Shooting a Live Event

As mentioned I began shooting live events when I was in my late teenage years. I started at church taping services. The church had a consumer grade camcorder and a little tripod so I used that to tape services. I varied between 2 shots when I recorded. I used a wide shot of the whole stage and then would periodically zoom into a head and shoulders shot of my pastor. When shooting live events to zoom in on something is to push in on it. When you only have one camera you learn to do this as smoothly and accurately as possible. When you want to zoom out or widen up your shot it's known as pull. You have to pull out to a wider shot. On a tighter shot you have to track with your subject. Following your subject from side to side with the camera is known as panning. To Pan is to follow the subject from left to right or vise versa. It is invaluable to have a smooth fluid tripod to shoot with. This can't be stressed enough. There have been to many times that my tripod was jerky and shaking, inevitably causing a jerky, shaking picture. That is no bueno! You may also need to learn to Tilt the camera. That is to move the camera in  fluid up or down motion. You may need to direct the eyes of the audience to another subject or object of interest. Most likely you'll use a combination of panning, pushing, and tilting to get the right shot most of the time that your shooting. A seasoned camera person can do all these and make it as smooth as butter. Seasoning comes with practice and muscle memory of the tools.  

For a good bit of my 20's I worked a music festival. The festival was two times a year. Our church provided the cameras and equipment to broadcast the image of the musicians on projector screens and to provide a DVD to the manager.  We used 5 cameras for the shoot. One in the back was a wide shot. One on the left and one on the right for medium shots and two up front for close up shots. I started out just shooting. I shot at each side position and then eventually the stage front and occasionally on stage. On stage shooting is a lot of fun, to get those killer shots. The more experienced I got the higher I climbed in the ranks to mixer and then to director. I also tacked on camera coach to that list every time we added a new recruit. 

Many of the younger guys or gals wanted to shoot the main thing happening on stage all the time. We had to train them to think like a team and to see the big picture. The director does not need 5 shots of the same thing! I had to coach them to listen to the directors commands and to be willing to shoot "something boring". Their camera angle may not be the best angle to shoot that particular event happening. That might be a solo song,instrument, dance or whatever. It's important to stick to your assigned role when shooting. This is not your vision the show is the director and producers vision. As a director you need to communicate effectively and friendly, how and what to shoot to each videographer. I say friendly because in the heat of the moment you can come across cross or un caring. Before the show, ecpesially if its a volunteer staff, be sure to be clear that noting is personal. Make sure that you have all the shots covered for an effective and quality mix. What are the shots you should be looking for?