Recording a group of children

[see-mann]

Hi

how would you record the sound of a group of young children (3-5yrs) in a kindergarten, listening to their nanny, as a one-man-band?
I would set a mic above them on a tripod and a Zoom H5 in front of them on a little tripod on the floor or like that. An AVX wireless for the nanny.
One fixed cam is on a tripod, filming the nanny ("Erzieherin" in german), another one filming the group and i would be at the cam for the children because i am sure they will move a lot. What do you think? Any recommendations?

Rainer

 

[Publimix]

I recorded a lot of kids, you need a silencer and if you walk around all day use ear protection as well.

But German kids might be less loud.

The setup you use seems well enough. The sound you need is from the teacher, the kids sound is ambient is it? Then you can record the teacher only and the children afterwards. Or use a camera mounted microphone on the cam you filming the children with.

 

[see-mann]

It's about the interaction at the read aloud between child and educator. Just for internal use, no 5.1 Dolby stuff, but it should be heard, what the children say... that's why i want to use a 3-cam setup, 2 fixed ones, 1 operated by myself. Of course in a perfect world, i would suggest 1 sound man, 3 camera operators but it would be over the top for that project('s budget)

 

[Publimix]

When you have a decent directional microphone on your camera (like AT875, or a rode videomic) you should be able to pick up the kids reactions. Use the H5 for backup then.