting to know how you use these equipment in fact.
What lenses do you prefer for interviews? How do you pick the correct microphone? etc...
(Good luck with the movie. I cannot wait to see it)
Hope you packed some Dirt Time DVDs to help enjoy yur down time. You bring a surf board?
@Scott - Yeah, Gorillapods are super useful. Sometimes for cameras, often times for mics, I've even put some lights on them from time to time.
@Nic I'd certainly love to do some posts like that. Probably with next IGTM short film that we do. Maybe I'll do a setup talk / breakdown. I'll try and take more gear pics next time out.
@John Surf Boards and Erosion Control DVDs - No travel bag is complete without either. We'll be talking soon!
That clip reminds me how much I dig your visual style. You just made a static shot of a wing look interesting.
Awesome update. Truth be told that I'm guilty of bugging you about your gear. But as Mic said, you guys take amazing footage. At least with similar gear, people aspiring to capture imagery like those in IGTM can cross out that portion off their check list. All that's left is the blood, sweat and tears that follow.
@Mic, Aww, that's awesome to hear. Thanks Mic! We're glad you're liking it.
@Alexei, Ha! No worries. I love talking about gear - be it via email, in person or in a post :) Like you said, gear is only part of the battle to make these cameras perform. While support gear is necessary, its only needed to a certain point - there is certainly a law of diminishing returns at play.
HD-DSLRs are tricky beasts. It's a whole other language and mindset when compared to traditional pro/prosumer HD cameras. You get an image that can't be beat, but you do have to work for it. Large amounts of shooting & practice is soooo much more important than any piece of gear you could ever buy.
But gear is fun. Can't get around that :)
Awesome post. I'm be really interested to see a BTS video from an interview, even if it's just a set up the camera and let it roll fly on the wall video. I'm surprised to see you packing something like a china ball on a lightweight documentary project.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post all these mouth-watering gear envy shots...
Great job on the movie. It has a special place for me due to the topic :)
What did you edit the movie in?
Again great movie and thanks for inspiring us all ;)
Thanks so much Eric! The film was edited in Final Cut Pro 7. Lisanne and I edited concurrently on different sections, using a mac pro tower (8 core) and a Mac book pro.
Thanks for asking!
James
Saw the movie tonight in PDX, you guys have a seriously impressive piece of work on your hands...many congratulations. I haven't poured over the web content fully yet so I apologize if you've answered this elsewhere but I'd love to hear how you approached digital asset management, backup, archival, and those sorts of things?
From the Q&A tonight and some of the descriptions of what the special edition disc releases may contain, it's evident that you must have had a pretty serious challenge with data wrangling and I'm sure all sorts of fans, geeks, gamers, and aspiring filmmakers would love to hear how you managed to keep all those bytes both available and safe.
Just saw your film in Toronto, great work! Thanks for breaking down all your gear like this, it's super helpful for those still learning the craft to see the tools behind creating the finished product.
I also wanted to ask - what Vari ND did you use? My experiences with Vari ND on long focal lengths (eg. 70-200) was that it softens the picture significantly.
Also, what 5D picture profile/settings did you shoot with? I noticed the interviews looks nice and filmic, but your landscape b-roll seemed a little oversharpened/videoy.
I just purchased the digital version, and I've been waiting for this moment for a LONG time (I'm from Rome, no shows around here). A little curiosity: which software did you use for production?
James - I loved the cinematography in the film - you have a wonderful sense of image composition!!
Thanks so much Devon!
Crazy equipment & Great movie.
What more can i say.
(P.S. whats the music in background ?)
@IndieBoy
Thanks! Glad you liked the movie.
The song playing is: 'Motorin'' by Saturday Knights
-james
Watching the doc now on Netflix and just loving every second, not only of the story, but the filming is just so clean and crisp. I went online hoping someone would post a list of equipment / lenses used with the same feeling I get every time I look up equipment lists and never find anything. It's so disheartening. But then I find this list... I am so amazed! thank you so much for listing this. Thank you thank yoU!
So i am an aspiring amateur film maker on a very low budget. I was hoping you could send me a list of the bare minimum that i would need to make a documentary and how many of each item i'd want to bring. For example would one shotgun mic do the trick or would i need two to mic both myself and my potential interviewee. I just need a list of what i'd need. With help from my dad i could find the best supplies for my budget so i don't need specifics. Thank you very much and i'll really appreciate it.