Filming a Staged Musical

[mitchshin]

I have been asked to film a local theaters musical production (Seussical) with my HF20. The camera will be placed in the rear or the theater, about 60 ft from the stage. My concern is how to get the best sound. Should I purchase an external microphone to be placed on the camera or place a microphone at the foot of the stage(either wired or wireless). Some performers will have mics, so an option could be to plug into the soundboard. Thanks for any suggestions.

[1]

a - On cam: BAD!
b - On Stage with a boundary mic[s]: pretty good.
c - Connect to soundboard: should be great, providing you have some control over it.

I'd use a combination of b and c, and keep the tracks separate so you can use the better one when needed.

[Skatervideoguy]

Hi mitchshin,

No matter what/where the performance, be sure to verify that all the principles are properly mic'ed, should you want to use the soundboard/mixer out put.

I did one once that did not have that done. The speakers and singers were mic'd, but the small musicians backup group on stage was not, hence the sound board only gave out the speakers and singers over the sound reinforcement system.

Had to use an outboard mic on Cam pointed up toward the sound reinforcement speakers. I was at the very back of the theater (about where you'll be) and it came out OK.

This is a situation that you definitely want to do a test setup sometime before the event to verify what you'll need to do, and use. I always go to the practice sessions to setup and verify both Cam settings and sound issues.

Harold