Shooting a Funeral

[Jason.Teets]

I have an upcoming shoot that I'm not extremely experienced with. It's a military funeral for a local soldier that was sadly killed in Afghanistan. The family has hired me to capture as much raw footage of the 5-hour service as possible (there will be no editing at this time). The service will include several speakers at the church podium. Afterwards, the soldier's casket will be placed in a horse carriage which will traverse 1 mile down the road to the burial plot. At the burial plot, military honors will be awarded, prayers will commence, and a 21-gun salute will cap things off. It's going to be an emotional, honorable, and potentially scrambled shoot.

I say "scrambled" because I'm honestly not sure how much time I'll have to get set up for the next major point. I've broken the day down into three major points:

1. Funeral Service at the Church:
- I plan to mic the podium where all the speakers will be. This will be a wireless feed to my camera. I plan to set up for a mid-range shot on a tripod, but I'm not sure if I should START taping the service from the tripod, or move to the tripod after shooting handheld from the front of the church...

2. Horse & Carriage 1-mile Walk:
- I'm torn here. I have a feeling that I'll need to shoot the casket getting loaded handheld... not sure if I'll have time to get the tripod setup. Then, when the carriage departs, close family members and military officers will be walking directly behind. Again, I'm torn. I'm wondering if I should shoot this handheld, or with the tripod. If I opt to take a handheld approach, the question is just HOW close can I get without being a distraction? If I opt to shoot with the tripod, my plan is to basically head 50 feet (or so) ahead of the carriage, set up a steady shot and capture the entire group passing by... then repeat... pick up the tripod and move to a new position. I'm leaning towards the tripod approach, because it will be a more formal style. Let's face it, the creative "handheld" approach just doesn't seem appropriate for a funeral.

3. Military Honors and Burial:
- I'd like to place my wireless mic on the speaker here, but I'm not sure if I'll even have time to. I don't want to be an interruption of any kind. Without a wireless mic on the speaker outside, I'm very worried about the audio.


So. I have a few questions for you seasoned shooters. How would you shoot something like this? Where do you envision going handheld versus tripod? In the event that you don't want to be an interruption or distraction, but you REALLY need to take just a moment to set a mic up on someone, what's the best way to approach the matter? Assuming I'm not given the opportunity to mic the speaker outside, what the heck would you guys do with your audio?

Thanks for reviewing, and for all suggestions.

[HankCastello]

You mentioned "raw tape".  If you're not going to be editing, it becomes more important to try and have all shots from tripod.  You certainly don't want the camera recording as you move from handheld to tripod, yet if you stop recording, you lose your audio.

Also, I don't know what "mid-range" means, but be careful not to exceed the range of your wireless. 

I'd prefer to have a digital recorder get the audio feed and let the camera audio be there just for synching purposes.  Speaking of synching, I would also prefer to shoot with at least two cameras and I would sell client on the idea that they want an edited version, not raw.  In fact, I would turn the shoot down as a "raw-only" job.

Outside, however you get the audio, try and use a fur muff on your mic.  The speaker will likely use a PA system.  Can you setup a mic in front of a loudspeaker?  If not, I'd consider a shotgun mic, but I'd be really up close with it - like five or six feet, maximum.

I don't see a problem using handheld if you're editing.  Especially if a second camera on tripod, wide will be covering.  If you're contemplating this as a one-cam shoot and no digital recorder, I see a host of problems.

[osbornes5]

I have shot a number of funerals and I can tell you that this is a hugely untapped market. Generally (notwithstanding the one you are talking about) the capture time of a funeral is quite low, the editing time is minimal, and there is very little expectation from the family. Plus there is a potential to make pretty decent money from it. You will always get the sad stories that will compel you to do these for free which will cut deeply into your profit margin (I have done more for free than I have for pay including a little 3 or 5 year old boy who was killed from child abuse.) You should pursue this with vigor and use it as a demo if the family allows.

[ampsonic]

How do you market this? Referrals via funeral homes?

[HankCastello]

Don't know how Ozzie's doing it, but I would send flyers to funeral homes that sold them on the quality and professionalism we offer and promised to prominently display their sign in every video.  If following up in person, I'd pass out plenty of business cards (and more flyers - but this time geared to the customer) and offer a $100 referral fee for every video shot at their place of business.  I'd make this offer to whomever is their sales person, not necessarily the owner.

As always, a good website SEO'd for the main keyword phrases for this type of business will likely be your best and cheapest source of business.

[osbornes5]

If you attend a church regularly, speak to the pastor and tell him that you would like to do a couple for free. When you do them make yourself very visible to the funeral directors while at the same time being very discreet, respectful, and professional. IF POSSIBLE without making yourself late to the graveside, find out the route the procession will take and catch as much of it as possible going by at some point along the way. Then take an alternate route which should allow you to beat the procession to the cemetery. Be set up and ready as they come rolling in. One other option is to go ahead and go to the cemetery as the funeral directors will get there early and you can strike up a casual conversation with them while you wait. Though I hadn't planned it this way, it is what I did and during the brief conversation they broached the subject of using me and what I charged etc.

Even if this does not happen, after a couple of these you have enough to take to a funeral home and use as demo (with the family's permission of course). Go to the funeral homes, video in hand and sell yourself. Come up with what you will work for and what you will offer to the funeral home for each gig. You may even just let the funeral home offer it as a service and then collect from them. You can also make the memorial videos and include video clips in them as well (the funeral homes don't do this). Again, know what you want to charge. If you are going to do a memorial video, either come up with your own or ask the family to provide a favorite saying that you can put on the screen at the end of the memorial video. Just white on black with a very elegant font (consider Nimbus Script font for example) and a very slow dissolve. I have one that works very, very well. Here it is: Naaaahhh...forget it. It is my "trade secret"...sorry. Be creative people. 

Definately send your information out to every church in the area with your fees listed. Do this every four to six months so they don't forget you. If you happen to attend the same denomination (or something close) of church that you are sending the information to, mention it. If not...DON'T!

When you are shooting, shoot it largely as you would a wedding. Make sure you use at least two cams so that at some point in the service, when you know that your second static cam is working, capture slow zooms on individual flower arrangements etc. Get establishing shots of the church, the cemetery, the name of the deceased at the cemetery, the casket itself, the guest book, etc. Anything you can think of. Then do a slow montage set to very gentle music or a fovorite hymn, with the clips maybe slightly longer than normal. Try to ascertain ahead of time whether the family wants video of the deceased inside the casket. If not make sure your cameral angles jibe with this during the open casket portion of the service. One very importanat thing: Make sure you set up where you can get the faces of the people just after they pay last respects, not necessarily during. The point is so that the family can see for sure who was there without looking at the guest book. Many families will tell you that they enjoyed seeing that as they were too distraught to really grasp it at the time.

Maybe that will get you started.

[DavidPartington]

Interesting thread.  I've been thinking about funerals for a while but not got around to doing anything about it.   Maybe this will be the catalyst.

[Superfly]

I had to stop doing it.  I did a couple after being dragged into it.  It was far too depressing for me, did not pay enough, I felt guilty charging and the impact on my life just wasn't worth it for me.

That's just my thing.  I don't think I'd feel right charging $1000 for it and the money I was making just wasn't worth it.  The people were often grateful but I'll never forget the time I panned over to the family of the mom that hired me and the son looked at me like, "what the hell are you doing?"

That said, I am admittedly a little sensitive.  I smile when I edit people smiling, etc.

It definitely is an untapped market, I just can't have that in my life.  I would make a bad Doctor.

Best,

Todd

[HankCastello]

I smile when I edit people smiling, etc.

I'll bet most of us do that!   

[Superfly]

Good to know I'm not the only one Hank.  I was about to check myself in!

Best,

Todd