Theres a third party fix to replace the lens on any gopro

Austin I am beginning to delve into documentary too and seem to stumble upon the same issue sometimes. What I am learning though is a few rules.
1. Be there early
2. Engage your subject allow them to understand what you're doing ask them to either
a. Wait until your ready
b. Do what they just did again.
If you cant do that then well just shoot it. The rules Rodrigo offers are great but they cant always apply. However look at VICE I think they capture great cinematic "doc" style work and a lot of the reason they can do that is pre planning. But yeah often you just gotta go with it and hit record.

I edit a lot of corporate documentaries and find myself doing something similar. I don't do stacked timelines (though now I might) but I create sequences of the best clips of each person I interview. Then I worry about putting those together, laying down b-roll and making it flow. It makes everything way simpler because you don't have to scroll through all the extra talking or rambling that you know you aren't going to use. My clients also like it because I can start giving them a rough idea of what I am going for really quickly. I am glad to see other people use this same technique.

I would personally just recommend people to buy the book Save The Cat. He gives some great story creation techniques for filmmakers and professionals alike. (ie creating a beat sheet) Also read Poetics by aristotle. Donald Miller recently wrote some interesting stuff on story and made it as simple as you can get. As for application its not hard you just start to do it recognize conflict and such and what is driving your story forward. Im sure Muse is a great program but $497 NO WAY.

Michael Bay's technical abilities and techniques are quite amazing. Its the storytelling that seems to fall short. However, if you want to talk about some more amazing technical stuff I would encourage you all to check out what Brainfarm productions is doing with high speed and aerial shots its quite amazing.

Great idea! Rental houses are awesome and you need them for big equipment rentals but when it's for a small gig or just a few pieces of equipment this is perfect. I could imagine this will really help the indie market and young filmmakers who are still getting their feet wet.