dark club shoot..tonight!

[Lotustar]

Ok, tonight i am shooting Vince Neil's after party (no really). It's a standard rock club setting, pretty dark. I have never had a chance to use my dvx100a in a "working" situation. Filming my cats doesnt count. Any tips for shooting in this enviroment?
I have used a xl1 in this same club. It was dark and when i cranked the gain it looked like crap.
Any advice would be great, Thanx.

[HybridCreations]

Can you get an on-camera light? That's really the only way you'd be able to get good-lookin' shots of the people there without gaining up. In a pinch, you might be able to find some battery operated little fluorescents (at Home Depot or something) that you could velcro to the sides (or top-bottom) of your sunshade. You'd probably need two to light anything significant and they might be more towards a daylight balance so be aware of that.

Also, got any mics? I'd imagine it's gonna be loud as hell in there. You won't get usable audio off the camera mic. Good luck.
-Ryan

[Barry_Green]

PUT A LIGHT ON THE CAMERA.

If they whine, they whine, and you may have to turn it off. But if they don't whine, this will be far and away the best thing to do.

Cameras are light-gathering devices. They can't gather it if it isn't there.

[Lotustar]

yea, i was hoping to avoid that spotlight look. Maybe i can get them to use more lights. They have a Big money light setup there. I was hoping to get an idea on camera settings to get best shots.

[Blaine]

DVX100Shooter had a nightclub shoot back in January. You might want to ask him about the shoot, what he did, and how it came out.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=154

He posted it in the following thread.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...2club+shoot%22

Hope this helps some.

[Lotustar]

awesome! thnx everyone

[HybridCreations]

If you had an on-camera light, you can soften it with some diffusion. Would reduce the spotlight effect.

[Bus No. 8]

I know it's too late for your shoot (how did it go, BTW?), but I just read an article in the print version of DV magazine (online version at http://www.dv.com/features/features_item.jhtml;jsessi ) about the shooting of "Breaking Bonaduce" (as in Danny, as in Partridge Family), where they shot a nightclub scene, "in which the lighting would often be a 14-inch Chinese lantern that hung off the end of a hand-carried painter's pole and was powered by 30-volt battery belts."

I was rather inspired by this idea because the lighting would be soft, diffused light and, because it's portable on a painter's pole (or boom pole), powered by battery belts, you would be able to follow your subjects wherever they go, and your presence would be much less intrusive than with an on-camera light (who's not going to be entranced by a lovely chinese lantern wafting through a dark, crowded club?)

You would need a dedicated operator for this light, though - no double duty as boom mic operator, craft service, or camera operator. But worth the effort, I would think. I'm looking forward to trying this method out.

And good to know that Mr. Bonaduce still keeps fueling the flames of creation...