ug, title sounds like something "My Little Pony" would do..

Anyway, covered a gaming lan last weekend and it was the first real test of my camera, and all the equipment I had. Needless to say this also included me.

There were aspects about which I was quite happy. The camera (Sony v1) handled it wonderfully, and proved to be very good in the limited lighting that was available, as you will see from the pictures.

I did not have a camera mounted light, but even if I did there would have been an issue with that. The Pro-gamers can be a touchy bunch and would find a bright light shining in their eyes distracting. And when you are playing for money, that can become a big deal

There was a wonderfully atmospheric VIP room, that was full of striking colours. We shot in that area and I was struggling to find light in the area in order to bring the talents face to the forefront. If anything it was an excercise in futility.

I have uploaded pictures for now (yes, I know Im fat :P). I will follow with some footage of the event tonight.

Please be kind as this was my first outing with all the kit.

Lessons learned:

1. LAN was too big for just 3 people to do. Needed more than 1 camera, and multiple teams
2. Ideally need a producer for the event to liase with staff over timing
3. Need 2-3 broadcasters to cover events/interviews etc
4. Need backgrounds in order to break up dull backgrounds
5. Sound in a large room tends to carry, so you will hear background noise during interviews.
6. Light, light and more light.

The event was a test-bed for both the coverage and the event organisers.

Pictures below:

Me with cam setup for interview : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0002.jpg

Interview Booth Setup : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0005.jpg

Handheld camera : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0010.jpg

Me and Sound Man : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0022.jpg

VIP area lighting : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0028.jpg

Gamers in action : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0034.jpg

Audio Broadcasting Setup : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0037.jpg

Example of the moody lighting at event : http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r201/Combatmuffin/DSCF0045.jpg

Video will be forthcoming tonight

I learnt so much doing this event that there is not enough space on this forum to go through them all :) My brain was buzzing at 90mph the entire time. One problem was that setup time was limited due to time constraints. Hence why some footage is not as good as I would have liked.

PS, Anyone who says "Wow, you look like Chris Moyles", will be mercilessly mocked by me :)

I can't wait to see the video.

What is the shoulder support you are using. It looks very simple, like something I would like to try...

Well here is the video. Please bear in mind that some of this is raw, unedited footage.

Challenging Lighting Part 1 : http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=kx4pb82yvvd
Comment : As you can see the lighting is very harsh, and uncontrollable. I couldnt plug in any of my lights as it would have blown out the PCs on that spur :(

Challenging Lighting Part 2 : http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=3tdn63c1x9c
Comment: This is the same room, but low angle. To say there is little light in that room as an understatement

CU Interview Lighting : http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=dxcxm9x5p1b
Comment: Close up on the interview, as a form of a cut away question or 2. Lighting use is as per setup picture above. Soft lighting as the background was close to the sofa. Wasnt allowed to move them around.

Exercise in Futility : http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=4q2wpxddbqd
Comment: As you can see the light in the VIP area was tough. Couldnt move the lights in there in order to brighten things up, so had to work with what was there. Tried a reflector with a 2mill candle power torch, but it was still ineffective in creating adequate lighting

Edited Interview : http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=ohjkkwwfs5b
Edited together, with basic motion graphics as proxies, and some of the gamer footage. As you can see the gamer footage is quite dark as is the area I was shooting. And ive noticed some sound/editing glitches as a result of reviewing this. I will correct :)

The Shoulder support in use is : http://www.spiderbrace.com/
Simple but effective.

Errors/Issues I am aware of:
Framing - some with too much headroom
background noise on interview
Interview Lighting seems flat. Most lightly due to soft lighting used. Due to limitations of location and only having 4 lights :)

With you guys being the pro's and experts, Id appreciate your thoughts/comments, ideas for improvement. If you want any more information, let me know

lol that bad eh? :)

Dont worry, it will improve with time!

Niall, I invested a half hour in trying to download the videos last night and couldn't get one to complete. Clicking on the wrong place in that spam-laden site brings up a bunch of popups, and even once the download started, it quoted me an hour to download 50mb.

Try uploading to YouTube or Vimeo, I'd love to see your footage.

I just spent ten minutes trying to see a video, it keeps giving me various errors. I agree, youtube or vimeo or something that works better

Oh blimey

My apologies on that, gents.

I didnt want to upload it to a streaming site, as it was a Work in Progress rather than a finished version.

Will try on vimeo and youtube and then re-link.

Sorry :(

Challenging Lighting 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEBIKWJ470g

Challenging Lighting 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnC3Z1_mGYo

CU Interview Lighting : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1u8TC5Mo_U

Exercise in Futility : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1oHfLpiygk

Edited Interview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOAK487ecUo

Comments welcome :)

Your videos are marked private. Only people on your list can view it. If you are inviting critique, make it easier for dvinfo subscribers to view them

Hello Daniel

I didnt mean to have the vids availble for too long as they are rough stuff.

So I left them open for a while, but no comments were made. Hence why I made them private this morning..what ironic timing :)

Have changed it back!

I tell you what. I'm digging your "at the gym" video right now...

I tell you what. I'm digging your "at the gym" video right now...

Cool. Shot that in about 3hours at the gym on the thursday, and edited it all together over 2-4hours on the sunday

Mostly it was a chance to test the slow-mo feature, which was good except for the quality