HW: Videos

[LN1GJT]

Hi Stephen,


>I'm curious if you've got any tips for videoing a band together with light
>show.
>The obviuos problem I'm aware of is that a lot of light show elements
>(projectors etc.)only
>start to show up/stand out in low light.Fine for the human eye,
>but  Lower light than most video cameras would like.
>
>I'm just getting into doing light shows, and would like to video them, so
>got any good tips ?

Sorry that I've been so long in getting back to you, I've extremely busy
recently.

Heres a few tips:

Firstly, audio:  If you can QC the quality of the audio from the mixing desk
during soudcheck, the chances are that it will be better than the camera's
built-in mike.  I tend to take along to most gigs, quite a bunch of hardware,
including, two Hi8 cameras, a stereo Hi8 video deck, a DAT recorder, an audio
mixer, a whole bunch of leads an a tripod

In so far as the sound goes, I'll run two of my own cables, each abut 30ft
long, with 1/4" plugs on each end, to the mixing desk on one end, and my own
audio mixer on the other (via 1/4"-phono adapters). I also keep handy some
1/4"-XLR adapters too, in case the desk has XLR output.

The reason that I use my own audio mixer, is that it has VU levels, so that I
can chech the audio levels, and it also has three audio outputs. One of the
outputs goes to the Hi8 deck, the second goes to the DAT machine, an the third
is used as spare possibly to a cassette deck or another video deck.

Once, I tried to mix the camera's mike sound with the mixing desk sound, but it
wasn't as good as just mixing-desk sound by itself.

I also have some leads that I bought from Tandy which step down an aux/cd level
signal to a microphone level signal, so that I can run the sound from the
mixing desk back into the camera via the external mike socket, essentially
producing a stereo Hi8 master, identical to the from the Hi8 deck - except that
these cables can pick up a bit of 50hz hum (shielding with tin-foil helps). If
you leave the camera with its in-built mike sound though, you will then have
the choice of mixing desk or mike sound.

The DAT player is handy for filling in any drop-outs that can occur with Hi8
soundtacks.

All the HW gigs that I have filmed have been with just one camera,   but I've
filmed Porcupine Tree a few times, with a second roving camers at the front,
being operated by a friend - one dayI'll get round to doing a final video mix
of the two camera tapes.


Now, some top tips for the visuals:

1:  USE A TRIPOD. Hand held video results on there own look like the worst
   bootleg videos.

2:  Most important of all, is have the camera locked to manual focussing.
Flashing lights can confuse the infra red auto-focussing system, and if you're
say fifty feet or more from the stage, once the camera is in focus, it
generally won't need adjusting even if you are zooming in and out.

3:  Set the shutter speed and the aperture also to fixed sizes rather than auto
exposure. I tend to go for the slowest shutter speed (1/50th) on my camera) and
set the aperture to F2(ODb distortion).  Any wider than that will tend to cause
bits that are supposed to be black to be rather fuzzy on playback. If you
camera has a backlight adjustment switch, experiment to see which is best,
otherwise (if in doubt) leave it normal. These switches are usually best when
used in conjunction with fluorescant white lights.  This seems to be the best
for HW where the lights are not mega bright, but even during the brighter parts
of the shows, the results are still pretty good.

The best way of checking, is to have a small portable TV, or a proper video
monitor to QC the visuals.

4:  Decide what your priority is for filming. The band members themselves, or
the actual lightshow itself.  If you recall the Teepee tour (1992) the band had
fine gause stretched acros in front of the stage onto which the lightshow was
projected, for some superb effects. (I remember especially 7 by 7 / Mask of
Morning being superb!) Generally, (esp with HW) the lightshow makes up about
80% of the resulting video.
Maybe make the best of both. Zoom in for close ups of the group, and keep
pulled back for the lightshow. Zooming in/out whilst panning and then unzooming
is a great way of moving from one part of the stage to another, without
obviously just moving the view from one side to another.

5:  If you are running with just the camera on its own, using batteries, then
use the manual zoom controll. The motorised controll uses up an awfull lot of
power. Have plenty of spare batteries, and if you know that each one will last
for 45mins, then change it at around 30mins in between tracks.

6:  Likewise, use the longest tapes that you can find, (I use Sony Hi8 ME120);
however, it is best to get a copy of the set list with the encore so that you
can judge when to change tpaes and batteries. (I've rigged up a battery pack
that can take 6 D-cell  batteries, and using Duracell, I can get the camera to
last for up to 4 hours.) Some of the more modern cameras can last for quite a
long time though.

7:  Take a pen, a roll of gaffer tape, sticky labels for the tapes which should
be labelled either before they are used or immediately they come out of the
camera, but most important of all, take a small torch so that you dcan see what
the hell you're doing when you are changing tapes and batteries - I use a
caving light on a headband with a battery pack.  A set of enclosed-type
headphones (cans!)is usefull too, so that you can check the sound on every
piece of equipment that has a headphone socket!


Hope this is of some use to you,

Best wishes,


Guy Thomas