One camera editing techniques?

wbtczn wrote on 11/25/2011, 12:02 AM
My son is an awesome singer and wants me to create some videos of him singing. I'm looking for some suggestions on how to do more than basically turn the camera on and film him straight on.

For instance -- how difficult is it if I had him perform a song with the camera filming him straight on, then doing a second recording of him from different angles, and then editing the 2 together in Vegas?

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 11/25/2011, 12:08 AM
It's possible, but success depends on how consistent he is with his performance, and whether he is using a pre-recorded backing which means the tempo will be the same.

No need to stop at two angles - maybe do four or five, some close-ups, some not, and Vegas Multicamera will display them all on the screen together for editing once they're synched up.
ushere wrote on 11/25/2011, 12:21 AM
exactly as peter describes - but do it to playback for timing. i usually do wide, cu, mid, moves, and ecu's then throw 'em on the tl and hack away.....
China wrote on 11/25/2011, 1:16 AM
Ditto what everyone has said...

I have done quite a few "live" music clips using the same kind of thing...
3 camera shoot and we recorded the audio of their first run-through as a real live performance, for mixing in post. Then played a rough mix of that first performance back multiple times to get multiple extra camera angles. Works great and you don't have to worry so much about shooters being in other cameras shots!

When people perform, it is amazing how they have habits that tend to be replicated in recurring performances. Just have to make sure performance energy levels are as high on the last take as the first take.

Also, be mindful of continuity - we used a rent-a-crowd for some vids and we had to make sure individuals didn't wander off and reposition themselves in the next shoot as well as the potential of bottles of water suddenly appearing and disappearing from stage as performers got thirsty between takes!
Rory Cooper wrote on 11/25/2011, 2:59 AM
And Don’t lip sync do it real aloud. If you lip the song then there will be no real emotion in the images.

you need an audio player and he sings aloud along with the recording in the back it doesn’t matter how bad it sounds because the audio for this is only going to be used for sync with the original audio track and won’t be used in the mix. If you lip the motion then there will be no real emotion the images will look wanting.
and do as many takes as you need. over an over an over till you get the shots.
VMP wrote on 11/25/2011, 3:44 AM
I agree with Rory Cooper, thats a very important tip.
wbtczn wrote on 12/18/2011, 2:21 AM
We did our first take at a shoot last night. We agreed it was a great lesson learned night, but not a great night of usable footage. Interesting reading the feedback in this thread....really hits with some of the same things we were talking about in our work last night.