Shooting a Stage Play

K

krish

Well-known member
Hello, I have an opportunity to shoot a professional play being staged by a group of my friends who are quite well known in the local circle. The play is a full production with costumes and props etc. Is there anything I can learn from shooting a play or will it be a "one angle" continuous shot with actors on the stage. I suspect they will allow me to move around too much during the play as it might distract them. Just wondering !!

Cheers,

-Krish
 
Is it one performance only? If you could shoot several performances from your single camera using different setups each time you might be able to cut a darn good DVD.

As for learning, any time you go out on a gig and use your camera I figure you are learning -- even if the only thing you learn is "I should say "NO" next time!"
 
Owen said:
Is it one performance only? If you could shoot several performances from your single camera using different setups each time you might be able to cut a darn good DVD.
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This is an interesting idea, but you might get vastly different performances as actors try different things each night. The nice thing about plays is that the writer or director can rework scenes every single day. So what happens on one night might not happen on another, which could make for continuity problems. If they're staying on script night after night this isn't a problem.
 
unfortunately its a one time deal only. So I guess I have to be as creative as well as very unobtrusive as possible to be able to get different view points. I have attended some rehearsals so i have some idea about what happens in the play. Another thing that i might try is to get different angles for different acts.

thanks for sharing your ideas.

I will post some info once i see the play. (its on Saturday).

Cheers,

-Krish
 
When I help shoot plays, you hook up 3 or four cameras via RCA cables, and send them all to a mixer somewhere else. Then, have each cam operator have a headset and a Motorola walky-talky. Put yours on Vox, and give each of them directions on where to shoot. Send the audio into the video mixer from the sound mixer behind the scenes. Then watch all four cameras, and switch between them, and you've got a video. But thats for live. If you want to edit it all later, record each part of the play (segments) onto MiniDV tapes (making sure you switch to a new one in wach scene as not to run out), and use a Multi-
Cam feature, like in FCP, and edit it all.

Put one camera in the center behind the audience, on off to the side, one on the other side, and one roaming cam. You have all control. Also use a crappy camera to record sound for some applause sound.
 
Do you have two cameras? If its just you shooting, you could set up at the back of the house on two tripods...one as a long shot and use the other camera for close-ups. Its not ideal but a shooter that frequents these boards has done that for a play I was in (as well as some other plays) and he got some fantastic results.

Also, what really helped was that he jacked the cameras into the theaters audio system. It looked really sharp, really pro, and really PBS.

Rick
 
If you're just going to shoot one camera for one show, forget it, you'll have nothing good. You have to keep it wide and simple, or else every tacky camera move searching for a frame will be in the way.

So as mentioned above, you either shoot multicam, or multiple shows. If you shoot multicam DV and don't have 30k like the post above suggests to run everything into a switch box, then you can set all of your timecode settings on your camera to continuous and sync the internal clocks. So that way, wherever everyone is shooting, your TC will always be in sync, or at least really close, so you can use FCP or AVIDs multicam features to edit the footage together quickly after the fact.

Another option is to shoot the one performance, and then ask the director and cast if they would be cool restaging bits and pieces for particular angles. They could come an hour early, or you could do it during a pick-up rehearsal. There are union rules to be aware of with all of this, so watch out for finecky union hugging actor types, they may decline.

One last thing to understand is that theatrical lighting is vastly different than film and video lighting. the lights are high up and focused very tightly (usually). That means a much brigher hot point and darker darks. The lattitude is great for the human eye, but terrible for video. I've found that shooting a rehearsal and asking the light board op to keep everything at about 50% helps. That, and I bring a few of my own small lights.

If you just shoot it with the stage lights, you're going to find that your exposure is terrible.

And let's not get into sound! Live Stage sound designed to project into an audience, is about the worst you can get for video. If they are mic'd, you could try and tap into the PA.

I have done this A LOT. And one of my biggest pet peeves is people asking their friends to just come in and shoot something. the friend, possibly quite experienced with their prosumer camera, having shot several shorts of high quality, then goes and shoots an amazingly terrible live performance. Why? Because it is a completely different skill, and if the people running the show want something of quality, they should pay for it and get pros in that field.
 
If you plan on selling this dvd.. Isn't it illegal? Or is it a play written by them for them? I could be wrong, but I don't think you're aloud to tape a play without consent of the people who own the rights.
 
zoostory said:
And one of my biggest pet peeves is people asking their friends to just come in and shoot something. the friend, possibly quite experienced with their prosumer camera, having shot several shorts of high quality, then goes and shoots an amazingly terrible live performance. Why? Because it is a completely different skill, and if the people running the show want something of quality, they should pay for it and get pros in that field.
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I agree with this completely, and have actually refused to help shoot weddings for this very reason. I know that I don't have a grasp on the "event"-style videography. I'm constantly thinking about multiple-takes and other angles and wishing I could reshoot sequences, etc, etc. I can't get my mind around the idea of live filming.

What little event work I have done, while not fantastic, I have used the technique mentioned a little earlier. I had a camera in back on wide and another either on one side or the other in a medium shot, or as a roving camera for close-ups and "other angles".

Peace,
Larry
 
If he planned on it. What else is it for? Why shoot a play if you're not going to do anything with it.

I was only curious.

*plays in the sand*
 
Yeah if it is an Actors Equity Play, there are indeed union rules about when and how much shooting can go on, and you definitely need the consent of all the actors. It is the Stage Managers responsibility to inform you of all of this. So if the Stage Manager fails to do so, and the actors don't bring it up, technically, they are at fault, not you.

Also, if any actors are SAG, they cannot be video taped for any form of distribution without your video project having a SAG waver attached. Again however, unless you are intentionally defying SAG as a producer or director, then the fault falls upon the performers, whose duty it is to inform you that they cannot perform in non-union work.

If it is a show for personal use, not intended for web, TV distro, or DVD distro, then you should be fine, as long as you are very open with the Stage Manager and actors, and they all consent. I would absolutely get a Deal Memo in writing from everyone.
 
directinglegend said:
If he planned on it. What else is it for? Why shoot a play if you're not going to do anything with it.

I was only curious.

*plays in the sand*
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Often times the cast and crew want something to remember the event. And also something for their reels to get future work. Of course, as I ranted on about earlier, usually they never end up using these live recordings for anything because they look so bad... other than showing their parents who suffer through crappy handheld shots, bad sound, and extremely over blown lighting, simply because they love their kid!
 
directinglegend said:
If you plan on selling this dvd.. Isn't it illegal? Or is it a play written by them for them? I could be wrong, but I don't think you're aloud to tape a play without consent of the people who own the rights.
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Actually. Yes you are right. I have taken the permission to shoot it but only for my personal use. Basically , the idea is also to help the actors see their own performance as a feedback.

My real goal was to get as many different shots as possible so that it could really be an active, living thing and not just a boring one angle play.

Unfortunately, I don't have too many cameras but i might be able to get one more so may be i will try the idea of setting one as a long shot and other one for closeup.

I appreciate the feedback. Really some great ideas.

Cheers,

-K
 
krish said:
Actually. Yes you are right. I have taken the permission to shoot it but only for my personal use. Basically , the idea is also to help the actors see their own performance as a feedback.

My real goal was to get as many different shots as possible so that it could really be an active, living thing and not just a boring one angle play.

Unfortunately, I don't have too many cameras but i might be able to get one more so may be i will try the idea of setting one as a long shot and other one for closeup.

I appreciate the feedback. Really some great ideas.

Cheers,

-K
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OK, but always get more than one camera. Nothing is worse than watching a play from one deadset angle.
 
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