"A Raisin in the Sun" excerpts

Thanks for sharing. (like your avatar!!)

Smooth piece. Nicely done.
*A trained eye can see subtle differences between set up on the cameras- but it's not a bother.

Actors do a great job.

Did you use a switcher? (or, in FCP Live?)
Or, was it laid down in the NLE and cut back and forth that way??
In any event- seamlessly accomplished. Smooth is good!

I would have opened the video with the wide shot- just to set the space for the viewer.
Establish that, then go in for the tighter shots.

Tech could have been better- lighting was tough.
Small theatre & stage it seems, and not much in the way of fixtures.
Did the best with what they have I guess.
Six or eight fixtures?
I would have thrown something down on the stage behind the couch, even if it was just a little lamp- to pick up the corners of the space there.


Audio; Did you just take the best cut from one of the four sources?
No boundary mics, nor wireless on talent?
I would have wished for a sharper audio track.

I mean, it's a preachy play, lots of 'speech making'; so it's driven by the word, and -thereby- the word should be heard clear and resonate.

What's that banding I see from time to time?
Part of the YouTube curse? compression problem?

Too bad the powerful scene at the end left Walter Lee in the dark!
And there appears to be a fixture right there to pick him up- did he miss his mark?

Hell, go back and shoot just that - properly lit- then insert it.
Really, it's worth doing to have a really tight close there. It's the finale, after all!

For what you were working with - very nice result.
Did you have fun doing it?

Share some of the stuff you encountered doing a four camera shoot like that.
It'd be good to learn- and measured by the success you had.
Thanks.
 
Thank you NoNoob for all your insightful notes.
First off, this was a one show deal without much preparation but to set up the 4 cameras within an hour of showtime.
Not being able to access a feed from the board nor to place any mics on stage, we had to settle for unidirectional mics on cameras.
The lighting was uneven throughout the stage and the audience dictated the limitations on the placement of cameras.
The wide camera was unmanned and relying on the autoiris of the camera proved to be a misjudgement.
The performers were top notch and at times one forgot that one was shooting because of the sincerity of their performances.
Editing took place with Avid Media Composer using the multicam feature which made post superfast and fun. The opening montage was achieved by finding old stills and using Avid, again, to Pan and Zoom around them.
What you see on Youtube are two versions of separate scenes that give you the gist off the play. This was never meant to be released anywhere but for the performers who put this play on their own finances and efforts as a demo.
This was shot on a small church hall and the audience really appreciated the effort on stage. I was priviledged to be allowed to shoot this and look forward to capturing future theater as well as music performances. Nothing beats doing what you love when there are no monetary boundaries involved.
The Youtube banding that you see would be not present had I uploaded this today, last year's videos seem to suffer more degradation when they were upladed than now.

Again, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment on this particular video.

P.S.

Here is a link to part two of this performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGaghQqUdH4
 
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