Documentary Cameraman - A one man band

One of Saturnalia Productions' owners is a documentary cameraman / Director of Photography with over 10 years of dedicated focus to high definition. His HD clients include Lucasfilm, CBS, ESPN, BBC, Channel 4 (England) and Discovery Networks.

If you looking to hire a documentary cameraman simply contact Saturnalia Productions.

The post below simply highlights the advantage of hiring someone like Saturnalia Production's owner as your HD documentary cameraman. Having someone with start-to-finish knowledge in the field will save time, money and prevent technical and workflow headaches.

HD Documentary Cameraman / Jack of all Trades. An HD documentary cameraman is a rare breed. By nature, they travel to remote locations around the world and operate on smaller budgets. What does this mean? It means a couple things:

• If something goes wrong technically in the field, there is no Los Angeles rental house to call to rush over a replacement HD camera, like an HDW-f900 camera. The HD camera’s issues must be fixed by the HD documentary cameraman, or everyone’s headed home unhappy. So Documentary Cameraman must know their HD camera inside and out, especially if they are traveling.
• Due to the production budget limitations of an HD Documentary, an HD cameraman working on that documentary is sometimes called upon to be the soundman and the gaffer. Being the soundman can only really work for B-roll, since the HD documentary cameraman can set mic level to auto for lavalier microphones and/or an onboard shotgun microphone. An HD documentary cameraman, proficient in sound and lighting (basically an HD DP) can also set-up sit-down interviews by himself without sacrificing an ounce of quality if they are talented.

HD Documentary Cameraman and Travel. A good HD documentary cameraman, not only can help you technically in a pinch or perform other HD crew positions, allowing a producer to pay a single person – an experienced HD documentary cameraman will have traveled the world and can help less experienced producers navigate foreign lands, customs, and carnes. This can not only save a produce money, it can, quite literally, save life.

Documentaries, especially exposes, can be quite dangerous and you need an experienced HD cameraman to be able to deal with stressful, even life-threatening situations with ease and grace. Let’s face it, people can react very strangely and aggressively when a camera is pointed their way. Having an experienced HD documentary cameraman who is not only savvy technically, but understands psychology, is paramount to your success and safety.

Saturnalia Productions' first love is HD documentaries. We have a long track record in SD documentaries and HD documentaries with credits for over 150 hours of broadcast television. Our documentary credits include National Geographic, Discovery Networks, TLC, HBO, CBS, A & E, History Channel, G4, and BBC 4.