Live venue filming

[oxblood187]

Hi, I have the HV20 obviously... just ordered the wideangle lens from canon it might arrive tomorrow. I am set to film my roommates band performance tomorrow night, the wideangle adapter might or might not arrive. I was wondering if you guys had any tips to get the best possible video out of a low light venue. Also is there anything in post I can or should do to make it more authentic looking. I have Vegas PRO, After Effects, and Magic Bullet for color correction. THANKS!

[Dodgy Nick]

Shoot in cinemode 24/25p or spotlight mode.

[TheBadMadBandTaper]

I have a ton of examples of different shooting styles in the same club on this playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=22CB4A204E415728

I don't yet have any lenses for my HV20 yet, but plan to get a second HV20 w/wide angle, hood, light & mic for close ups while leaving my current one on the tripod with just a mic.

Here's a very close example at less than 3' away from the stage at any time. This was 24p, CineMode w/Exposure at around -4, using cheapy LED & mono-pod from bestbuy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKRk94E6sNU

Could've improved this by taking exposure up a notch or two and taking a few steps back.

This one is on 70-80 inch targus tripod about 50' back, with about 20% zoom. HDV Standard (30fps?), CineMode w/Exp -2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6gods-3d0

Had to really brighten this in Vegas, so I plan to try out spotlight setting on next tripod shoot with the static light as such. Audio was peaking a bit in this, so be sure to enable the 'Audio Level' during record mode and set it around -6db (maybe lower if you plan to tweak/master in audio editor)

This one is a little montage of everything from 4' to 40' away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQihCw72cxM

Smoke had the nice little side effect smoothing out the gaininess from the stage lights.

Finally, this one is about my favorite. My first attempt at 24p/CineMode with default everything else. Hadn't yet known about Zebra Assist functionality and grid markers (or law of thirds for that matter), but still my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on8SpxTIEhU

http://vimeo.com/740106

Audio on this one is the best I've had yet from this cam @ -12db, though you can hear some phasing as I was standing on a table and started leaning on wall for stability towards the end.

Good luck & hope it helps.



Also, if anybody has tips on how any of these shoots could be improved (short of knowing what I'm doing artistically/technically =) then please do tell...

[kevinmeyer]

hey oxblood187, your user name oxblood187 cause you wear ox blood 18up Doc Martens?

[oxblood187]

hey oxblood187, your user name oxblood187 cause you wear ox blood 18up Doc Martens?

Yeah I use to

[HueyNRolf]

It depends on what you're trying to achieve, but if you want something a cut above the usual YouTube fancorder job, then you'll need to address a few issues.
First thing you'll need is a second camera. Typically a front cam for close ups on a stabilizer (shoulder support, steady cam or similar) and back camera for wide medium shots.
The front camera guy should be quite mobile to get a variety of angles. Then in post you cut to the back camera when he's in transition. Of course, the back camera should be on a good tripod and far less animated.

Sound is really important. So a microphone pointed at the performance from camera distance is just going to suck, no matter how good the microphone is. A recording from the desk is the only option to avoid that nasty camcorder audio. Never simple, so here's where you need to to get things sorted ahead of time. Try and get the house engineer to help you out and arrive early for the soundcheck to make sure your setup is working properly.

Lighting is the toughest call of all. No camera is going to perform well in poor lighting. So, unless you have a BIG light rig, you're pretty much stuck with whatever the house has. Some better than others.

I tried a live to do a live gig a few years ago and the result was an absolute disaster. Ever since I vowed never to do live again and would refuse when bands asked me, once I established that the gear just wasn't in place. Recently I was fortunate enough to be invited to shoot at a club with all the right gear, I accepted and it went quite well.

If you want to do something with music or friends ask you to shoot their band. Then do a music video. You need far less resources. Although it takes more effort, but you can be creative and have a lot of fun with it.

[krewcial]

- make sure to shoot in progressive mode, this will increase the low light sensitivity.
- arrive in time for sound- & lightcheck : lock the camera's exposure while the lights are being checked and find a setting that gives you the best compromise between good contrast and as little grain as possible.
- capture sound directly from the FOH desk, make sure you make a testrun during soundcheck ... the levels coming from a desk are typically way too hot for the HV's mic input, so make sure the FOH sends out a fairly low level and make sure to record the audio on a separate medium (CD, minidisc, whatever they have in their rack).

[HueyNRolf]

make sure to record the audio on a separate medium (CD, minidisc, whatever they have in their rack).

Or you can use a DV camera with a mic in as a sound recorder. Regular DV does uncompressed audio, so even better than HDV.

[Playing]

Also use the soundcheck to test floor vibration if you use a tripod near the stage.