The production phase of Unorthodox lasted for almost 7 years, and when we started making the movie in 2004 we had no equipment, no funding and no experience as documentary filmmakers.  To those who ask how we managed to teach ourselves the basic skills necessary to shoot a documentary, we always give the same answer; “We researched, we experimented, and sometimes we made mistakes.”

The process of purchasing equipment–cameras, microphones, lights, cables, pre-amplifiers, headphones, mounts, stabilizers, tapes, booms–was daunting.  We were saved by a handful of filmmakers and advisors at MIT, where Anna and I were both studying, and by the staff at B&H in Manhattan.  Two of our mentors, Dan van Roekel and Joe Gibbons in the Visual Arts Program at MIT, steered us towards the best prosumer and professional equipment our budget would allow.  When we arrived at B&H in 2004, lists in-hand and determined, we wrangled a meeting with the director of the flagship Manhattan store (a bespeckled and bearded man who sat in a control pod suspended above the store floor) and received a small discount as a reward for our efforts.

The majority of Unorthodox was shot on a Canon GL2, which was the best we could afford with our limited funding in the initial stages of production.  Anna and I spent a considerable amount of time fretting over the Canon XL2, which at the time cost thousands more than the GL2, but decided in the end that our money was better spent on professional audio equipment.  In retrospect our decision was sound; our Sennheiser microphones have served us well and still record beautiful audio, while the Canon GL and XL series camcorders were quickly made obsolete by cheap prosumer HD cameras.

Should we have shelled out some of our own money, or more of our budget, for an early model HD camera?  I would have been pleased to shoot Unorthodox in blindingly clear HD, from an aesthetic perspective, but in the end documentary film is (for me) about narrative curiosity and intentionality.  Our fumbles and equipment foibles were necessary components of the filmmaking learning process, and we have hopefully managed to create an engaging, beautiful story despite them.