Hi everyone, I’ve been reading posts on this board on regular basis. But this is my first post in quite some time. I have read everything here that there’s to know about filming events, and I have done some indoor live concert filming. So, I have a project coming up: to film a concert outdoors at 3pm in the afternoon. I am seeking any advice that I can get since I never done an outdoor concert filming. I did the location scouting and have a picture attached to show what I am dealing with.

The concert will take place between 2:30-4:30pm. The picture I took was around 2pm. So thats the lighting I have to work with. Although this is a far shot, the stage does look very dark. I am not sure if they will have any lights… but if they do they will most likely be diffused by the bright sunlight.

Any tips in terms what I need to find out from the promoter and concert production crew so that I could prepare myself or acquire any gear? I will be using XL1s, XL1 and GL1. I plan on patching audio into my XLR inputs on XL1s from the sound board. Hopefully the sound guys know what they are doing. Or maybe a shotgun mic for this event would work? Anyways, any type of feedback would be appreciated.

See if they by chance have had a concert or concerts at this place in the past and look at their video. It would be great if all the pieces were the same as this, but you'll atleast get a feel of what it's like. Out door accousitcs can be tricky. I would try and do a line feed recording along with any on camera audio you have. Then you can always dub over if things get really sucky.

Make sure you know who's speaking when and if they will be using a mic.

I would talk over with your people about how close you can get to the action. Since the light outside is going to compete with he inside light, you might have to get closer than you think.

Off my head, these are some thoughts. It would be cool if you could do a time lapse of the people arriving, like you see on the Guns N Roses Paradise City video.


p.s. watch out for the mosh pits.

See if they by chance have had a concert or concerts at this place in the past and look at their video. It would be great if all the pieces were the same as this, but you'll atleast get a feel of what it's like. Out door accousitcs can be tricky. I would try and do a line feed recording along with any on camera audio you have. Then you can always dub over if things get really sucky.

No video reference for me.


I would talk over with your people about how close you can get to the action. Since the light outside is going to compete with he inside light, you might have to get closer than you think.

I have all kinds of freedom to move and do whatever i want.

Off my head, these are some thoughts. It would be cool if you could do a time lapse of the people arriving, like you see on the Guns N Roses Paradise City video.

Excellent suggestion

You should be able to sync the xl1 s in the freerun mode with a remote. That should make some of your life easier. The gl1 I don't think so.

Ofcourse for a concert you have to get the best sound possible. That is far above imagery. That can only be done with the help of the sound people. I would be talking to them now so you can get and excellent recording of the event with possible live feeds to atleast one of your cameras. If you use the xl1s for the performers and the gl1 for lthe crowd mostly you won't have color matching problems as long as you set both those cameras the same. Then if you use the gl1 for the crowd you won't notice the difference as much because it will be a scene change.

Hopefully the sound people will also make a recording of the event which will likely be of higher quality than you can produce with your cameras.

If the performers are in direct sunlight you will want to set a scene file on your cameras accordingly as excessive contrast could be your largest problem. If they are in the shade you shouldn't have any issues except to warm them up in post.

Best,

Mike