DP help: Live event cinematography - Where to put which cameras & why?

Renee

Renee

Active member
Hi guys.
At work, I'm helping my team capture a live speaker event, and they want it to be like TED.
It'll be a stage, about 400 people, and then screens behind the speaker for any presentation materials.

They're looking to me to choose the final shots.
I'm the most qualified on our team, even though this is new to me.

I've got 3 cameras:

One on a jib /crane
One handheld, able to move quickly for variation in angles and shots
One static wideshot of the full stage


I'm looking for your wisdom to help me choose the right path.
I've obviously never done anything like this before, and I'd be interested in how you might handle this same situation.
What directions do I give the camera crew to set them on the right path?
What do they need to hear to make their job easy, and make my final shots sweet?

I'm really an animator by trade. If I hand them storyboards with potential compositions, will they laugh at me? :]
 
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I would maybe have the jib camera be the wide angle camera. Then have one on sticks up front to go between a medium-wide/close up, and then possibly the third camera up on the stage for profile shots or over the shoulder to show the crowd.
 
I'd want to know a bit more to provide help.

Is this one speaker or a panel?
How do you plan to cover the presentation materials - with a camera or a direct feed into the switcher?
What is the stage setting - just a podium with the screens or is there more?
What do you need to cover besides the speaker, the presentation materials, and perhaps, cut-aways of the audience?
is the camera crew on their own to shoot shots that will be edited later or is this live or live-to-tape with a switcher?

Camera one - the remote camera - how mobile is this camera? Is it wired or is it wireless? This determines what it can cover.
Camera two - the static camera - depending upon how big a zoom you have, it may be able to cover close ups as well as the wide shot. Does it have an operator or is it locked down?
Camera three - the jib - what do you want this camera to do? Audience and stage? Where is it?


Assuming this is live or live to tape, meaning you have a switcher and a director calling shots:
Once you have a list of needs, and the stage setting, then you can start blocking shots - what camera will cover what and when. Then you can give the assignments and go over them with the camera crew before the show. Do a rehearsal before the show with or without talent to be sure the camera crew know what shots they are responsible for and how you want them framed.
Be sure to have your shot calls understood by the crew; each shot should have a name so that when you ask for it, they know what you want. 'camera two - two shot Bill and Mary' or camera one - tight on Bill'.

I direct live 3 camera studio events. I don't have any control over the set. I only come in and work with what is already set up. I look at the set and work out the camera blocking on the set. For something new, we show up for a rehearsal. When the crew shows up, we spend as much time as we need to sort out the shots. I tell them what framing I want and how I will call for them. We do a brief rehearsal without the talent (hopefully someone stands in for them). Then we do a rehearsal with the talent. The rehearsal can be as short as 3 minutes or as long as it needs until everyone knows what they are doing.

We don't often use diagrams, because the shot coverage is usually pretty obvious. But I have drawn out shot diagrams such as this for the producer and the crew to understand how I plan to cover the show. I use as many diagrams as I need to show the coverage.

image.tiff
 
I have never done this before. But I think this will be very interesting indeed. I'm trying to imagine if I was to be in charge for this, the first thing I would like to know is the scope and range of what they are going to present on stage, or off stage. I mean, if it's TED, sometimes they'll need you to shoot tiny items arrange on stage, sometimes they'll show a lot of on screen presentations (which you might want to have a direct source of that presentation), and sometimes they'll have some mechanic birds flying around the hall...which all of them would require different settings and placement for your available three cameras.
 
Paul F said:
I'd want to know a bit more to provide help.

Is this one speaker or a panel?
How do you plan to cover the presentation materials - with a camera or a direct feed into the switcher?
What is the stage setting - just a podium with the screens or is there more?
What do you need to cover besides the speaker, the presentation materials, and perhaps, cut-aways of the audience?
is the camera crew on their own to shoot shots that will be edited later or is this live or live-to-tape with a switcher?

Camera one - the remote camera - how mobile is this camera? Is it wired or is it wireless? This determines what it can cover.
Camera two - the static camera - depending upon how big a zoom you have, it may be able to cover close ups as well as the wide shot. Does it have an operator or is it locked down?
Camera three - the jib - what do you want this camera to do? Audience and stage? Where is it?


Assuming this is live or live to tape, meaning you have a switcher and a director calling shots:
Once you have a list of needs, and the stage setting, then you can start blocking shots - what camera will cover what and when. Then you can give the assignments and go over them with the camera crew before the show. Do a rehearsal before the show with or without talent to be sure the camera crew know what shots they are responsible for and how you want them framed.
Be sure to have your shot calls understood by the crew; each shot should have a name so that when you ask for it, they know what you want. 'camera two - two shot Bill and Mary' or camera one - tight on Bill'.

I direct live 3 camera studio events. I don't have any control over the set. I only come in and work with what is already set up. I look at the set and work out the camera blocking on the set. For something new, we show up for a rehearsal. When the crew shows up, we spend as much time as we need to sort out the shots. I tell them what framing I want and how I will call for them. We do a brief rehearsal without the talent (hopefully someone stands in for them). Then we do a rehearsal with the talent. The rehearsal can be as short as 3 minutes or as long as it needs until everyone knows what they are doing.

We don't often use diagrams, because the shot coverage is usually pretty obvious. But I have drawn out shot diagrams such as this for the producer and the crew to understand how I plan to cover the show. I use as many diagrams as I need to show the coverage.
Click to expand...

Great thoughts, thank you.
I was under the impression it was one speaker at a time, but I should definitely check.
I'm not sure if we're capturing the screens or not, but it's within our workflow to do this and we have before. Usually, the materials are as simple as powerpoints, and I could just get those and screen capture them later for an edit.

I'm going to just brainstorm a bit-

Camera one, ideally, is wireless. I want it to be able to move to pick the best shots at the best times, also making it look like infinite camera angles.
Camera two, ideally, has a sweet zoom. It's stationary, and is able to get wideshots and maybe wide-to-mediums of the stage depending on the situation.
Camera three is a bit more of a break from what I'm used to. Requesting a jib was to get wider, more dynamic shots of both speaker, and crowd reactions. Does that make sense? I was also wondering if the jib could be a full midshot.
So, Camera 1, closeups. Camera 2, wides, Camera 3 mids.

It's live to tape with a switcher, and with all 4 feeds recorded. We'll have both the live switcher's choice recorded, and all three separate camera feeds. (perhaps 5 with the presentation)

You've given me more questions to ask, but they're all very helpful. Thanks for your advice . . .

cherchieh said:
I have never done this before. But I think this will be very interesting indeed. I'm trying to imagine if I was to be in charge for this, the first thing I would like to know is the scope and range of what they are going to present on stage, or off stage. I mean, if it's TED, sometimes they'll need you to shoot tiny items arrange on stage, sometimes they'll show a lot of on screen presentations (which you might want to have a direct source of that presentation), and sometimes they'll have some mechanic birds flying around the hall...which all of them would require different settings and placement for your available three cameras.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they even have a "How to Shoot a TED talk" talk. It was really helpful to watch!


robmneilson said:
I would maybe have the jib camera be the wide angle camera. Then have one on sticks up front to go between a medium-wide/close up, and then possibly the third camera up on the stage for profile shots or over the shoulder to show the crowd.
Click to expand...

I was thinking some swooping crowd shots from a jib would be nice, however.
 
Some other thougths;

Presentation materials - Yes, it would be simplest if you can just edit in the presentation material in post. But if the speaker has something that needs pointing to on the presentation (details in a diagram) you will want to capture that.

Check if there will be anyone speaking besides the presenter (host, panel, audience). You'll need coverage of them and a way to hear them.
For the speaker, don't use the house audio unless you are confident it will be good. Use a separate lavaliere.

Camera coverage sounds good.

Two - Two is your go-to camera. If all else fails, camera two should always have a good shot. This camera should never wander about looking for clever shots. It ALWAYS should have a solid shot and assume it is live. So going from a wide shot to a medium shot should be a nice zoom as if it is hot. Same with pulling back out. That way, no matter what one and three do, the director will something to cut to.

Three - Its size determines its function. How high and far can it go? I think you have it right that this camera can get angles that the others simply can't do. It can get a nice high shot of the hall, POV stage and it can get higher shots of the stage. This can be a nice break from the capabilities of the other two cameras. But this is a presentation, not a music video or dance contest. So sweeping shots of the stage and audience (except for the open and close) can be distracting rather than helpful. I'd use it for static shots from angles the others can't get or perhaps some very slow, subtle movement.
 
Thanks Paul!
You all have been really helpful. I'm going over the showflows now, thinking through your advice, and I'm going to give them my ideas and let them make magic.

These will be posted online later, I'll shoot a link up on the forum.
 
Right now! Well, here's one of them at least.

You know, I started thinking so linearly during this edit.
I totally forgot I could grab crowd shots or reaction shots and use it to cover up bad camera angles.
I had a deadline, so it is what it is.

I have 5 more 90 minute forums to edit, so I've started to really tighten up the edges and remember my NLE skills. :]
 
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