Hey Guys

A wedding band approached me to see if i can film them performing not live but in a reception.

How would you go about this i have access to 4 cameras so i was thinking cam1 will be directly infront nice wide shot of the group, Cam2 beside cam1 on tripod getting close ups on band members., cam3 to the side and cam 4 the other side and main camera to have direct feed from the mixer

Anyone have any other thoughts

Rob

Sounds great, I'd make sure to have a camera next to, or behind the band filming the audience. If the mixer cam is in that position you'd be good to go.

If you have a tall tripod, the cam getting the wideshot of the band would be great if it was up 9 feet or so. During receptions I always run a cam from up high and it makes for some really exciting footage.

Rob,
Sounds like you have some pretty good resources and plan for camera positions. Here's some ideas born from past experiences for alternatives. Since you have basically only one take at this (while they are performing, right), recommend you put camera two on a shoulder mount (or move it around during the songs to highlight the musicians/instruments during solos and general play) for different angles than the same position as camera one (make sure your close-ups include action on the particular instruments as they are being played too...but I'm sure you know that). On one shoot we did (4 cams), we put a cam on top of a 9ft tripod pointed down on the band from a back corner behind the band that gave an interesting angle with some crowd included for cut-aways. If you have a balcony, that would be a good location for a camera also. Try to figure out a general idea/plan for the edit so you can get the shots you'll need. We've found that switching shots frequently in the edit to keep it interesting is a good idea but it depends upon what you want to deliver...i.e. more of a "documentary" or a "music video" format.

By the way, my experiences with house audio are liimited and have been "challenged" in the past. We've resorted to using external mikes into a digital audio recording device (4 channel) in addition to a house feed and shotguns on the cameras for back-up. Call me paranoid but I can never have enough audio capture backup ;-).

Hope this helps get the creative juices flowing. Have fun with it.

Randy

Jeff,
You beat me to it...:-). Had some of the same ideas.
Randy

Well, you know what they say about great minds and all that!