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Help I am shooting a music concert with one camera.

Kosh

Kosh

My kid brother is throwing together a small music concert to promote his business. He wants this thing shot and has asked me to help. I only have one serious camera, a Canon GL2. I could use some advice and help on how to best pull this off. I'm thinking of going with a moving camera all over the place (on stage in the crowd and so on) and getting all kinds of shots and angles and hoping to get enough decent footage to cut something half decent. Is there a better way to do this?

I have a small Panasonic 3-CCD palmcorder, it's also SD and it's quality is nowhere near that of the GL2. Should I deploy it in the mix - I'm thinking maybe as a static camera somewhere to get some footage from a given angle. Is that a good idea?

Finally, sound. I was going to mount a shotgun mic on the GL2 for sound. Should I get sound from the mic, or find some way to hook up to a speaker? I like micing the camera for ease and safety reasons, but also I am in love with the purer sound that comes from the speakers.

I know I know, this is like a million questions, but I am in a crunch because if you know my kid bro then you know he doesn't quite plan these things out and leaves one with a small window to prepare. Thanks in advance for your assistance.
 
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Jim Jarmusch did an excellent Neil Young concert movie called "Year of The Horse" in Super 8, 16mm, and Hi-8 video, so mixing formats has been done and done well.

For sound, I don't think you should mount to the camera, especially if it will be moving. Ideally you should get a recording from the sound board and mix it with sound you get from a mic stationed a ways back from the speakers and sound you get off the camera.

Get a lot of crowd shots with one of your cameras...you can cut away to a crowd shot when there is nothing interesting to look at from your main camera (camera moving, lost in a crowd behind some guy, etc). Consider your crowd shots stock footage.
 
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Thanks Uranium City. I really appreciate the help. Can you describe the sound setup in a bit more detail? Do I need to talk with the DJ/MC about getting a recording from from the sound board? Do I need to get some type of recording gear? Also the mic station far away is it feeding a camera or some other device?

To map this out clearly, I am going for a mix from the board and one of my mics station a certain distance from the speakers and camera mics, right? Sorry for all the questions, but sound is my weakness. I love it and I am obsessed with perfect sound, I am just not there yet when it comes to producing it. I am working on it though.

Thanks again.
 
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Basically, the more options you have the better. Get as many sound sources as you can.

See if the DJ/board op can get you an audio recording from the board. That will be your audio master. Ideally, you would also have a second mic capturing the sound of the event. I don't know how big the hall is, but if it were a 100-200 seat hall, I would want a mic and recorder set up at the back of the room to capture the sound of the show as the audience hears it. If you don't have the ability to do this, I would attach your mic to your camera for secondary sound but use the master from the soundboard as your main sound.
 
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Ideally you should have a multi-track recording of the band - individual tracks for each vocalist and instrumentalist. This is usually not an option for most indie filmmakers, so the next best option is to take a feed off of the mixing console; you should arrange this in advance with the sound crew and do a test recording during the sound check (if there is one). WATCH THE LEVELS!!! They will always be louder during the show than during the sound check.

If you can manage it you should use mic pairs to get a stereo recording from the back of the venue, a stereo recording from the center of the venue and another stereo set close to the stage. If you can only have one stereo pair to record the room you will have to experiment with the positioning to find the "sweet" spot in the venue. No matter where you place them they should be as high above the audience as possible (unless you're in a colosseum or stadium:lol:) but not too close to the ceiling. Each mobile camera should have a mono dynamic (if it's loud) or a (well padded) condenser mic.

When it comes to "concert" audio recording more is better, it allows for more choices when you mix; I would assume that the same applies to visual footage as well.
 
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