How do I film for 10+ continuous hours?

M

maherahmed2012

Hello,

I am going to be filming a reality show in the near future, which will consist of 7 people living in a house together, somewhat like The Real World. I know what cameras and equipment i'll be needing for this project, but my one concern and question is-

How will I be able to shoot throughout the day without stopping filming to change camera batteries and memory cards? I know big cable networks are able to do this with their cameras, since it's a must to have the cameras rolling at all times in order to not miss any footage.

Thank you all for your help!
 
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indietalk said:
Well you could 2 cameras per angle.
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I'm already planning on renting out 4-5 cameras.

That means i'll have to rent out 8-10 cameras if I do it that way.

I know there's a way that I can film for a long period of time, and I don't think that having 2 cameras per angle would be the best option.

I appreciate your help nonetheless. :)
 
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Right, and you have multiple cameramen. Or are you saying these are all fixed angles, and you don't have a camerman?
 
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I will have camera men. I just think that this process would be very tedious and could mess up filming at times. There's not a guarantee that two camera men will be in the same room at all times.
 
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Most reality shows do stop to change tapes/cards & batteries. They also have Producers generally who tell them what to shoot, and often create drama. The exception is a show like Big Brother.

Will the cameras be fixed or roving? There are many variable which will affect what is or isn't possible. For example, a camera that doesn't do much moving can be powered from mains power, or via a combination of block-type batteries and on-boards that are constantly being recharged to ensure no power downtime. Depending on what camera you're using, this may cause extra heat, however most broadcast cameras are designed to stay powered on for a long while.

Cards/tapes will need to be changed, unless you use an external recorder solution, or some sort of 'live' setup as they use for events, awards ceremonies and sport.

Realistically, just having cameras roll for 10 hours straight is unnecessary, as there isn't that much that happens, and creates so much extra work for everyone simply on the off chance that something might happen maybe, I guess...

You're better off finding a schedule of power cycling that works between the cam ops and soundies so that there's never a time when sound and/or camera are all off at the same time (unless you can organise it that way and stop down Production for battery & tape changes - as most reality shows do), and simply point them in the direction of the action when something starts to happen.

It takes a matter of seconds to press record. And a bit of nous will allow you to anticipate drama when it happens. And if you have Producers trying to create drama, then your camera guys should know when the best time to roll is.
 
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WalterB said:
2 slots for memory cards that are hotswapable plus using the DC in.
Voila: nonstop untill you are out of memorycards.
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I did this on a production in the early days of P2 cards. You'd only get like 12 minutes of record time per card, and each card took about 10 minutes to copy.

It was... stressful haha.

With FS5s, FS7s or F5s shooting XAVC, you could record for a long while on each card, and they copy relatively quickly. You'd probably still have to re-button on though when you filled up Card 1. You might miss three seconds of action...

I think from memory, the old P2 cameras automatically switched over to card 2 if a take/shot was still recording when card 1 ran out of space. I can't say I've ever tried it on newer cameras, but it might do it.
 
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jax_rox said:
I did this on a production in the early days of P2 cards. You'd only get like 12 minutes of record time per card, and each card took about 10 minutes to copy.

It was... stressful haha.

With FS5s, FS7s or F5s shooting XAVC, you could record for a long while on each card, and they copy relatively quickly. You'd probably still have to re-button on though when you filled up Card 1. You might miss three seconds of action...

I think from memory, the old P2 cameras automatically switched over to card 2 if a take/shot was still recording when card 1 ran out of space. I can't say I've ever tried it on newer cameras, but it might do it.
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Used this method on a EU summit in Brussels years ago with an EX1R and multiple SxS cards.
No second was lost as the slots would automaticly switch seemlessly.
I brought enough cards for over 8 hours of non-stop recording.

I have no reason to believe why this method would not work anymore :)
 
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Another method requires a bit of coordination. Start shooting with one camera and about a minute or two start shooting with the other camera. Use the delay as your time to swap things out. If you're always plugged in you don't have to worry about swapping batts just swapping cards.
 
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shortboy said:
Another method requires a bit of coordination. Start shooting with one camera and about a minute or two start shooting with the other camera. Use the delay as your time to swap things out. If you're always plugged in you don't have to worry about swapping batts just swapping cards.
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean by always plugged in? Do you mean as long as there are extra batteries being charged while filming?
 
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