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Any "serious" videoing of children's events is nowadays fraught with difficulty, - - - there is a no-filming clause in many folks' mind.
If you have the school's blessing ( and there is no Copyright in the play or Music ) this should help.... EXCEPT all the staging will have been done with NO THOUGHT to recording. Also, school halls are noisy, echo badly and if they use radio-mics..... their operation is poor, to say the least.
Filming from the rear of the hall requires a decent tripod ( a tall one as Terfyn suggests ), but likely to mean "professional" as most consumer tripods are too short and may introduce wobbles the stabaliser won't address. Increasing the mass of the camera may help, although a weighted bag attached below the tripod is more convenient. Adding height also means you need a portable step to operates said camcorder and check levels throughout. Take a spare battery and Memory card which you know is good. Make sure the tripod doesn't become a "Trip hazard"
The audio can be very troublesome. Even a shotgun mic may have odd effects due to the uneven path of the sound waves over/round the audience. However, a remote recorder is likely to be better, but one with an operator that knows their stuff is rare. The cheapest "Zoom" recorder is about £80 and sync'd to the camera's audio track at the Edit stage - take spare batteries! However, the whole show may appear somewhat static, having children/action in the distance . . . TV events like "Strictly" have given audiences the idea they'll be up-close and moving about . . . which "we" cannot achieve.
A possible solution might be if the school has a "Media" group - who could film on-stage, getting close-ups at the rehearsals - these are then used as Cutaways for the main event. However, this is also fraught with difficulties. You need to be friendly with the Stage Director... who may have no idea about filming limitations. Beware too that schools like to include many year-groups and these will have separate Directors - the "nightmare unfolds" - - -
As soon as you try to do things "properly" you'll need a Team of folks that know what they are doing.... try asking the local Film-Making Club - a small donation may clinch it! Yu'll need the school's blessing in writing from the Head. . . anything less won't do.
If that camcorder you have is heavy then a decent pro-tripod may fix this... but if it's old, the filming format may be old too. If it's tape-based it's probably not useful.
Plan to spend about £500 on a consumer camcorder - but you' need about £120 for the tripod and £80 for a basic Audio recorder. A "close-microphone" beats anything recording "at a distance", so don't buy a shotgun for use at the back - Then spend a few weeks getting to know the kit in similar conditions ( i'e. long before Rehearsals ) ). A year would be better, IMHO.
Good luck. |
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2-12-2019 01:56:31