Video
Multi-camera Mix - 2
Setting up and Recording
You obviously need more than one camera, but you should decide carefully how many you want. More to the point, decide how many you can make effective use of. I used three, two fixed and one hand-held, which is about the minimum for a good result. If you can set up more then you will have more choice of shots at the edit stage, but the editing process will also take longer. I suggest not trying to use more than four for your first attempt, two fixed and two mobile would be a good combination.
My production was zero-cost, so I enlisted help and borrowed cameras from friends. However, you may be able to justify hiring extra cameras, depending on your particular situation.
It is essential that you have good quality sound, since the sound-track provides continuity as the camera shots change. You MUST have microphones on all the cameras, because the sound-track is vital for synchronising during editing. It's also best if you have two main sound recordings that can be mixed into the final video. These are roughly speaking the stage and the back of the auditorium respectively. If the stage has a PA, try to take a direct feed from it into either a DAT recorder or a VCR with HiFi sound (you don't need to record any picture). Both of these record digitally, which is vital not so much for quality but for accuracy of timing. Avoid any sort of analogue tape, because you are unlikely to be able to synchronise it properly, as we'll see later.
For the auditorium sound, the sound track on one of the fixed cameras may be good enough. This is what I was able to use. If you do this, don't rely on the camera's built-in microphone, most don't do a very good job. You should use a reasonable quality directional monophonic external microphone, which I recommend as the number one camcorder accessory in any event. A directional microphone pointing at the stage from the rear of the auditorium will still pick up more audience than stage sound. A non-directional one will just be flooded with the shuffles, fidgets, and mutterings of the people in the back row! You might consider rigging a microphone in a more optimal position, and feeding it into one of the fixed cameras. If possible connect reasonable microphones to both fixed cameras, then you can choose which one to use later when you do the editing.
A lot depends on what you have available, and how much advance setting up you can do. If you can organise access to at least one rehearsal then it's worth doing so.
This diagram shows the setup I used: 
Recording technique
For the sound, once you've placed the microphones and tapped into the PA, there's not much to do during the performance. If you use a PA feed, just make sure that the signal level is OK, preferably by a test recording of a sound check. If you record into a VCR where you have no input-level meters, you will need to check the playback to ensure the sound is neither too faint, nor overloaded and distorted. VCRs have automatic input level control, and can usually cope with quite a wide range of signal levels.
The main concern is getting good video shots. When you come to edit the finished video, the footage from the fixed cameras will be your anchor material. You will make edits that will cut from one to the other to avoid monotony, as well as cut to shots on the mobile cameras and back. The mobiles will be the source of close-up shots. The most important point is that you must have continuity. This means that at any time during the performance there must be at least one camera recording a usable shot. In reality you want to be able to rely on at least one anchor shot being available at all times. This results in the golden rule:
Never adjust more than one fixed camera at once.
Depending on manpower, you may be able to have operators on the fixed cameras, or you may have to adjust them yourself in between doing hand-held shots. If you do have them manned, the operators must have a system of signals so that only one moves or zooms his shot at a time. You are unlikely to want to use material recorded while the camera is moving. Close-ups of individual performers are best done using a hand-held camera, ideally with the help of a monopod. In these shots careful tracking of an individual performer as he moves around the stage can work well.
Try to avoid the fixed camera shots being too wide angle, but you also don't want them so close that they don't cover all the action. I found that the best material for editing usually resulted when each camera covered about two-thirds of the stage width, so that their shots overlapped at centre stage. The right-hand camera can cover the left side of the stage and vice-versa. If the action is more confined you can afford to get closer, but as I said above, only zoom in with one at a time.
If you have a chance to watch a rehearsal, make notes and plan at least some of the camera shots, then you will be more prepared. If not you will have to decide on the fly, which was what I had to do!
Site sections:
