Video Camera
You can choose any, depending on the type of documentary you wish to film, where you’ll be screening your film, and your budget. You can use an iPhone, digital point-and-shoot, and an action camera for rugged documentaries, while professional cinema cameras and 4K camcorders are better for theaters and broadcasting.
Lens
The most ideal lens for documentary is a zoom lens that offers a wide range of focal lengths, as being on the move doesn’t allow you to change lenses often. Choose a compatible zoom lens for your video camera and perhaps an extra-wide cine lens for establishing shots.
Tripod or Camera Rig
Another necessary piece of equipment that you’ll need to ensure professional-looking footage is a tripodor shoulder mount rig, both of which are responsible for keeping your camera steady for sharper and smoother videos. For best results, choose a tripod that has a ballhead for more fluid movements. If you’re after impressive and cinematic pans and time lapses, you may want to upgrade your equipment with some motion control gear.
Lighting Gear
As with photography, having ample lighting is important. You’ll at least need a good on-camera light that can provide just enough lighting for your subject. But if you’re doing stationary interviews, you may want to consider investing in a 3-way lighting kit. For daytime shoots, a cheap light reflector can also make your shot look professionally lit.
Microphone Kit
Almost as important as having quality videos is great audio. Even as an amateur, prioritize recording high-quality audio using lapel microphones that you can simply clip onto your shirt.
If you can have somebody hold a microphone for you, invest in a good shotgun mic and dress it up with a compatible shockmount and windscreen for clearer vocal audio. You can also use a boom pole to extend the mic closer to your subject without it entering the camera frame.
Portable Digital Audio Recorder
One audio mistake you need to avoid when shooting documentaries is recording audio with your camera mic. DLSRs don’t capture good quality sound, but your external mic and a reliable XLR Audio Recorder can take care of that for you. Simply connect your microphones to the portable recorder and sync your audio with your video later during editing.
We could even use our iPhone to record just the audio as a backup, also a zoom recorder is good for recording audio.
Headphones
Reshooting can be a huge hassle—not to mention costly. You’ll need to make sure that you’re recording quality audio all throughout by using a high-quality headphone to monitor what your audio recorder is capturing. This enables you to catch any audio mistakes and redo them while you’re still on set.
We will use headphones to test out the audio before continuing with filming the whole interview.
File Storage Devices
This should go without saying, but you’ll need several spacious memory cards so you don’t run out of video space in the middle of a shoot. It’s also advisable to bring an external hard drive, so you can offload your footage and back them up.
Extra Batteries
Just as you’ll need as much memory as you can have, you’ll need more than enough power for your camera, lights, audio recorder, and any other gear that needs batteries. If you’re going to be doing long location shoots, you may want to consider investing in an infinite power system that allows you to expand your camera’s battery power.
This is very important to make sure that everything has full power, and maybe bringing a portable charger with us also.
Computer
After shooting, you’ll need a computer for file storage, editing, and exporting of your final documentary. It can be any kind of computer or laptop, as long as its operating system is one that you are familiar with and its internal memory is enough to accommodate heavy video editing.
Video Editing Software
There are tons of free editing software that you can download from the Internet. But for more professional documentaries with higher video resolutions, multiple audio and video tracks, motion tracking, and varying export formats, you may need to pay more for video editing software that caters to enthusiasts and pro editors, like Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Apple Final Cut Pro X.
We will be using Premier Pro to edit our film.
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