Tripod Shake at Rock Concert?

[Michael Clark]

I will be filming a rock concert tonight in a small venue. I'm filming for personal use, not professionally for this one. My plan is to have two cameras on tripods, sitting on top of a table, so I can get a view just over the crowd. My question is about possible camera shake due to the noise. Do you think there would be much shake at a concert that would cause the image to shake each time the bass drum is hit? If so, is there a way to soften it? Thanks for any advice.

[Marty Welk]

are the tables going to be on concrete?
the first thing that comes to mind after reading your post is the tables themselves arent stable :-) even really good ones need that cross braceing stuff.
i would be running off to Home depot to make a assembelable stand out of 2x4 and 3/4 ply with cross braces, and even when we did that they werent totally stable.

Pressboard tables can up and pop and collapse with thier steel frames bending trying to hold them together, the costs of that could be pretty bad, i assume no tables today are made of OAK :-) if you said Band Risers , then they would hold and on concrete pads sound shouldnt be to big of a problem for the stabalisation of the video.
also what is your Distance from the band itself, and/or speakers? the firther back your stuffed in the venue and then if they stuff you on top of the back speakers, well that would be bad.

[Andy Tejral]

I think a bigger concern would be motion from the crowd. Everybody jumping up and down at the same time can take its toll on a building. A large concrete structure would be much less of a problem; a wood structure on the second floor much more.

Way back in the day, 1983<?>, I saw The Police at Shay Stadium. I was on the field and during one song, (Roxanne, I think), the ground was actually moving up and down. Scary.

And unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about this kind of vibration. People have tried telescope anti-vibration pads--I haven't heard back from anyone about success or failure.

[Martin Mayer]

I always use SteadyShot, even if I'm on tripods, with cameras in very loud environments. You'll never be able to get a solid-enough floor/table/support (unless it's all directly on concrete).

[Paul R Johnson]

In the UK, we've got amazingly tough Health & Safety rules that venues have to follow - so we'd not be allowed to use a table - only a proper riser/rostra/work platform. Staging like Steeldeck is fine for cameras, even with very long lenses, on concrete floors. The trouble with make-do supports is that they flex - and this, makes stability iffy. Steeldeck or similar is very heavy, and solid floors won't cause issues. My experience is that flimsy supports are more affected by the cameraman's feet and movement, than rock music.

[Giroud Francois]

this kind of room usually have a lot of things in the ceiling so you could manage to hang you camera from the ceiling with a simple rope instead trying to fix it on a not so steady floor.
we very often forget that ceiling and walls are better surface , but industry always has ben based on "feet on the floor" mind.
for example, you can find bars that go into door/window frame.
and suspending a camera, while not so easy as a tripod, can give you a camera with nice mobility, while removing the weight of it.

[Colin McDonald]

I'll second what Paul said.

I've used a DIY camera platform made from 2 heavy duty school issue 1000 x 500mm tables with a substantial steel frame and securely taped together (not at a public performance though). The platform flexed under my not-quite-12-stones and I had to stay absolutely still or the image shoogled. This was on a concrete floor as well. Even proper portable drama staging flexes to some extent and I've often played on orchestral risers that flex a bit.

The only occasion I've encountered acoustically induced image vibration was with bass trombone pedal notes, but I'm an old f**t and generally try and avoid rock concerts because I've been at some that made my brain rattle and made me deaf for a week.