Project 888/Documentary

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Project 888
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The European Hitchhiking Day is also the inspiration for a documentary. Five teams made up of a hitchhiker and a cameraman will be documenting what it is like to be a hitchhiker, filming their adventures from starting point all the way to Paris.

Other participants are asked to contribute to the project with photos, journals, short movies, radio-recordings and other art-forms, bringing together one joint expression of our love for hitchhiking.

Goal of Documentary

The documentary project seeks to show what it is like to hitchhike and to be a hitchhiker. We want the viewer to experience this intense ongoing flow of emotions that happen when you are on the road.

Must-have video-shots :

Feel free to edit this or add something

VERY IMPORTANT IN ALL SITUATIONS : FOR FIXED SHOTS, PLEASE KEEP YOUR CAMERA SHOT MORE THAN 5 SECOND FOR THE EDITING, IT'S DIFFICULT BUT TOO IMPORTANT RULE

Gas stations

  • The multiple conversations struck by hitchhikers at gas stations
    (hand-held subjective camera? Close-ups of drivers? Different angles.)
  • Shots of hitchhiker during down moments and up moments (different angles)
  • Hitchhikers once someone agrees to take them or when someone trashes them.
  • Interviews of the employees of gas stations and ask them their opinion about hitchhikers. (Also if you pass through the Netherlands, make sure you tape when an employee might come and see you to ask you to leave. Some gas stations in the Netherlands forbid to have hitchhikers on the spot).
  • The hitchhiker has the right to express himself in front of the camera whenever he feels like
  • Shots of drivers who do not look at the hitchhiker and who run inside and outside and drive off and a blank face. Film them alone in their cars, driving away.
  • Shots of drivers who lie and tell you they don’t have space in their cars. Film the space they have left after the conversation with the hitchhiker.
  • Interview some random drivers who are driving alone and ask them if they enjoy their trip, whether or not they find it long and if they wish they had company.
  • You can ask them where they are going, why they are going there , where they shop for gas, how come they are driving alone, if they would like to pick up a hitchhiker (why or why not)
  • Interview some random drivers to find out what they think about hitchhikers
  • Interview of drivers and employees regarding the surging price of gas
  • Conversations once inside the car (tape the driver and the scenery ?) : cameraman sits next to the driver and films ?
  • Film interesting stories told by driver/ comments that catch your attention (regarding hitchhiking or whatever)
  • Perhaps you want to write down the time code when the hitchhiker and driver leave and are total stangers and once they have opened up a great deal and have even created a bond.

In The Car

  • Hospitality in the car : the driver offers something to eat or drink or offers to drive further or to sleep over.
  • Focus on unusual situations : lady who says she is going to drop you somewhere and drops you somewhere else…
  • Make sure you get shots of the scenery while in the car (we might wanna use that later on with voice over rand music…)

Laws against hitchhikers

  • The company car: Shoot guys who are driving a company car and explain to you that they cannot take hitchhikers. Interview them.
  • Trucks: Interview truck drivers who cannot take hitchhikers for insurance reasons
  • The police: Shoot or at least record if the police stops you on an on-ramp and asks you to leave. Try to engage into an conversation with them.

On ramps

  • On the spot
    • Low angle shot of the hitchhiker ?
    • Contrast with close-ups of drivers who do not look, ignore, make gestures, laugh, cream, insult.
    • The camera turns around the hitchhiker to show how excited he is.
    • Still shot of the hitchhiker with a sign of the city (every morning if possible)
  • Conversations :
    • Conversations with drivers whether things work out or not
  • Pedestrians :
    • Interviews of pedestrians who walk by the on ramp. Pretend you don’t know the hitchhiker when you do this.
  • Leaving
    • Shots of car leaving with the hitchhiker. The hitchhiker asks the car to stop some 30 meters further so that the cameram may jump in.

Equipment:

  • you probably want to bring a tripod or/and monopod along.
  • bring an audio digital recording devise if you have one
  • use an external mic plugged into your camcorder if possible.
  • Get a wind cover if you can (you are going to be shooting outside most of the time and we wanna make sure that we have some good sound quality)s

Format

  • You probably want to film in the DV format so that we may not have a conflict between HDV/ DV CAM/ DV unless we will all film in HDV

Tapes

  • Make sure you label your tapes properly according to the following format :
  TEAM 1 DAY 1 Istanbul-Sofia TAPE 1
  • After finish a tape, for security, pull the protection button to the position "save" on the tape
  • Don’t go over 2 TAPES/DAY unless you got some amazing footage


If I join as cameraman the 888project, will the frame be 4/3 or 16/9? I prefer 16/9 Greetz Thomas De Craemer, Belgium