Recital - Solo dancer froze on stage

[Vince Pachiano]

Editing now - A dancer froze on stage for a good 16 seconds as she forgot her choreography. I shoot with 2 cameras, so I have both a wide shot and a close-up. I am considering two different edits:
#1 - Cut to the wide shot during the freeze. This acknowledges the incident.
#2 - Keep tight shot throughout, but totally remove the footage of the frozen dancer, and cross-dissolve as best as possible. It will lack some continuity, but removes the odd freezing.

[Andrew Smith]

Suggest asking the client if they would like to take advantage of the ability to negate the on-stage freeze by editing it out. This will help further sell the benefit of having two cameras filming a production, plus the extra bit of 'special' that comes to the table when you are the one who wins the work from them.

Use it to prove that their decision to hire you was the correct one.

Andrew

[Larrie Easterly]

That had to be tough on the dancer.

One thing to consider is how to handle the music track if you cut out 16 seconds. I can see cross dissolving the video. The audio makes it trickier to handle.

[Paul R Johnson]

Was the freeze at the very start, or pert way through? It could be better if it was at the start to just edit the audio to a point where a fade in works. In the past, the cure has been to use them walking on, then edit the pics together, then fix the audio - in the past I have even used a similar lighting state coming up on an empty stage as cover for what was really happening - BUT - this is a client decision, not one for you, because whatever you do will be viewed as wrong by others. Are you editing for everyone, or to save the dancer's blushes? May not be the same reason.

[Don Palomaki]

This suggestion is a bit late, but how about a pan of "attendees watching"; can keep the music continuous bur hide the freeze. Could even use pan of still images iperhaps.

[Andrew Smith]

That's a great suggestion!

Andrew

[Allan Black]

Is the dancer an early student in a concert or contest with other dancers. And is your video for all the families who watched, then everyone will certainly remember she froze - and for an embarrassing 16 secs. So just edit it out paying very close attention to any syncopation, rhythm and continuity of her music.

And when you’re playing it to get it approved, right at that point cough loudly. It’s one of my old tricks that might work one more time.

[Paul R Johnson]

I thought of this topic yesterday. Live streaming a Theatre show, in a theatre from Tudor times. Sound desk position was useless because of the balcony making the view of the stage wide and no height, so the front camera was in the circle, but the monitor speakers were only just visible on the stage edge. Fixed side camera on the side locked off with stage edge one side, and as far upstage the other. Another centre front looking up at a sharp angle. We thought we had covered everything until the two singers jumped off the stage and did one number in the audience and were doing a conga line. With house lights off, so in the dark. I unlocked the camera on the side, panned it to the audience. Went back to the switcher, added gain, opened the iris and still it was a mess. By this time, they were heading back to the stage, so I reframed, re-gained and put the iris back. The people watching the stream had no idea what was going on! I was equally stuck in the edit I settled on the poster of the show, with a simple text caption. “They are doing the conga in the dark!” The point is that live show videos are not just entertainment, they’re a record. You can show what really happened, or you can fix it. Both approaches will not please everyone, so whoever pays, calls the shots I guess.

[Andrew Smith]

I'm guessing they didn't even tell you there would be off-stage activity? Ugh - all bets are off if that is the case.

Mind you, for so many events I am flat out receiving a run sheet. I even had a very 'special' one recently where I turned up early, phoned the client to ask where specifically the room was that was being used, and they told me "oh, we forgot to let you know it had been moved to a venue in the city" (a short taxi ride away). Honestly.

Andrew

[Allan Black]

This article is now a couple of months old but still current here.

Hi Vince, if the dancer in question ‘forgot her routine for 16 secs’ then she wasn’t performing “freestyle" or "improvisational dance” she was dancing to set choreography, so I think maybe she’s a very young ballerina in a ballet school and this was a concert for the parents that you were videoing to make copies for.

Which means the ‘dancer’ in question was performing to ballet music, probably one of the famous compositions, and out of curiosity can you post its title thanks.

And have you finished the edit, what did you end up doing to solve the problem and what did the buyers think of your video. Thanks Vince.
Cheers.