"How to film a live concert video" guide - Part 3, Video Production up!

[stantheman1976]

I'm not saying a multi-cam event can't be done with a small amount of people, but not having a person manning a camera (at least watching it) leaves a lot up to chance.  If you ever get a piece of equipment stolen, damaged, or moved because somebody wasn't watching it, it could mean any number of bad things for you and the production.

Church services are more of a controlled environment where most of the action takes place in one area.  Part of a concert is capturing the kinetic motion of the music and showmanship through camera moves.  Cutting between a bunch of static cameras just wouldn't suffice for a concert.

It may be ok for other circumstances... even the Beastie Boys did it with their music video for "3 MCs and 1 DJ" cutting between 4 camera angles and it came out great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjr3iqfG_3w

Yea, it's all about creativity and placement.  If all the action can be caught by static shots then it works great like that Beastie Boys video.  I'm not a fan of their music at all but I loved the concept of their live DVD where they gave a bunch of cameras to fans and mixed them all together.  Absolutely brilliant creative idea.

[John Kary]

Yea, it's all about creativity and placement.  If all the action can be caught by static shots then it works great like that Beastie Boys video.  I'm not a fan of their music at all but I loved the concept of their live DVD where they gave a bunch of cameras to fans and mixed them all together.  Absolutely brilliant creative idea.

It is a great idea, but the sad truth is that so much of the footage is unusable in the end.  I directed a music video as part of a Toyota Prius promotion where they gave everybody in the crowd a flash-video based video recorder.  They each did their own angle from their spot in the crowd, but the video quality was just so bad, along with the inability of people to keep a usable shot that it was a nightmare cutting it together.  Thankfully I had some other guys with real cameras shooting too, which I just dirtied up in post and covered the shoot fairly well.  Again, another testament to finding good camera operators!

[wilsonedits]

Sure you could film it with static cameras by yourself, but to make the most of the opportunity might be a good idea to recruit a small crew and really make an impression on the band..... 

what if they are seeing what you can do... with some bands you might only get on shot to show them something that could lead to other things...  i guess its what your after doing a professional piece or just having a good time

i have gotten to the point where i don't want anything less than stellar.. and the one man band just doesn't cut it  for live events.. no matter how good you are its just boring with static cams and only one moving... and extra shooters aren't that difficult to obtain

[guitard]

Sure you could film it with static cameras by yourself, but to make the most of the opportunity might be a good idea to recruit a small crew and really make an impression on the band..... 

what if they are seeing what you can do... with some bands you might only get on shot to show them something that could lead to other things...  i guess its what your after doing a professional piece or just having a good time

i have gotten to the point where i don't want anything less than stellar.. and the one man band just doesn't cut it  for live events.. no matter how good you are its just boring with static cams and only one moving... and extra shooters aren't that difficult to obtain

Extra filmers might be easy to come by...but finding others that actually do a good job can be very difficult.  It requires some skill...and for most people, doing this kind of filming isn't something that comes naturally. 

At least - that's been my experience.

[John Kary]

Extra filmers might be easy to come by...but finding others that actually do a good job can be very difficult.  It requires some skill...and for most people, doing this kind of filming isn't something that comes naturally. 

At least - that's been my experience.

I'm fully with you on this one. Most people either don't have an eye for good framing, or aren't able to operate smoothly.  That's why I suggested in Part 1 to hitting up a local college that has a media/film production department and letting the professors set you up with some of their better students.  College kids are usually looking for experience, will do it for the love of music/production and sometimes already own their own equipment, or use bum some from the school.

Now, good and knowledgeable audio tapers are even harder to find

[612]

I love this thread. In a way I do want a 24bit recorder before I get a camera but the camera is coming...some day.

[wilsonedits]

if you are using someone that hasn't done alot of shooting make things easier on them.... don't give them something they can mess up....  have them run a wide angle that just slowly zooms in and out... spend some time with them before the shoot and give them simple shots to repeat over and over again.. and have them hold shots for one to two minutes....

that usually helps with poeple that don't really have the eye or haven't had much experience .... but yes I agree good shooters are hard to find