Hey guys and gals. I've been doing a few weddings already but I've gotten a referral to do a 50th suprise bday. What is normally the structure of that type of event. I know its going to be alot of people, 150 guests. Please let me know your thoughts its coming up quick. This was a last minute thing.

Mike

i did a surprise wedding once.. good fun..

but this is reversed, this time ur guest has no clue.. sooo...

when filming guests, do what is normaly done.. things to keep an eye on are family (try to get afew words from them) and the oldies, coz these guys are teh ones who are important. The oldies simply coz theyre not going to be around forever. Best thing to do is hook onto a youngerish person and ask them who is who and whatnot.

During the shoot, keep an eye on the main guest and who he talks to. when that person is alone, go grab them for afew words.

Theres not much excitement with parties as its pretty much jsut a party, but considering teh persons age and the number of guests, im assuming this will be a little more entertaining.
Speaking of which , ask them if theyre having a floorshow or something.
Obviously there will be speeches so treat it as u woul dfora wedding speech.
At the end of teh night, grab the 50yr old bday boy and ask him afew questions abotu
What he though was going on
Was he expecting such a high number of friend
how does he feel now (if he isnt drunk)

that kinda thing, coz with stuff like this, keeping it real and natural will be far more important than how many effects you have and how fancy u can make it.
This is a character driven event. Some say that weddings are character driven but i disagree.. weddings have a structure, an environment/atmosphere u might say... the characters respond to this environment.
With Parties, its the characters which make the event itself... does that make sense?? Basically there is no environment/atmosphere unless the characters create it...

Peter thank you soo much! You're very helpful and I do agree. A party doesn't really have much structure like weddings. We have to just get a feel of what's going on because its more spontaneous and free form. I think i'll have a blast and will use some of your suggestions. Thank you again my friend.

Mike