Nightclub Videographer

D

DDirector

Veteran
There is a brand new nightclub opening up in a couple of weeks near where I live.
It came to my mind, why not shoot a commercial for them, or a mini promo, or just shoot random montage videos for them on a basis or just a one time thing.

Not saying this will happen, but its a possibility. In case, Id like to know...

Has anyone shot in nightclubs before? - How was it?
What would you recommend doing? What not to do?
Lighting? - I personally hate the LED lights on the camera, any other alternatives if needed/possible?
Any other recommendations/tips?

*Camera - Canon T2i.
 
DDirector said:
There is a brand new nightclub opening up in a couple of weeks near where I live.
It came to my mind, why not shoot a commercial for them, or a mini promo, or just shoot random montage videos for them on a basis or just a one time thing.

Not saying this will happen, but its a possibility. In case, Id like to know...

Has anyone shot in nightclubs before? - How was it?
What would you recommend doing? What not to do?
Lighting? - I personally hate the LED lights on the camera, any other alternatives if needed/possible?
Any other recommendations/tips?

*Camera - Canon T2i.
Click to expand...

Having shot many weddings in 'still' mode the 'night club' lit dance scenes are the 'worse' in terms of picture quality... and that's shooting with strobes...

You perhaps get some pretty 'grainy/grunge' shots, but for the most part clubs are black holes. Since the requirements for a 'wedding' may be different than a 'promo' perhaps you could have an assistant take the lights off camera and 'play around'.

Then there's 'sound'... many club venues are for dancing intoxicants... and as such the club's acoustics suck big time.

That is if you were thinking of getting some 'live in club' footage...
 
Well, obviously I wont be recording audio. Visuals only. Audio will be clean short cut music down to about 30-45seconds or so.
 
David W. Jones said:
Gotta love strobes with a rolling shutter camera and sensor damage from laser hits.
That aside, a paying job is a paying job.
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Yup. lol
Any tips on shooting with these types of lights?
Since its a DSLR at the moment, with rolling shutter, how can i handle the lights to the best ability possible?
many videos Ive seen are bad, some arent so noticable and look artistic in a way.

How about lighting? I thought of a ring light, is that something I should think about?
example: the rosco led ring light.
 
Okay, I assume you've considered the legal issues -- from music copyrights and licensing to needing releases from identifiable people who appear in your videos.

I have shot several videos for a particular local band. They use some horrible LED lights that change color in a set pattern. Probably adds visual interest for them, which is fine for the audience -- but horrible for the camera. Especially when the lights go red or green. And there's not.hing I can do about it in editing.

I'm sure every nightclub will have some kind of similar lighting problem. No on-cam light is likely to overcome that, unless it's very bright -- which introduces its own problems.

Getting good video -- and audio -- in a club setting is a challenge. You could stage the action, using professional lighting (for video) and sound. That would give you good quality image and sound. And you could then make sure to have signed releases from everyone who appears in the video. This still wouldn't solve the music licensing problem, but if the band is doing only their own original songs in your video, then you could probably get the proper releases from them to use those songs in the video.

But just going in and shooting what's there......it's going to be very hard to get footage you can use to create a quality product. In my humble opinion.
 
Honestly, we all know, and the client knows that it wont be top notch quality. Being a club, Im sure they have seen videos of other clubs. And the quality isnt always all that great.
Low lighting is horrible and strobing lights are a factor too. If the new BMC was out, I could have used that, with its global shutter, but I cant.

Whatever I can, I will stage. That is, if they want anything staged.
If they just want to shoot it, then itll be like that.
But, if its a special event like the grand opening, I would definitely do some staged stuff. But, not much.

It will not be broadcased on tv or anywhere else like that. Would be for their websites and other promo material.
 
Leon Bailey said:
I think you have everything handled then Mr. Frymus. What kind of music? I've only done the Hip-Hop crowd. :-/
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not really. wouldnt be asking then ;)
This is a latest top 40's music... I believe thats what its called? Whatever, its the latest top chart music

Tokina 11-16mm the best choice or 18mm decent enough?
handheld vs. glidecam?
 
Don't be afraid of the dark!

That is my first suggestion. I have shot a good bit in night club type settings on a lot of different formats including on a T2i. The T2i is plenty of camera to get some great footage in a night club setting. The approach I take in difficult low light level situations is to find cool shots where I could expose at least a portion of the frame properly near the top end of of the exposure scale. If you have an area in the frame that is properly exposed up to almost overexposure then the rest of the frame SHOULD fall off in a relatively "Natural" way and look fine. In a nightclub setting you might also need to Man Up and crank up the ISO. On that kind of shoot I would walk in set to 800 ISO but would be cool with shooting a good bit at 1600. I also would not be shy about cranking up the ISO to capture cool visuals in very low light. The T2i at high ISOs (3200 or 6400) has pretty bad looking chroma noise but you could make the footage B&W in post and add some motion filters and make some cool looking footage. Go in to the club, feel the vibe and energy of the event and then shoot the cool stuff.
 
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First of all DO NOT SHOOT THE LASERS. Seriously pointing at the lasers light will damage your sensor. So with that in mind, point and shoot wherever the lights are illuminating.

like someone mentioned, camera lights are okay if they are extremely bright but they may annoy the crowd.

Your best bet is shoot where ever the club lights shine on. Shoot fully open at multiples of 320 ISO (if you have magic lantern) or shoot at 800/1600

Shoot neutral profile.

As for camera light (if you get one) ring lights are usually more flattering to the subject than LED on camera lights.

Tips? Shoot handheld so you can get around faster ;)
Edit quick cuts. Dont give the audience time to think about the crappy lights, noise etc
If people pose (for a pic) continuing shooting, edit that sh!t in aswell
Have enough batteries and memory
Shoot some stuff before the club opens and edit that in aswell. Maybe its lit better then.
GEL your cam light so it doesnt attack the crowd. CTO may be less distacting.

Good luck!

Ned.
 
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I just bought the Tokina 11-16 today. So, I'll probably end up using it when needed or just stick with 16mm as its almost the same as the 18mm I have on my canon 18-55mm is zoom.
 
Get the music from the DJ and dub it on afterwards so it sounds good. Unless you can avoid it, don't use lights on the camera, because they look pretty naff. They are so close your subjects faces are lit, but the background goes black, and worse still, people absolutely hate camera lights. If you want people to act naturally, the advice to not DSLR is a good one - use a camera that looks like a video camera and people will do moving action rather than a static pose. Most clubs do have better lighting in certain areas, so shoot there, and adjust the shot to have the flashing/moving lighting in the background. The light beams and maybe lasers are pretty intense, so with haze in the air, you will see them even if you are shooting in a better lit area. You won't see much of the people in the background, but the lights will be there. Any Chill out areas are normally good to look at and have better lighting. Many cameras can have 9-12dB of extra gain dialled in before it starts to get too grainy.
 
I shot a club night a few weeks ago, lots of lasers and mirrors everywhere. Hoping I'd avoid them, they hit and fried my 5Dmkii sensor within 10 mins of filming, I was totally gutted.
 
I've never shot a 'Club video' but I've shot in clubs for reality stuff. I assume the club owner wants a variety of setups to showcase all aspects of the club. Here are some of my favourite shots of course the club layout might not offer some of these options.

1) Booth bottle service setup.

Either cast and waiver pre shoot night (preferred) or try and pull some attractive aspiring models night of the shoot (risky)
Find a booth off in the corner roped off and pre-light it with soft lights like Kino's or decent LED panels that do not have a long throw. Then shoot back towards the dance floor. Usually the booths are away from the lasers but try and set up accordingly. If its large enough its great because you get the great moment of girls/guys enjoying themselves at the table with this great frenetic colourful background.

Dancing shots. When I shoot in clubs I alway try and shoot towards crowd from stage. You get the stage lights/colour on the subjects and you avoid the lasers. People love slowmo dancing shots. Hopefully there aren't a lot of strobes or you can move to an area where they could be out of frame.

I like to try and find a white spotlight (or any colour) or set up a spot in an area at the side and get people to dance silhouetted by the spot and hitting some flare. As cheesy as it sounds people eat it up.

I don't know what other options this club has for entertainment or food but if you really want to take it more cinematic and pitch a 2min short piece going through the perfect night out. A mini story line that showcases the club as the main location and source of action. Maybe a love story or something to get people hooked and showcase more than a montage of hot girls dancing (which is ok too). If you take it narrative Audio will always be an issue in loud clubs which is why having someone tell the story with VO or confessional will help save any dialogue.

Just some thoughts. Have fun with it.
 
I'm going back to this post..

I shot three nightclubs and loved it! I am completely hooked and want to do it again and again.
They are just being edited, so I got nothing to show yet.

I shot with 1/48 shutter and 1/12 shutter to give some weird effects too.
I also shot 60fps slow motion.

What camera settings should I stick with when Im shooting normal speed footage, but want to retain as much detail as possible and low noise?
Is it okay if I drop my shutter down to get some more light? It goes down to 1/24th. Anything below that is just for special effects, which Id use once in a while.


Largest I have is f/2.8.
People are suggesting f/1.4, but even with a 2.8 its hard to keep focus.
 
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