Spare Room Concert Series 4 performance video.

[Bryan Quarrie]

(Ok folks. I’ve double posted this message elsewhere just in case, so sorry about the inconvenienced as this is the right area for this post).

So...This is the latest in the series 😀. The differences here are twofold:

1) I had some old actioncams lying about (2 x Sony AS100v), and so I had the idea of making this production using nothing but actioncams. So in the end, I used:

2 x Sony AS100v’s (front side shots)
2 x Sony X1000v’s (overhead and right side-on view shots)
1 x Sony X3000r (front shot)

2) This is a performance with songs flowing into each other non stop 😀.

Now, whether I had been successful is dependant on how the end result is perceived. One thing I’ve learned the hard way is that the X3000 when recording in UHD is not recommended for long takes - Mine overheated after 36 minutes 😮. Also the lowlight quality on the AS100’s is not great, so much so that even with Neat used it still looks a bit flakey, but I still have them because they are dependable for long takes 🙂. Neat was used on the other cameras too, but this was so that they looked consistent. (The X1000s still looked good given the lighting in this video, but still used Neat anyway).

Anyway, enough with the rambling. Hope you enjoy this 😀.

YouTube (Short URL)

[John Cline]

Nicely done!

[Bryan Quarrie]

Thanks John!

[Bryan Quarrie]

I've now migrated it to my Vimeo account. Enjoy.

Spare Room Concert Series 4 on Vimeo

[Paul R Johnson]

I’m not sure if these are well known pieces or not but I enjoyed them and your clearly a sect pianist so I thought about things you could do to move your projects forward. The tiny slip around 3 mins must have annoyed you so why fir the next one don’t you record the midi stream and then if you clip a note by accident you can edit it out and then seamlessly replace the audio with the v2 one. Sync wise it’s exactly the same but tweaked and nobody would know.

The trouble for me is that because of the lack of camera movement after a while you just listen to the music and stop watching. Perhaps you could have more camera positions but not use some of them in some sections? A new exciting position starting at the second one and another later?

Staging wise. Do you need the headphones? With the background black and your hair dark too they sometimes look very odd? The lights also give your face a kind of golden tone that kind of works but is either to mild for effect or not enough fir design. You also need some more light to lift you from the background.

I didn’t notice the camera problems you detailed. I’ll look forward to the next one.

[Bryan Quarrie]

Hi Paul, and thanks for your constructive feedback. Regarding the lack of camera movements it was intended to be subtle for this sort of video - At the same time due to the how small the room is, there’s no space for sliders or anything like that so I used whatever was available at the time.
When you say “exciting camera angle” do you mean hand-held with some movement? Please explain.

Also I could’ve played certain sections again, but once you get in a certain flow, it would be almost impossible to recreate the same emotion (from a musician’s standpoint). But if I were playing from a script, and the music was intentionally played to fit that script, I would make some corrections...

Yes the headphones :). Again, because of the small room I couldn’t use any form of amplification for the keyboard, so that’s why I wore them. I tend to play better wearing them as well. The size of the room is 15ft x 10 ft, with about half of the area available for movement space (the rest taken up with wardrobes, clutter etc).

Regarding the lighting, I’ll take that into consideration for next time (if I can lol :) ).

I’m surprised you didn’t notice about the camera issues I was referring to. This means that there’s still life in them for future use.

As they say, it is what it is :)

Thanks once again.

Btyan

[Paul R Johnson]

Bryan - I didn't explain well. No need to play the sections again. I work with a good classical pianist, obsessed with a perfect performance and we evolved a system of 'fixing' those little tricky or silly mistakes that doesn't involve playing anything again. You connect the midi cable to any sequencer or DAW with MIDI capability and you record the output. You don't even need to worry about tempo or anything - just use it as a recorder. When you've finished you can review the MIDI file, and using my friend as the example, you see loads of tiny MIDI events. notes that never even sounded, but the key twitched as he went for the one next door. So quiet you cannot hear them, but you can see them. You then delete them. You have your performance captured so you take out the Bb you accidentally brushed past, to the quiet B next to the C you meant to hit. Then you simply in the editor remove the piano, and replace the edited one. Two minutes and you have perfectionism and in the video people won't see it.

In the video, if you play keys at any level, you gravitate to the fingers, not your face, or the space but the finger stuff, so maybe some angles that capture those clever twiddly bits, that look 'clever' or just difficult. Things to make you pay attention. Most people who go to recitals because they love this kind of music close their eyes, or stare at the church stained glass, or even people watch. They're too far away to hone in on the techniques the player is using, and if they're not a pianist, they don't care. The performance and sound is the vital thing. Once you use the camera to bring the performance in close, you start to force viewers to look at something, and because of the environment, they can really look at two things - you or the keyboard. You're too busy to do anything bar play so it has to be the cameras. Maybe a few of the cheap Chinese GoPro type things because they're silly money and produce surprisingly good POV shots.

The viewers will split into two - the ones who listen only, and the ones who watch. You need to hang on to these.

I guess you want low key, low tech, recital feel with no trickery - so green screen and thoughtful backgrounds are out? Crazy as it seems, I imagined water, mountainsides, peace and quiet - reflective images.I can imagine you hating that idea, but I'm not so sold on the black background and black shirt, black trousers, and I also didn't;t like the side shot that Vimeo has as the thumbnail - revealing the cameras and the pink curtains. Do we need to see the room and the technology?

won't be offended if you hate all/some of these suggestions, but I'd encourage you to do the editing - lots of cut down versions of Cubase and others are available that will let you sort out those rare but understandable notes. My friend used to hear a mistake, and play the whole thing again, which of course would have another mistake, and then we'd do it over and over again. We stopped using his Yamaha C3 grand and used a sample library which oddly sounds better, but lets him edit. He gets a bit carried away if I don't stop him. For his recordings now, I do the pre-edit privately and just take out the little clipped notes and he never notices! I've watched again now I'm in at work and the video quality doesn't cause me any issues at all.

[Bryan Quarrie]

Hi Paul. Thanks for the clarification - It is much appreciated as I understand how busy you are at the moment.

You are right regarding recording the performance as MIDI, with the advantages that it brings. I’ll consider doing this in future.

The following statement I can definitely relate to:


”In the video, if you play keys at any level, you gravitate to the fingers, not your face, or the space but the finger stuff, so maybe some angles that capture those clever twiddly bits, that look 'clever' or just difficult. Things to make you pay attention. Most people who go to recitals because they love this kind of music close their eyes, or stare at the church stained glass, or even people watch. They're too far away to hone in on the techniques the player is using, and if they're not a pianist, they don't care. The performance and sound is the vital thing. Once you use the camera to bring the performance in close, you start to force viewers to look at something, and because of the environment, they can really look at two things - you or the keyboard. You're too busy to do anything bar play so it has to be the cameras. Maybe a few of the cheap Chinese GoPro type things because they're silly money and produce surprisingly good POV shots.”

I think it might also be a cultural thing with some branches of Christianity when it comes to certain music video recordings. Where I’m from, there are certain congregations who view any external embellishments as a distraction from the music, which is why the next statement...

“The viewers will split into two - the ones who listen only, and the ones who watch. You need to hang on to these.”

...resonated with me as I read your response. In my sect we are ultra conservative regarding what we see during a performance (or anything else for that matter - it’s a deep subject so I won’t go into it here). We don’t have stained glass windows or anything. Just a plain building. Suffice to say that most folks I talk to prefer to just listen. Hmm.

I did think about using green screens, but the black environment was just my preference.
(I’m digressing here, but I recently watched Kanye West’s Sunday Service videos. If you haven’t seen them yet, check them out if you can - there’s a few in which the stage design is somewhat unusual in that it has a large circular light hanging above that doesn’t change much and that’s it. Very unusual choice of stage lighting, anyway, back to the point).

(I’ll change the thumbnail).

Your suggestions are valid indeed sir. Regarding the visuals I may even using some appropriate b-roll and slowly fade beetween them and the main shots...
Oh yes - regarding the lighting - Three-point lighting would've worked, but the room was too small for the other lights :(

Thanks indeed. I'll take the suggestions on board.


Cheers

[Paul R Johnson]

I'm looking forward to some more!