Beginner Advice for Documenting Events in Video

I feel like I’ve had to learn a lot in the ongoing process of trying to get cool video of our Indyish events. Video is hard, it takes amazing hours of work and even then it’s unbearably easy to end up with something that’s kinda crappy looking or not totally compelling. I definitely don’t think we’re pros yet, but slowly and steadily we’re getting better, and I think the piece we made of the last Mess is our best showing so far by far. Here’s the tips I gathered from friends and expert associates which have proved useful.

1. More then 1 camera is crucial. Watching anything live that’s been shot on one camera becomes super boring super fast. I didn’t notice this, I just thought our earlier 1 camera footage was ok, but couldn’t put my finger on what was missing. Turns out it’s the dynamic of transitions and angles. Get multiple cameras, get them to shoot at the same time so the editor can match up the audio easily and you’ve got a good start.

2. Long before your event starts, decide what the cameras are going to shoot. This is especially important if your editor is volunteering, but it’s important all around. You don’t want to bombard the editor with 3 cameras worth of hours and hours of footage with no direction as to what’s important. Tell your camera operators before they start what their individual jobs are - you do the lead singer, you do instruments, you do long shots and crowd - and what they need to be sure to get. In our case, asking the camera ladies to shoot the first 2 songs of each band helped them know what was important, gave them time to switch tapes, and gave the editor a clear and uncluttered amount of material to work with.

3. Record audio separately if you can. Camera audio is only ok, so we aim to get a separate recording going straight from the soundboard onto a laptop next time round.

4. Once you’ve got the footage, before you hand it over to the editor, the next thing you can do to move the process along and make sure you get what you want from the video, and don’t put too much strain on the edit is watch it through and carefully write down the time code and quote for anything you think you’ll want to include.

5. When editing, putting music underneath shots makes anything more fun. Even if it’s really quiet music way in the background part of your brain is like alllllright, and it magically makes you more willing to listen to talkity talk.

Alright! That’s what I’ve learned about video so far, mostly thanks to Darren Curtis. Anything you think we should do better this time? Any other things you’ve learned that have helped you pull of video documentation of your own events?