How to Videotape the School Play or Concert

I've been getting some compliments on the videos I've made of recent school plays, and I thought I'd post some of what I've learned "the hard way."

A lot of this is just common sense, with some basic principals of photography thrown in, and of course my personal opinions about the way things should be done.

Here you get to follow me as I videotape our middle-school play twice. Each time has its own mistakes for you to learn from.

(Most of the clips are from "Musical: The Bard is Back", as performed by the Hillview Middle School in May 2006. It was a really fun play, and I thought it came off really well.)

This may get edited a bit in after initial publication, but I realized that it's that time of year and wanted to get this out where it might help people. (Grr. And youtube is being unusually slow just now!)

Step 1: Rule number 1: Use a Tripod !

If you're going to videotape anything that is more-or-less static (like a stage from the audience), you MUST have a tripod. It need not be a fancy tripod with fluid-stabilized video panning capability, because for the most part the camera shouldn't move very much (more on this later.)

Lack of a tripod will make your video wobble and give you cramps in your arm before 20 minutes has gone by.

Comments

[sjoobbani]

 What's with all the 0 sec videos?
otherwise, very fine.

[westfw]

I think that's some sort of artifact of the "embedding" process.  When I click the play arrow, there is actual stuff there, and the times get updated to accurate numbers...

[mickey_shimitz]

Thank You! I have to film a school play 2moro and this completely helped me

[puffyfluff]

Great tips. If only I could get my parents to read this...

[gandalalake2002]

nice instructable....keep posting...thanks...

[PKM]

Thankyou. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou... :D I've seen so many terrible videos of school plays with overexposure, bad pan/zoom/focus, watching the wrong person at the wrong time, and all these terrible things. Some of those were even recorded by members of the drama department who really ought to know better! Something a little more subtle I'd add- if you're going to do this seriously (ie producing the "official" video rather than just turning up to tape your kid's play) consider getting a decent directional microphone. I've seen videos where all you can hear is the audience whispering and the cast's shoes thumping on the wooden stage- a halfway decent external microphone would alleviate both these problems and they don't cost the earth.

[westfw]

Good point about the microphone. My current camcorder doesn't even have a jack for an external mic, and when the ambiance is quiet, it picks up the sounds of its own motors :-( My latest effort was less successful. Despite efforts, it looks mostly slightly out of focus, and the "be polite" edict resulted in someone's head in many of the shots (generally not blocking any important action, but ... more distracting than I thought it would be.) Sigh. Re your comment about "people from the drama dept should know better." I dunno. This is one of the ways that film and stage differ; it's easy to imagine being really good at one at sucking at the other.

[PKM]

Good point- I didn't mean that the drama department should necessarily all be amazing cinematographers, just that they should have the sense to keep the action in shot a la rule 6 given that they already know the play.

[AT]

Great instructable. You have touched in several great points. They are all simple thing with many cameras to take care of and will result in a much better video. I video tapped some plays at my old high school and I found that the front row of the balcony worked great. Now, if you can tap into the PA for the audio and have two other friends/parents tape from two other positions, just think of the editing fun you could have!

[mcraghead]

Great work, westfw! Sound advice. As AT suggests, multi-cam is lots more work but the end product can be amazing with several angles. After begging, borrowing or stealing two cameras (& 2 tripods): Plant yourself in the "middle" (back row, balcony, etc.) (plug them both in!!). Then set up one static cam with the whole stage in the frame, and follow the action with the other camera. In post production, you can switch between the shots "artistically" or as the action suggests, but you can also eliminate every "bad" shot, camera wobble, or awkward pan, by simply cutting to the wide shot! Another plus: you can change the tape in one camera while the other keeps running. Sony Vegas is my favorite editor (I tried out about a dozen different software titles, most were either too "dumbed-down" or too convoluted); intuitive and feature-rich. You can edit down a one-camera show almost in real-time (editing out "dead air" and such). For multiple-camera shows, you've got infinite tracks, video or audio, so you can do it all! Use the same CD they use in the show for background music, get a recording from the sound board, etc. You can sync multiple tracks by lining up the audio (visually, using the waveforms), and off you go. I work at a school and try to DVD-ify as much as possible; the kids, parents, friends & relatives truly appreciate a "watchable" event! Mike

[Spl1nt3rC3ll]

Your right about the battery/memory thing. I have the worst luck. I have a sports camera that I place on my gun and helmet during paintball. Allways, always on the best match of the day, where the most intence and awsome things happen, the camera runs out of battery or memory. :( I've got to learn to stop recording the first few warm-up rounds.

[AT]

If battery life is your issue, check out how I added 5 hours to my battery life! Click here.

[Spl1nt3rC3ll]

Hmmmm. I'll have to try that if I can find my camera. Me thinks I left it in Canada. Shoot, I hope not.

[westfw]

[Missing video clips added to step 8 (framing)]

[Weissensteinburg]

Great job!

[GorillazMiko]

super instructable! good instructions, details, awesome!

[Sergeant Crayon]

Excellent Instructable! +

[joejoerowley]

Cool instructable.

[Kiteman]

All excellent ideas. Unfortunately, many UK schools have banned video cameras, and often stills cameras, from school plays "for reasons of child protection".

[firemanfu]

in maryland they make us and our guardians sign waivers that say we can be photographed

[Tool Using Animal]

Hah, I was going to quip that you risk being labeled a pedophile or terrorist. Western civilization is becoming effete.

[westfw]

Hmm. Good thing I left out the photos from our friend's high-school production of "Grease"