Live concert shoot, tips, tricks, basics, fundamentals

These were shot @ 30p (bear in mind that this was a stationary tripod thing.....kinna hard to film yourself on stage & hold camera @ same time LOL).

Both of these were two different venues and in each was just camera (Sony HVR-Z5U) on the tripod, all automatic settings, 1 MXL 990 Large Condenser Mic, 1 on-board mic....both @ 1080/30p.

http://vimeo.com/8990090
http://vimeo.com/8238739
 
I am glad there is already a thread on this subject.

I have a shoot coming up next month in a big college basketball arena. Its kinda like a concert but more of a dance performance recital type thing. I am going to go with 2 cameras - 1 Wide and 1 close up at the stage.

I shot this event last year and it worked out well except for getting clean audio to my locked down camera was darn near impossible because of how far it was from the audio board.

This year I would like to incorporate a crane. The camera on the crane would be my wide shot camera as it stays still or swoops over the crowd towards the stage. I will use the other camera as rover getting the close ups.

This will NOT be switched live meaning I will sync up the shots later in post.

The one thing I am worried about using a crane is that their will be 2- 3 huge manned spotlights at the top of the arena. I am worried that the lights hitting the crane would cast a shadow on the performers on stage. The crane is said to go as high as 20 feet I think the operator told me.

So my question is has anyone used a crane in your concert type shoots before? Where did you place it so you got the best vantage points of the stage? Any other issues or suggestions you have would be great.

I think by using the crane would add to the production value of the shoot thats another reason I want to use it.

Should I go with a 3rd camera and use that as a wide shot of the stage, the crane shot could be tight, wide, swoop, then the other handheld camera - the rover would get anything right at the stage. Thats another option I guess. My budget is only calling for 2 cameras though so I will have to see.

Thanks all!
 
Good question, we are going to try and carry two jibs if we need them at a show so if someone could post some tips for cranes that would be nice. placement, shot, etc...

Thanks
 
I have used cranes a couple of times. In my experience the key to getting great crane shots is to have a good operator and to have great contact between the director and the operator. I have placed cranes a couple of different places but my favorite was about 8 ft straight off the side of the stage and long enough that when fully extended it was directly in front of the lead singer at eye level. This allowed us to do an awesome shot that started with the camera facing the crowd up high, then we swooped down pointing at the crowd and then it whipped up directly at the lead singer's face. I will have to see if I can find the clip.

For your problems with audio have you considered renting a wireless kit and putting the transmitter on the board and the receiver on your camera.

Also DVX100Shooter I would recommend that you consider putting your crane at the front of the venue rather than the rear. From the rear crane shots don't work nearly as well as ones that are closer. Also if you are strapped for budget I would go for a third camera rather than a crane. Cranes if not handled properly are a pain and and will cause more headache than help. Also cranes are more of an extra rather than a neccesity. I would get the extra camera rather than a crane. Also make sure that you invest in some form of crew communication whether that is cheap radios or a set of the more expensive simul-talk communication systems (like the eartecs).
 
Thanks David. I agree with placing the crane closer to the front of the stage. The event will NOT be switched live so I have no idea what kind of shots the crane operator would be getting while I am getting close ups. There will not be a director to look at both of our shots during the event. In a perfect world and advanced planning, I am sure I could have made that happen to hire a director to switch between the cameras live. I wonder if I kept the crane, kept the roving camera but added a locked down un manned camera up top as a wide shot of the stage. That would give me 3 cameras.

The crane operator I would use, owns the crane so I trust his judgment and knowledge on how to operate it. Again you raised some good points that I need to re-think this out. If I go the route of 3 cameras then I can just throw in the crane shots here and there in post and rely on the other 2 cameras as my main. I think the big issue is that since there is no director, the crane shot might be in the way of the wide shot camera at a critical point in the performances. There is nobody to tell that operator to swing it out of the way! LOL! I guess I could always use a cutaway shot from a different angle in post to get around that issue.

I tried wireless audio last year when I shot this event but I kept taking hits. I am told something as small as a smart phone like a Blackberry or Nextel will cause interference with wireless audio so I wanted to run a hard line cable to one of the cameras for clean audio. I do have a Zoom H4N Audio recorder I could use too and sync up the audio in post which I have done in the past.
 
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