Seminar Shooting - Need Advice

[Jarred Gastreich]

As my very first gig, with my new XH-A1, I will be videotaping a friend's seminar.

My big question is how I should go about getting the audio. I have not yet purchased any audio equipment, but I'm eyeballing either a AT897 Shotgun Mic ( Audio-Technica | AT897 - Shotgun Microphone Kit | B&H Photo Video ) or a Sennheiser G2 series Lav kit ( Sennheiser | Evolution G2 100 Series Basic Kit | B&H Photo Video ).

I believe I will be about 20-40 ft away from the talent. Could I setup a mic close to one of the speakers and get exceptional sound? Will I be fine having the AT897 mounted on my camera? or Will it come down to having to place a lav on the talent?

Also, since this is my first time shooting a stage performance - Which angle is more video friendly? Left, Right, Center? Assuming there are no obstacles in the way...

Any other tips/tricks I should know? Other suggested mics to purchase? Keep in mind that I am one-manning this and that the shoot date is coming up in a matter of weeks. I will post more details as soon as I get them.

I've been a reader for quite some time and I must say that these are some mighty nice boards.

Thanks in advance!

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

My big question is how I should go about getting the audio. I have not yet purchased any audio equipment, but I'm eyeballing either a AT897 Shotgun Mic ( Audio-Technica | AT897 - Shotgun Microphone Kit | B&H Photo Video ) or a Sennheiser G2 series Lav kit ( Sennheiser | Evolution G2 100 Series Basic Kit | B&H Photo Video ).

You want the mic as close to the subject as possible. For this situation, the lav will work better.

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

I believe I will be about 20-40 ft away from the talent. Could I setup a mic close to one of the speakers and get exceptional sound?

No.

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

Will I be fine having the AT897 mounted on my camera?

Nope.

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

or Will it come down to having to place a lav on the talent?

You betcha.

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

Which angle is more video friendly? Left, Right, Center? Assuming there are no obstacles in the way...

Eyeball 'em all. I'd start with something a little off center. If you get too wide the presenter will never look like he/she's presenting to the camera.

Originally Posted by Jarred Gastreich

Keep in mind that I am one-manning this and that the shoot date is coming up in a matter of weeks.

That will make running a wireless setup a bit more difficult, but not impossible. In this situation if your presenter is going to move around the stage or his presentation area a lot a wired lav mic will not work.

[Don Bloom]

Is there going to be a sound board and is the speaker going to be mic'd by a sound person? If so, pull a feed from the board and go from there.
As for where to shoot from generally slightly off center is the best for a 1 camera shoot. I've been doing seminars of up to 3 or 4 thousand people with up to 5/6 cameras and found that the 1 camera slightly off center is still the number 1 tally.
Many of the seminars I do have a speaker who rabbits around the stage, I go slightly wide and that way I don't have to firehose the camera as much-it makes people sick to the stomach watching it. It's especially bad when you're IMAG ;-(

Anyway, find out if the speaker will be mic'd thru a board, if not, well I'd seriously consider renting or buying some decent audio gear, a shotgun (or any on camera mic) ain't gonna get it done.
Don