Type of Camera and Mic used in documentary

For this post I thought I would discuss the camera I used to shoot La Quinceañera. When I first considered creating a documentary on Ana Maria's Quince Años celebration in 2003, my dream camera was the Sony PD 150. It was out of may price range so instead I bought the Sony PDx10 from Denver film/video. It had the ability to shoot DVCAM and 16:9 (although the CCDs are not true 16:9) which I liked. It also had XLR audio inputs so I was able to use a Sennheiser ME-66 shotgun mic for sound. That was it! I shot the story over the course of 2 months with 1 camera, 1 mic and about 70 tapes. I was shooting DVCAM so I got 42 minutes per tape. I really liked the little camera. It's tough! It is 4 years old and has never needed a repair despite months in TJ, the dominican republic and use as my deck. The image is good and it is small and mobile enough to shoot in a lot of places without standing out to people. Actually the shotgun mic mounted is what makes the camera stand out to people. I was also happy with the sound considering I only had one camera mounted mic. I am currently preparing to go to the Domincan Republic for preproduction on another documentary and will take the PDx10 with me during the initial trip. Best wishes shooting stories!

Update on the family

Two days ago I recieved a nice long e-mail from Maggie with news on the family. The brother Oscar will be graduating from a seminary located in San Quintin in August. The family will be going down there for the graduation ceremony and have invited me to come along. From there they will be traveling to Mexico city to visit friends. I remember there was a time when Oscar was battling with if it would be best for him to contunue seminary or leave and get married and start a family. I know this has been a long and important journey for him and can't wait to talk to him more about it.
Maggie also told me that Ana Maria, the Quinceañera in the documentary, is getting her papers so that she could travel to and work in the states. I am anxious to talk to her more about this and find out what her plans are.
I would like to join them on the journey to San Quitin and maybe to Mexico City. My last visit to Tijuana was last August and It is time for another.

La Quinceanera documentary blog

Hello everyone,

Welcome to La Quineanera blog page. This is my first attempt at a blog and I'm excited give it a try. Laura Tyler, Director of the documentary "Sister Bee" recommended that I do this and after a little fiddling around I figured out how to. My posts will include reflection on the making of this documentary as well as current happenings, future events, and upcoming projects. I encourage you to share your opinion on my posts, my documentary, the Quinceañera tradition, and documentary film in general. Take care

Adam Taub
www.laquinceaneradocumentary.com