Filming choir concerts?

C

Chelsea8882

Member
My old high school wants me to film some of their choir concerts. I'd be filming with a dvx100b. The concerts take place in a theatre, and I'm not really sure if I can tap into the house sound or not, because it's up in the sound booth. The acts would range from a choir of over 70 to solos.

Any tips?
 
I have filmed 3 concerts and have been unhappy with the results EVERY time. I am am thinking that at least 2 cameras are required to make anything worth looking at!

My point... I could also use some advice because I keep getting asked to do this and at the moment I get sick to my stomach when I am asked about concerts.

Help!
 
I was thinking of setting up my trusty 1 chip camera in the back to get shots of the big choirs and being up front with the dvx for pans and solo acts. thoughts?
 
I've shot them before. I would use two cameras. I shot with an HV20 and a sony Handicam 1 chip camera.

I was the only operator. So I set a camera up in the center of the theater on the balcony to get the entire stage. And I had a second camera set up House Right Balcony which was a roaming camera. The audio I picked up with the Rode Videomic on the locked-down camera.

Worked out pretty well. Intercut between the two cameras.
 
I would use two cameras if at all possible so you have something to cut between on the bigger acts.

If you have a computer, or a mini disc player or something that could be plugged into the sound board to record the house sound, that would help you get a better mix. If you're doing something like that though, record camera sound as you're likely to get a better balance by mixing them. Keep in mind that something like a piano will be fairly quiet in the house mix as it is an instrument that carries quite well naturally. On the other hand an electric piano will overpower the vocals as it is relying on the house mix for everything. If you're lucky the sound person might be able to create a sub-mix for you that takes into account what you're going to use it for. Also, if you're recording off sound board separate from the cameras, your post production life will get easier if you don't stop the cameras so you only have to sync the sound once an hour.
 
Mattykins said:
I was the only operator. So I set a camera up in the center of the theater on the balcony to get the entire stage. And I had a second camera set up House Right Balcony which was a roaming camera. The audio I picked up with the Rode Videomic on the locked-down camera.

Worked out pretty well. Intercut between the two cameras.
Click to expand...


This is the way I have worked three concerts so far but I REALLY want to have a second camera operator next time. So far the roaming camera in my case has been stuck on one side or the other. If that is the case, I highly recommend making it to a rehearsal to see where any soloist will stand, where piano and/or other musicians will be placed. If possible I try to film the last rehearsal to experiment with different locations and shot possibilities. Twice I have ended up selecting songs from the rehearsal for the final edit because the soloist had trouble on concert night!
 
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