Dance recital, how many unhappy parents

Scott Brooks · July 3rd, 2012, 05:16 PM

To answer the original question ... I've never received a complaint, but there's no doubt in my mind that there have been unhappy customers. After all ... can anyone ever get enough of their own kid?

Throw me into the mix as one that has tried split screen and PiP. Finally we settled on a straight, two camera shoot ... one always wide (wide meaning always keeping all dancers in the shot, but zooming in a bit tighter if the whole stage is not used) and the other tight with closeups. Even my choreographers seem to like the two camera method as it just makes for a nicer video.

In reality ... I think we shoot more for ourselves and most places would be very pleased with a single camera shot that was always well framed with great audio.

Jeff Dinges · July 3rd, 2012, 11:32 PM

A lot of times certain types of people with no artistic mind frame complain if you give them anything more than a static wide shot.

Bernard Lau · July 4th, 2012, 05:00 AM

Haven't had any unhappy parents either.
If they do, then they just didn't get what they expected.
But if you filmed any dance recitals wide enough to show their children and if you had a 2nd camera to have close ups of main dancers, then 99% of parents would be happy.

Noa Put · July 4th, 2012, 10:06 AM

Same here, one camera wide that shows the whole stage and once set I don't touch it anymore and a second camera to follow the action closer, if it's a small group I keep them nicely in frame and if it's a large group I might do slow pan movements. Here they also want to see the whole groups and the choreography in general so every parent can see their child, even if it's from a bigger distance. No complaints so far.

Kyle Root · July 6th, 2012, 09:03 PM

I've been doing these for about 10 years now. Early on, we would always have 4 or 5 who were not happy. The reason has always been, you got 10 seconds of Suzy, but only 3 seconds of my Allison kind of thing.

There was a time, when we were doing several studios between Alabama and Tennessee. The largest one had some 300 dancers (the spring recital lasts on average 3.5 - 4.0 hours). The other ones were all in the 150-200 range. There was one year where we did one Nashville that was a small start up with maybe 40 dancers, and on that one we did not have one complaint.

As the size of the studio goes up, the liklihood of upset parents increases quickly!

Back when we started we used 4 cameras... now we just use 1 camera that is mostly wide for all group activity, and close ups on soloists. Been doing it that way for 4 years now, and not had 1 complaint since.

Chris Harding · July 6th, 2012, 09:19 PM

Hi Kyle

Yep, wide is definately the safest route so each and every one gets the same exposure. My last I did with two cameras and we had no option but to film from about 100' back. One camera was wide and I put a huge amount of effort on camera two, to give each dancer the same amount of "air time" ..it's virtually impossible when you start getting the more active ones that also seem to have a "lead dancer" as the lead dancer is more than often in shot more than the rest of the group. I did have one young girl (maybe late teens/early 20's) who was in just about every act and mostly took the lead role so, of course, she got more exposure overall and that was mentioned, not by the parents, but by the dancing studio teacher.

Next time I'll still use two cameras but both will be framed exactly to the stage so no-one gets left out ot favoured!!

Chris

July 3rd, 2012, 05:16 PM	#16
Scott Brooks Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Charleston, IL Posts: 231	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents To answer the original question ... I've never received a complaint, but there's no doubt in my mind that there have been unhappy customers. After all ... can anyone ever get enough of their own kid? Throw me into the mix as one that has tried split screen and PiP. Finally we settled on a straight, two camera shoot ... one always wide (wide meaning always keeping all dancers in the shot, but zooming in a bit tighter if the whole stage is not used) and the other tight with closeups. Even my choreographers seem to like the two camera method as it just makes for a nicer video. In reality ... I think we shoot more for ourselves and most places would be very pleased with a single camera shot that was always well framed with great audio.

July 3rd, 2012, 11:32 PM	#17
Jeff Dinges Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 50	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents A lot of times certain types of people with no artistic mind frame complain if you give them anything more than a static wide shot.

July 4th, 2012, 05:00 AM	#18
Bernard Lau Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 56	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents Haven't had any unhappy parents either. If they do, then they just didn't get what they expected. But if you filmed any dance recitals wide enough to show their children and if you had a 2nd camera to have close ups of main dancers, then 99% of parents would be happy. __________________ Facebook & Twitter me with "bernardlaufilms" www.bernardlau.com.au \| www.weddingvideosydney.org.au

July 4th, 2012, 10:06 AM	#19
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents Same here, one camera wide that shows the whole stage and once set I don't touch it anymore and a second camera to follow the action closer, if it's a small group I keep them nicely in frame and if it's a large group I might do slow pan movements. Here they also want to see the whole groups and the choreography in general so every parent can see their child, even if it's from a bigger distance. No complaints so far.

July 6th, 2012, 09:03 PM	#20
Kyle Root Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Decatur, AL Posts: 881	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents I've been doing these for about 10 years now. Early on, we would always have 4 or 5 who were not happy. The reason has always been, you got 10 seconds of Suzy, but only 3 seconds of my Allison kind of thing. There was a time, when we were doing several studios between Alabama and Tennessee. The largest one had some 300 dancers (the spring recital lasts on average 3.5 - 4.0 hours). The other ones were all in the 150-200 range. There was one year where we did one Nashville that was a small start up with maybe 40 dancers, and on that one we did not have one complaint. As the size of the studio goes up, the liklihood of upset parents increases quickly! Back when we started we used 4 cameras... now we just use 1 camera that is mostly wide for all group activity, and close ups on soloists. Been doing it that way for 4 years now, and not had 1 complaint since. __________________ Kyle KR Productions; www.kyleroot.com

July 6th, 2012, 09:19 PM	#21
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Dance recital, how many unhappy parents Hi Kyle Yep, wide is definately the safest route so each and every one gets the same exposure. My last I did with two cameras and we had no option but to film from about 100' back. One camera was wide and I put a huge amount of effort on camera two, to give each dancer the same amount of "air time" ..it's virtually impossible when you start getting the more active ones that also seem to have a "lead dancer" as the lead dancer is more than often in shot more than the rest of the group. I did have one young girl (maybe late teens/early 20's) who was in just about every act and mostly took the lead role so, of course, she got more exposure overall and that was mentioned, not by the parents, but by the dancing studio teacher. Next time I'll still use two cameras but both will be framed exactly to the stage so no-one gets left out ot favoured!! Chris