Introducing myself

[Ken Tanaka]

Welcome to DVInfo! It sounds like your camp certainly has the basic equipment to tell good stories with. I'm sure you'll find much helpful advice around here. We're frequented by a broad cross-section of folks ranging from folks just starting out to seasoned (sometimes over-seasoned ;-> ) broadcast and film pros.

I'm sure we'd love to hear about your experiences on your spring break shoot.

[Bill Markel]

Welcome Dennis,

It sounds as if you have an awesome opportunity awaiting. Absorb everything you can, but most of all, have fun.

Bill

[Vic Owen]

After reading the many great bios here, I thought it was about time to throw my own meager contribution into the pot.

Compared to many of you, I'm a relative newcomer to the video production business. My "real" job is with the FAA at Sea-Tac Airport near Seattle. I manage the facility that's responsible for the Air Traffic Control radar, communication & automation systems. This is the job that allows me to buy the neat electronic toys, eat regularly, and keep my son in an expensive performing arts college in Boston.

What originally started out as a hobby shooting theater performances of my kids has evolved into a fairly active part-time business. I shoot primarily community theater around the Seattle area, but I've also done a little work for United Airlines, some aviation work, and for some of the local schools.

After starting out with Sony Hi8 and D-8 cameras, I presently use an XL-1 (a love-hate relationship), and edit on a DP G4 with FCP. FCP 3.0 is uncharted waters for me -- until just recently, I was using EditDV/Cinestream on a G3.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to chat with amazing talent that regularly contributes to these forums, and I've learned much from the interactions. Hopefully, I've been able to contribute a little. Thanks to Chris' efforts, these are, by far, among the most user-friendly and informative boards on the net. Thanks, Chris!

Thanks for reading. See you down the list.....

[Rob Lohman]

It is a bit late to welcome you aboard, since you have posted
numerous posts already, but welcome anyways! You seem to
be in an interesting line of work where interesting things can
happen in front of a lens!

Thank you for introducing yourself!

[Ozzie Alfonso]

Vic,

Like Rob, there's no need for an introduction since we've been communicating for a while.

I find your description of the XL-1 as a "love-hate" relationship very apt. I (my company) own a plain 1 and a 1s. Although my relationship with the XL-1s is slightly more on the "love" side, I can't help but feel a tinge of disappointment that such a ingeniously designed camera falls short of the mark so often. I remain confident that the next major update, the XL-2 (?) will incorporate many of the features already found on the Sony PD-150 (i.e. SMPTE time code, hires b&w full scan EVF, and REAL built in XLR connectors and not the workaround found on the MA-100 and 200.) The strongest design concept in the XL line is its modular approach. I hope Canon makes good on that and can build in some retrofitting, at least into the XL-1s, if it hasn't already.

I know most of the items on my personal wish list are of little use for a lot of users, but thereby lies the problem - who's the XL-1 designed for? Canon might have originally targeted the XL line for the high-end consumer market but as the camera is adopted by more professionals for heavy-duty work, Canon will have to refine and re-define its market. After all, of all the competing cameras - SONY, Panasonic, JVC - Canon is the only company without a professional line of video cameras. The company's forte is in its optics and still cameras. Lacking all that potential internal competition, Canon is perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between the prosumer and professional markets.

Wow, quite a harangue. Can't I just say "pleased to meet you" in fewer words? And I still didn't get to talk about FCP. Another time.

Well, considering that I am new to the site, I suppose I can welcome you (in a backwards working sort of way). So, welcome!

Perhaps you can answer a few questions I have.

I am currently trying to work out the best way to film some semi-theatrical skits. They are not mic'd and the stage is in a room with horrible accoustics. How would you suggest that I get the audio to sound decent? Second question and pardon my ignorance, but how would you go about getting shots from multiple angles without missing essential dialogue (with one camera).

Thanks for humoring me,

Dennis

[Vic Owen]

<<<-- Originally posted by YL_wdlf_guy :

I am currently trying to work out the best way to film some semi-theatrical skits. They are not mic'd and the stage is in a room with horrible accoustics. How would you suggest that I get the audio to sound decent? Second question and pardon my ignorance, but how would you go about getting shots from multiple angles without missing essential dialogue (with one camera).

Thanks for humoring me,

Dennis -->>>

The answer to the first question is to experiment. I've shot productions in everything from 500+ seat theaters to elementary school cafeterias. They all have their own challenges. In all cases, I use a Mackie mixer. The mics depend on the situation. Sometimes, Peavy super-cardioids or Senn shotguns on stands work OK. Many times, I've successfully used PZR (floor) mics. I've also used suspended mics or used mics mounted on a catwalk. You just have to tailor your setup to the situation. In most cases, unless you are within 10 feet or so, the audio will suffer significantly -- shotguns provide little help at much of a distance. On some occasions, a feed from the house board works (You need coordination well in advance for this one.) Everything is a trade-off, and each situation is a little different.

As far as different angles, I shoot mostly from the sticks. Sometimes I'll use B-roll stuff from another performance, but matching the audio/video can be difficult. Overall, you're better off to stay with one camera unless you have a crew.

Good luck.

Hi Vic,

I'm jealous on a couple of counts. First, it sounds like you have a pretty good business going that combines two of my favorite things - video production and the theatre (I was a theatre major in college in a previous lifetime). And, second, you're doing it in Seattle - one of my favorite places.

I've had a chance to shoot a couple of theatrical productions and I think it is one of the most challenging and rewarding shoots you could ever hope for. I try not to show the first one I did to many people because I made so many mistakes but the second one came out much better.

Hope to hear more about your work.

Mark Smithhisler

[Vic Owen]

Outside of New York, Seattle has to be one of the best areas for this venue. There is an amazing amount of good theatre here.

Live theatre, I've found, is incredibly challenging to shoot--the contrast range is overwhelming. You can also forget about white balance. As soon as all the different floods and spots come on with the various gels, that all goes out the window. Most actors are not well behaved as far as audio, either, so you're as busy as a cat on a tin roof on roller skates trying to keep up with them! Using manual focus & aperture, pans, zooms and the mixer controls, it becomes akin to playing an instrument (in the dark).

Lots of fun, though. I do a quite a bit of youth theatre, and it brings a lot of satisfaction hearing the comments from the parents that have previously only seen the stuff "that Dad took".

I still screw-up some, but I've also learned a lot. I usually shoot two performances so I can fix the problems in post.

It's not like the big houses that do the multiple camera shoots with a big crew, but it pays for the gear and keeps me off the streets!

[Peter Koller]

Vic,
just putting in my 2cents:

I taped the cabaret show of my company last year with a single camera and almost NO camera-operator, as I was operating the lighting for the show, too.

The Audio solution:

As all performers used microphones, I just plugged the camera in the mixers master ouput and did not have to worry about audio any more. Oh, yeah if you want to record audience reaction, our audio-guy pointed two mics from the stage toward the audience, so we had laughers and appause, too.

The filming solution:

We had three shows, the first night I just positioned the camera way back and left it there so I had a wide shot of the stage. Second night I zoomed in a little (actors from the waist up or so) and had a friend keep the actors in frame whenever possible. Third night I had my friend shoot close-ups. All of it was shot from the same angle about 20meters from the stage, because I wanted to stay close to the audio mixer and avoid a long audio cable. I don´t have a Beachtek, that´s why.

I had the camera on manual focus all the time and set to spotlight. The contrasts onstage were way to big for the camera, so spotlight was the easiest way to go, as I couldn´t operate it myself.

This whole things only works if there a repeated shows, otherwise you would have to do it just like you said, Vic.

The editing:

As it was a cabaret/comedy show it consisted of various sketches each only lasting a few minutes and some parodies of popular songs, which were mostly playback and more or less choreographed.

The easiest were the songs: I just put the 3 camera-setups on videotracks A, B, C synced them by ear and had an easy edit.

The speaking parts were not so easy, because there were differences in the performance at each night: They improvised lines, ignored the markings on the floor, switched positions and so on. Sometimes I could edit it together but for a few sketches I had to stick with the wide or medium shot.

What came out in the end was quite okay and compared to the cabaret shows they occasionally air at our national TV channel it was not bad at all. People know it is a live-performance on a stage, so they will be very forgiving if the white-balance is off or there are no spectacular dollies or so.

Hope this helps a little.

Cheers,

[John Locke]

The April Issue of "Videomaker" magazine has an article entitled "Sound Advice: Auditorium Audio." Page 95.

[Vic Owen]

That's a great 0.02, Peter. I've tried the Spotlight, but found it will only work well on close-ups. Otherwise, there are too many hot spots, usually faces. A feed from the board when the actors are miked works well, but I've seldom had that luxury. Great comments.

I'll browse the article that John mentioned -- I've also gleaned a wealth of audio information from Jay Rose's columns @ DV (and his web site).

>Live theatre, I've found, is incredibly challenging to shoot--the >contrast range is overwhelming. You can also forget about >white balance.

One of my biggest mistakes on my first attempt was not paying more attention to WB. I shot four different performances and cut them together like it was a multi-camera shoot. I was using a hi-8 camera and left it in auto white balance which uses an on camera light sensor. one of the nights I was positioned near an exit where there was a very intense blue light. You can imagine how orange the footage from that night came out! Luckily, Media100 gives you some advanced control over color balance so I was able to help the footage quite a bit but you can still see the difference everytime I cut to that camera.

Contrast is a huge problem because theatre productions are lit for the human eye not the camera which has a much more limited contrast range. Does anybody know if the XL1s allows any adjustment of gamma?

regards,
Mark

[Henrik Bengtsson]

Hi all,

after having posted a few times at different threads i remembered that its prob time to do the presentation bit :P

Name is Henrik Bengtsson, and im a 30ish video producer/film wannabe/3d artist /whatever living in Borås, Sweden. I run my own company Docu Wild which does just about everything from wildlife documentaries (hence the name :) to music videos (old habits die hard). I have over 12 years experience with CGI work, mainly 3D and have film credits with a little indie film called "Designer Baby" where i did the main vfx sequence in that movie. After that i've worked as a editor / Softimage|ds operator for a few years and played with everything from voice acting to directing. Oh being a scuba instructor aswell as a videographer means i've done a fair bit of underwater filming if anyone has any questions regarding that.

Well, thats that :) C ya on the forums...

/Henrik

[Rob Lohman]

Thank you for introducing yourself Henrik! It is nice to hear that
your doing all this different stuff with your camera! Glad to have
you with us.

See you around.