Aaron Koolen
February 26th, 2003, 04:18 PM
Hi all.
I have a chance to video a series of seminars over the coming year (starting in about 3 weeks) at our local University for an organisation my wife is involved in so that they can both archive them and distribute copies on VHS to people who can't attend. This is a prime chance for me to get some experience and I’d like to do a good job. What I was wondering was, could any of you offer any suggestions or things that I need to watch out for and general advice for making this good?
Here is the situation (AFAIK)
=============================
The venues will be in small lecture theatres (About 150-200 people)
Not wired into any PA for me to jack into. Maybe the odd one will be but I'm not relying on it.
Don't know if the speakers are wanderers or if they stay put (they're all different speakers)
There will probably be a podium of some sort.
I don’t have an assistant, although at a stretch I might be able to get someone if it’s important.
I have bugger all equipment at the moment, an Xm2 with tripod, ME66 and xlr adapter but I'm willing to buy more gear to get a good result (I'll use the gear for many other things I have planned anyway)
I know I could get hold of 2 more consumer cams (some Panasonic thing and a Sony TRV120e) but don't know if it's worth it cause they don’t come close to my XM2 in image quality. I've heard a rumour that someone *might* have a “good” cam that's manually adjustable but again, not counting on that one.
What I've been thinking about/need help with
============================================
1) How do I make the visuals interesting? Would it be better for me to have 2 cams for intercutting, even if one is a crappy (relatively speaking) consumer one? With 1 cam, I could possibly move the camera during the seminar to a new location, but there is no intermission so I'd have to edit around that movement. Likewise if I zoomed in and out. What do you guys tend to do? Do the movement and be satisfied with the missing part you edit out, or stay put for the sake of getting it all in?
2) What do you find looks best for the main cam (most footage) on these sorts of shoots? 3/4 angle, almost face on, 3/4 full shot, medium close up or what? I'm currently thinking a 3/4 angle covering waist up and panning if they move.
3) I’m thinking that if I can get 2 cams (assume one crappier one) I have 2 choices.
- Do a master shot from the back with the crappier cam, leaving closer shots that I’ll use the most to the XM2.
- Do another angle at roughly the same distance as the first cam. So that cuts don’t move a long way, just change angle.
Should I even consider this if one of the cams is noticeably inferior picture wise (which will probably be the case)? NOTE: I’m willing to spend some time CC’ing etc to get them close if it’s possible.
3) Sound. I was thinking of running from a fixed, XLR wired, omni mic from the podium into the XLR/XM2 on one channel. Like I said I don't know if the speakers will move or not, but thought it’d be wise for at least a backup track. If it's a good idea, what's a good mic to get (That I can mount with a clip or something to a podium)? I was thinking that the ME66 would probably be too directional right?
4) I’ll have to have some sort of mobile sound setup on the speaker also. I'm not sure if I should do minidisc or if I should go wireless. Wireless seems to be over twice the cost of minidisc but with minidisc I can't monitor the sound and have to capture separately to the video and sync it. What do you guys suggest/use and can you see any problems with either?
Well thanks for reading all that. I can’t think of anything else immediately but I'm sure I'll ask if I want to know ;)
Cheers
Aaron
I have a chance to video a series of seminars over the coming year (starting in about 3 weeks) at our local University for an organisation my wife is involved in so that they can both archive them and distribute copies on VHS to people who can't attend. This is a prime chance for me to get some experience and I’d like to do a good job. What I was wondering was, could any of you offer any suggestions or things that I need to watch out for and general advice for making this good?
Here is the situation (AFAIK)
=============================
The venues will be in small lecture theatres (About 150-200 people)
Not wired into any PA for me to jack into. Maybe the odd one will be but I'm not relying on it.
Don't know if the speakers are wanderers or if they stay put (they're all different speakers)
There will probably be a podium of some sort.
I don’t have an assistant, although at a stretch I might be able to get someone if it’s important.
I have bugger all equipment at the moment, an Xm2 with tripod, ME66 and xlr adapter but I'm willing to buy more gear to get a good result (I'll use the gear for many other things I have planned anyway)
I know I could get hold of 2 more consumer cams (some Panasonic thing and a Sony TRV120e) but don't know if it's worth it cause they don’t come close to my XM2 in image quality. I've heard a rumour that someone *might* have a “good” cam that's manually adjustable but again, not counting on that one.
What I've been thinking about/need help with
============================================
1) How do I make the visuals interesting? Would it be better for me to have 2 cams for intercutting, even if one is a crappy (relatively speaking) consumer one? With 1 cam, I could possibly move the camera during the seminar to a new location, but there is no intermission so I'd have to edit around that movement. Likewise if I zoomed in and out. What do you guys tend to do? Do the movement and be satisfied with the missing part you edit out, or stay put for the sake of getting it all in?
2) What do you find looks best for the main cam (most footage) on these sorts of shoots? 3/4 angle, almost face on, 3/4 full shot, medium close up or what? I'm currently thinking a 3/4 angle covering waist up and panning if they move.
3) I’m thinking that if I can get 2 cams (assume one crappier one) I have 2 choices.
- Do a master shot from the back with the crappier cam, leaving closer shots that I’ll use the most to the XM2.
- Do another angle at roughly the same distance as the first cam. So that cuts don’t move a long way, just change angle.
Should I even consider this if one of the cams is noticeably inferior picture wise (which will probably be the case)? NOTE: I’m willing to spend some time CC’ing etc to get them close if it’s possible.
3) Sound. I was thinking of running from a fixed, XLR wired, omni mic from the podium into the XLR/XM2 on one channel. Like I said I don't know if the speakers will move or not, but thought it’d be wise for at least a backup track. If it's a good idea, what's a good mic to get (That I can mount with a clip or something to a podium)? I was thinking that the ME66 would probably be too directional right?
4) I’ll have to have some sort of mobile sound setup on the speaker also. I'm not sure if I should do minidisc or if I should go wireless. Wireless seems to be over twice the cost of minidisc but with minidisc I can't monitor the sound and have to capture separately to the video and sync it. What do you guys suggest/use and can you see any problems with either?
Well thanks for reading all that. I can’t think of anything else immediately but I'm sure I'll ask if I want to know ;)
Cheers
Aaron