XH-A1 Concert Footage - Feedback Appreciated!
 

This footage was shot at an indoor venue in Florida. The show was not lit for video. The two close angles are XH-A1's, the wide shot is a one chip Sony that can be ignored. I am looking for feedback on the XH-A1 angles - any and all impressions/suggestions/criticism would be sincerely appreciated!

The Quicktime file embedded on this page is 93mb in size and will take some time to fully load in your browser:
http://www.liveween.com/

XH-A1 SETTINGS:
PANALOOK PRESET
Focus: Automatic
White Balance: Automatic ("Pre" Setting)
Shutter: 1/60
Automatic Gain Control: OFF
Gain: L
ND Filter: OFF
Peaking: OFF


Thanks in advance!

- Frank

concerts are generally pretty shit lighting so i'm very impressed. the white balance (for a preset) was pretty decent and though there's some compression on the video, i didn't really see much noise. was your low gain setting on 0db or -3db?
good job!

Thanks for the feedback, Brian! The White Balance preset used was the stock preset, and the Gain was set at 0db.


- Frank

Are you kidding me?!

That film rocks. I had to watch a couple of times. It's on the A list.
Scene 5 where you can see the drummer clearer than those in the foreground through the fog. The sweat sharp like diamonds on the face of the singer from the left angles. The lead guitar microphone sharp against the fog on the right angles. Is the camera capturing that strobe effect on the right angle shots, or is that added in? The background lights shining down from the right angle great effect, basically the clarity adds to the overall rock grind. The cigarette clear in the singers hand. Grips in the background pulling on their beards. Can almost read the bottle on the amp, not yahoo, not rockstar, something with a red lightning bolt on a yellow background. Basically from my view, there's so much clarity in the action and details from the right and left angles contrasted by the lights in the fog that it adds up to a great effect. I've seen a few live rock shows, this is really good.
Great camera that XHA1.

Now, what type of audio did you capture with?

I do this kind of thing a lot, and I have to say this is pretty impressive. As you say, there's not a huge amount you can do with the lighting as it's pretty well back lit. The strobe sequences - what did they look like on the wide shot? Your thrid camera blended in really well, I thought and as an establishing angle it works fine. It's not easy to do, but your two angles for the cameras were very similar. A bit of height variation could give you a few more options. I don't think you should tinker too uch with what you're doing - it obviously works. For gigs like this, a cheap extra option would be a cheap consumer cam attached with a knuckle to a mic stand, and put it up high, with a wide angle add-on above the drummer to cover to the front of the stage.

With your out front cam, plus the two stage side, you're there - there simply isn't a huge amount extra you could do. Moving them, or even one, would compromise what they already do.

I liked it.

what's the camera setting, 60i ?

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the kind words! We actually ran an XH wide that night (in addition to the Sony), and it makes a brief appearance towards the end of this edit. The vibration in that angle made it basically completely unusable, hence the Sony one-chip being relied upon. The strobing looks great on the wide angle.


- Frank

Hey Bill,

Thanks a ton for the feedback - glad you are digging it! The footage was shot in 60i, and changed to 24p in post. The strobing was not added in, what you see is as it happened. The XH is indeed an amazing piece of gear, especially when you consider the price. The audio is a Church Audio Cardoid source - check out Church Audio mics/gear on Ebay sometime.....they are handmade by one guy in Canada and are absolutely incredible for the money. Highly recommended.


- Frank

Hi Frank

Enjoyed the film. It worked out well.

Was the Sony an A1 by the way?

I don't understand why the Sony worked when the XH A1 didn't?

Thanks, Richard!

The Sony is an HDR-HC5.

Vibration was coming up through the floor, into the tripod and eventually into the XH. It seems to be much more susceptible to vibration than the smaller Sony is.


- Frank

Hey Frank,
What was your encoding here, it looks really good. I had to let it buffer awhile, but not too bad.
Bill