Ideas on video shoot
 

Posted this on 7D forum as well - sorry for duplication.

I'm shooting a short this week in a church near times Square. It's an improvisation (documented another time, below), between dancer and bassist. Shooting with 5D2 and 60D, H2 audio recorder, variety of lenses (Canon 24-104L, 10-22, 50mm 1.8).

The bass player who will pluck, bow, and make other sounds with his bass while interacting with the dancer. This is a church near Times Square that has theatrical lights, and I will have lots of problems with car street noise which will possibly be edited out.

Unlike the documentation below, this will be a creative short that will be shot in many takes at different perspectives with two cameras, then edited together creatively. I'll have to find the best position to place the recorder, without it being seen on camera.

YouTube - In the Shadows (part 2)

Any helpful ideas about audio and/or video would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

could you clip the recorder to the back of the musician and run a bridge mic or even a lav to the instrument?

I thought of that - if the Zoom H2 picks up too much outside noise I may have to go that route. I have a Lectrosonics wireless system that's very good quality. I could use the wireless and go directly into the camera, and even monitor the sound. The cable on the bass player could get in the way, however.

Thanks for the suggestion. Did you look at the documentation video?

yeah, I did look at the video - lots of spinning around which reveals cables and such. Another way to go would be to use the lectrosonics wired to the Zoom and either clap some sync or use the start of the music to put it together in edit. The zoom audio is better than what the camera can deliver.
Years ago there was an experimental piece with Yo Yo Ma where the hall was created digitally and the audio was altered so it would sound accurate for the picture - He was shot green screen, when the camera was in close the sound was full and directional, when the image was far away there was distance and reverberation. It was very cool at the time.
There is an advantage to miking the instrument and miking the room, then mixing in the edit - better sound.
Good luck with the church - I shot a project in St Malachy's off Broadway years back, other than the occasional siren audio was not any worse than anywhere else in midtown

Since this is not a documentation and will be creatively pieced together in editing, perhaps I can patch together the music as well as the video material and in the process edit out really bad traffic noise. Or, maybe the traffic noise will be OK as ambient sound and it really doesn't matter.

This whole shoot is experimental, and could be considered a test run as we can always do it again. But I would love to get it right the first time...

Thanks for your suggestions - it's tough trying to figure this all out and shoot the whole thing by myself.