In order to get the footage or audio that you will be editing into a documentary, you will need equipment, as well as audio editing or video editing software.

University resources for software or equipment

If you are a student or a faculty member at a university and need resources for multimedia production, many universities provide access to software or equipment such as video editing software, cameras, microphones, and computers. Here are a few examples of places at universities that offer such resources:

• The Memorial University of Newfoundland has a Digital Media Centre
• McGill has the Marvin Duchow Music Library
• The University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus has a Digital Media Lab
• New York University has a Digital Studio
• The Communication & Media department at the State University of New York College at Oneonta offers editing facilities for students

In addition to physical centres with multimedia support, your university may also offer access to multimedia software that you can access on your own computer using your university account. For example, New York University offers software resources that include video editing software such as Adobe Creative Cloud and FinalCut Pro.

Types of equipment

Audio

Microphones

The type of microphone that would work best depends on what you are planning on using it for.

There are two main types of microphones you might want to consider for recording interviews: dynamic microphones and condenser microphones. The open textbook 360 Essentials: A Beginner’s Guide to Immersive Video Storytelling provides the following explanation of the two types of microphones:

Another thing you should be aware of when picking a microphone is that some are condenser mics and some are dynamic mics. A dynamic microphone does better when capturing louder sounds, like live music or an airshow. It also DOES NOT require power. A condenser mic is better for capturing higher frequency sound and sounds that are more gentle sounds that you would find in a controlled audio space. It also REQUIRES power in order to work.

A microphone that is very popular for use during interviews has traditionally been the lavalier (or lav) microphone. This is a small clip-on mic that can be attached to your subject. If you use one, try to get it as high as you can on the subject’s chest and aimed towards their mouth. Attaching a lav mic is very simple and should be done by the subject. Make sure if you use a lav mic to hide any cords. …

The advantage of the lavalier mic is that you are putting a mic about (ideally) 15 centimeters (roughly six inches) from the subject’s mouth. This should give you excellent sound. Again, do not underestimate the importance of great sound. If the interview sounds hollow and hard to hear because of room noise, you will not be able to do much later in editing. Get it right the first time. Any time you do an interview you must check your recording periodically. Start with a test recording and then again at the end. Did it record? If it did not, hopefully there is still time to re-ask at least some of the questions.

That is, condenser microphones are useful for recording voices, while dynamic microphones are useful for recording ambience.

An example of a condenser microphone would be the Audio-Technica AT2020 Cardioid Condenser Microphone.

Shotgun mics are useful for reducing ambient noise. An example of a shotgun mic would be the PIXEL MC650 microphone kit.

For more information, this video goes into various types of recording equipment you might use.

Video

Lighting

One important aspect of shooting a video is lighting.

One portable device that can provide lighting in less-than-ideal lighting conditions is a ring light. The video “Do You Actually Need a Ring Light?” provides some guidance as to when you might want to use a ring light, as opposed to using natural light you already have (such as lighting from a window). One example of a ring light is this vlog kit by Mobifoto, which also contains a smartphone mount.

One way of lighting up a scene is to use three-point lighting, which involves lights: a key light (which is the main light), a fill light, and a back light. This video shows how three-point lighting works.
To see how changes in lighting setups affect your subject, you can access this video, which demonstrates changes in lighting setups by using the software set.a.light 3D.

Light reflectors

Lighting can be modified by using a reflector, which is a usually circular screen that can reflect light in order to reduce shadows or change the quality of light.

This guide provides information about different types of reflectors and what they are used for, as well as where they can be bought.

This video on reflectors and diffusors shows how to use different reflectors and how they affect lighting.

Cameras/mobile devices

A possible option for filming an interview is to use a smartphone, since many smartphones provide the ability to record videos in high resolution.

While you don’t necessarily need to record in 4K resolution, Wikipedia has a list of smartphones that can record in 4K resolution if that is something you are planning to do.

This article contains some tips on recording an interview with a smartphone.

Tripods

Tripods are an important piece of equipment to have when recording video, since they allow you to keep your camera stable. Besides tripods for cameras, there are also tripods made to be used with mobile phones, such as this one made by UBeesize, which is not just a tripod, but also has a ring light.

Editing software

In order to edit the raw footage or audio that you record, you will need to use editing software.

For audio, the most popular free software is Audacity, which is the program that will be used in the audio editing tutorial in this OER.

Some free and open source video editors include the following (all of which are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux):

• Shotcut
• OpenShot
• Kdenlive

This guide lists various other (proprietary, non-open-source) types of both free and paid video editing software:

• Free:
  • HitFilm Express 16 (Mac and Windows)
  • Lightworks (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
  • Apple iMovie (Mac)
  • VideoPad (Mac and Windows)
  • DaVinci Resolve (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
• Paid:
  • Adobe Premiere Pro (Mac, Windows)
  • CyberLink PowerDirector 365 (Mac, Windows)
  • Corel VideoStudio Ultimate (Windows)

This chapter of the OER Digital Methods for Disability Studies contains other suggestions for free video editing platforms as well:

• For mobile devices:
  • iMovie (Mac, iOS)
  • YouCut
• For laptops or desktops:
  • Video editor (this is the video editor included with Windows)
  • Animoto
  • Canva

Recording

In order to create a documentary project, you will need to record audio and/or video to include. When recording audio or video, you will have to decide whether to do so online or in person.

In-person versus remote recording

If you are planning on recording interviews, you can do so in person or online (or both). Both ways of recording interviews have advantages and disadvantages.

Given these pros and cons, there are a number of situations in which you might want to pick one type of interview over the other.

Situations where you might want to consider online interviews include:

• The interviewee is far enough away that traveling to interview them in-person would require too much time or money
  • For example, you might want to interview people from a wide variety of places, such as scholars at universities in different countries, and this may be easier to do online
  • Online interviews also work if you want to have a group interview with interviewees who are far away not just from you, but from each other
• You do not have a convenient, quiet meeting place to record the interview in person
• You do not have the equipment to record the interview in person (for example, you might have a webcam, but not a tripod)
• You or your interviewee do not have a stable internet connection
• Health considerations (or regulations) make it impossible or undesirable to meet in person

It is possible to create a documentary using footage entirely recorded online, as in the following documentary short about stuttering:

Situations where you might want to consider in-person interviews include:

• The physical distance between you and the interviewee is short enough that it is feasible to travel to interview them
• You have the equipment necessary to record or film an interview in person (a microphone, camera, and/or tripod)

Possible ways of obtaining information from subjects include:

• If they are unable to participate in an interview, you can ask them to answer questions via email, and you can read their response(s) in the documentary yourself as a narrator
• You can send the subjects questions via email, and they can record their answers to the questions on their own computer and send those recordings to you. This way, you don’t have to worry about possible scheduling conflicts (asynchronous interview)
• An in-person interview
• An online interview

Recording online interviews

If you are planning on recording interviews online, you will need to use videoconferencing software to speak with your interviewees. There are a variety of videoconferencing platforms you can use that offer both free and paid services.

Zoom offers free recording, but meetings recorded using a free account can only be up to 40 minutes long.

Skype also offers free recording, with a maximum recording length of 24 hours.

Riverside.fm offers free recording, but adds a watermark to videos recorded this way. Riverside.fm has the advantage that it records each speaker’s track locally on their own computer. This way, the tracks do not have network-related distortion (distortion can be a significant problem if you’re trying to get footage or audio that is high-quality enough to use in a documentary).

Remotely.fm only offers 60 minutes of free recording, after which you have to pay to continue to use it. Like Riverside.fm, Remotely.fm records tracks locally on participants’ computers so that there is no network-related distortion in the recordings.

The following articles provide some suggestions for conducting online interviews:

• “How to Record Videos While Working Remotely”
• How do I record a podcast remotely? SquadCast vs. Zencastr vs. Cast vs. other options

Further reading

Microphones

Roth, D. (2021). The Different Types Of Microphones: Home Studio Essentials. Musician on a Mission. https://www.musicianonamission.com/types-of-microphones/

Boudreau, M. (2020, March 31). Condenser vs Dynamic | A Beginner’s Guide to Microphones for Voice. The Podcast Host. https://www.thepodcasthost.com/recording-skills/condenser-vs-dynamic-microphones/

Scholz, N. (2022, July 19). Dynamic vs Condenser Mics (Breaking Down The Tech). Producer Hive. https://producerhive.com/ask-the-hive/dynamic-vs-condenser-mics/

Podcastage. (2017, January 27). Dynamic vs Condenser Microphones, What’s the Difference? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y01N_L1VA4I

Recording audio

draggin and Singh, S. (n.d.) 5 Chapter 5 – Audio Recording and Podcasting. In Educational Media Program. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/edmedia/chapter/chapter-5-audio-recording-and-podcasting/

Sharman, R. (n.d.) Cinematography. In Moving Pictures: An Introduction to Cinema. https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/chapter/cinematography/

Sources

Cameron, J., Gould, G., and Ma, A. (n.d.) 360 Essentials: A Beginner’s Guide to Immersive Video Storytelling. https://pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca/360essentials/. Available under a CC-BY license.