This Tuesday I am filming a grade 8 graduation ceremony/ after party/ and private pool party. The ENTIRE graduating class consists of 23 students!! At their ages (13-14) I'm assuming that they may be a bit self-conscious in front of the camera and make for TERRIBLE footage.

I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something I can bring/get them to do that would "break the ice". At the same time I don't know what kids that age find "baby-ish". So I don't want to bring a pinata or something and have them decide I'm "lame". Which I most certainly am lame, but I'd rather it took a while for them to figure it out!!! lol!

Anyone have any experience with either graduations or pre-teens?
Thanks!

Turn the tally light off and supply a keg :>)

Are you taping the party or hosting the party? Terry's suggestion for turning off the tally light is a good one. The one about the keg is a bad one. :)

The best thing you can do is to be a "fly on the wall" and simply capture what happens. If you try to manufacture what happens then you certainly WILL end up with terrible, contrived footage.

If you have direct contact with the students it will seriously affect your relationship, and subsequently their reaction to the camera. If you avoid direct contact with them you'll have a much better chance of "disappearing" so as to be able to capture the proceedings in a candid fashion.

The 'keg' was a joke and I hope it was taken that way. Thats why I placed the face. HOWEVER teenage drinking IS NOT A JOKE. Parents that let their kids drink at home are doing a grave disservice to their kids, to society and to themselves. As a fireman I have seen too often the tragic results.

Thanks guys!

I will try turning the light off but I think I will skip the keg!! ;-)

I record the musicals for my local high school and I find the kids usually clam up a bit when I enter backstage. So I usually just become that fly-on-the-wall that was mentioned. But once I did something that really worked and got me great video. I gave my kid, who was in the musical, my cam and told her to get me some footage.

It was great. She interacted with the others and gots me lots of laughing and joking around. It was the best footage and sold the most DVDs.

So if it is possible, maybe you could use a consumer cam and let the kids take turns using the cam on each other. It doesn't have to be perfect video, that's what you take. But the candid stuff the kids get would be something they can relate to and also open them up.

At the same time it gives the kids a sense of ownership in the video and will probably increase sales.

You could set up a photo booth, replace it with an LCD and a video camera, and have it running, so the kids would enter the booth, do what they want, and exit, then you get the footage and they get privacy to ease the nerves.

What usually works for me is to flip the lcd screen and let them see them self
that usually brake the ice

I just filmed this and I don't recommend this job to anyone! The kids were great! Not at all shy...in fact one guy walked by my camera at least forty times, and everytime put the fake "telephone" to his ear and mouthed "call me" on film! And they are 13!!!

BUT...after the ceremony there was a dance. It was SUPER dark and LOUD!! I had to use a light the entire time, and it was too loud to capture much in the way of conversations. So I essentiall have 2 hrs of them dancing to YMCA and Celebration!

Then the pool party...outside in the PITCH dark! Plus the pool had underwater lights so everyone was backlit...UGH! That'll be fun to edit!

For the record..I did flip the LCD.

The Sony PD170s definately have the nack for low light situations...
When i do large dark areas, i stay far back, and use a 300Watt "on camera" light source.
For up close, and on the floor footage, i use a 30 watt "on camera" halogen light, and it's sufficient to 10 feet..
My camera's terrible in low light, so i need all the help i can get...


I wouldn't want to be in your shoes..
I hope your edit works out for you..

Good luck.

The Sony PD170s definately have the nack for low light situations...
When i do large dark areas, i stay far back, and use a 300Watt "on camera" light source.
For up close, and on the floor footage, i use a 30 watt "on camera" halogen light, and it's sufficient to 10 feet..
My camera's terrible in low light, so i need all the help i can get...

300 Watt on-camera light! Gulp!!! Are you trying to light their hair on fire?