1. Analysing the situation

When bringing your idea of documenting your project to life, it is important to assess all possible factors that might shape both the audiovisual process as well as the behind-the scenes activities.

Taking a (broad) look at all the different aspects can offer practical insights, inspire collaborations and can form the basis of a well-thought-out plan of approach.

Consider the following aspects before starting your documenting project! 

What is the goal of your filming project?

The toolbox Filming Living Heritage can help guide your decision making. Read here which functions your film project can fulfill, or contact heritage professionals who can help you determine why and how to document living heritage.

Availability of practitioners, possible (external) heritage experts and videographers

Partnerships are fundamental in safeguarding living heritage, and especially the involvement of practitioners and their willingness to participate in your filming project. Before any contact is made, map possible partners and consider collaborating with videographers/ heritage experts.

Needed funds: budgeting

Having access to an adequate amount of budget will be a decisive factor in being able to start and successfully finish your production. You will probably have to refine the first plan after establishing all collaborations and developing a clear script. Nevertheless, it is good to have a general overview at the very beginning.

Tips and points to consider:

• Start by calculating some ‘preproduction time‘ for the meetings, travel expenses and the making of the plan, the shot lists and schedules. Estimate this time for a realistic budget.
• Map the needed filming segments with the help of the shot lists and rough time schedules, and see how you can arrange them for full filming days to optimise the schedule for everyone. This can help to reduce the budget.
• If possible, calculate some extra filming days to have a margin for extra recordings or to accommodate unexpected situations.
• Intangible heritage professionals will also need to be compensated for their working hours. Examine if and how the living heritage organisation can become a partner or mediate in the production in order to find a viable solution.
• Budget for transportation costs for each filming moment.
• Budget for the needed filming equipment and don’t forget to include the backup hard drives.
• Budget for an editor if so desired: 
  • For an editor, it will take thirty minutes to one hour to edit one minute of video and about eight hours/one working day to finish a complete 5 minute video with simple needs (including audio-postproduction, colour grading, exports and uploads). Use this as a safe ratio to calculate the total cost of the postproduction.
  • You can use this as a guideline, but keep in mind that you can only start editing once you know and have reviewed the recorded footage. In addition, every project is different and has specific needs. So consult your editor well in advance.
  • Also bear in mind that a first version of the editing may be followed by comments that will also have to be processed.
• Do you want to use graphics in your video? If they are simple titles, they will be added during editing by the editor. If the graphics are extensive, however, this becomes a separate job, with a design phase beforehand. Then you need to break down the cost.
• Think about the use of subtitles, translations and the time needed to transcribe or make the subtitles. The amount of time this needs depends on how much is spoken.
• Make a spreadsheet (Excel for example) to monitor all costs. Be transparent about this and share the information with the people that need it.

Possible time constraints

Taking time is key to the whole process of documenting a craft or another living heritage practice.

Here are some tips and points to consider:

• Be sure to calculate enough time to work comfortably with all parties. Their schedules can vary and can be different from what is expected. For example, monastic craftspeople had a very regular and strict schedule, so planning was easy. But agrarian practices are very dependent on weather and thus the time-planning was challenging. 
• When filming practices outdoors, take into account the weather forecast and try to include it in your planning.
• Often, the timing will be dictated by the budget. This can be hard, but it will make clear what is possible and you can start to divide the time up.
• Every phase needs the right amount of attention, but according to the approach, you can decide on how much time you want to spend on each phase. You can choose to put more time into planning to have an easier production by having fewer but better prepared and maybe cheaper filming segments. Or you can choose to put more time into production to have a less time-consuming editing process. This will affect the budget accordingly. It is worth thinking this over before you start and to map this out in a plan.

Openness

For practitioners, it is important to be open and to share their own knowledge when documenting. 

For heritage professionals it is important to understand if practitioners object to certain aspects being filmed. 

Be sure to discuss this in advance to understand what the possibilities are in terms of content and to avoid conflicting viewpoints during filming.

Interaction between practitioner, heritage professional and/or videographer

The interaction between different stakeholders involved in the filming process is very rewarding because each brings his/her own expertise and enthusiasm in the process. 

Nevertheless, their interests can vary; some things might be less important to the practitioner, but of great interest for the heritage professional or videographer and vice-versa. 

For an external videographer without the expertise of both parties, it can be difficult to understand the full potential of certain actions or scenes. Take time to discuss your joint final goal, the different needs and visions.