How To Video Record Live Events

You might think "Photographing a play or recital is easy - you just put the camera on a tripod and sit down," and you�d be right, in the same way that you could say "sewing is easy, you just push the needle through the cloth." Videotaping a play is pretty straightforward if all you want to do is provide evidence that it took place. Creating a video of a play that people will enjoy watching is something entirely different.

If you plan to shoot some holiday pageantry of the kids or family, or if you've been hired to shoot the program for someone else, all the better. You just might be capturing that event for years to come, and it might be "the" video that is played year after year by family and friends of the performers during the holiday season as often as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or "Miracle on 34th Street." The pressure is on, are you going to give them the usual ho-hum back-of-the-theater wide shot, or a truly magnificent piece that they'll cherish every time they open that DVD box and insert that disc into their player.

Why watch a play or go to a musical performance, consigned to a single view, instead of watching a movie or listening to a record? After all, a movie can bring you views that a play can't possibly - different camera angles, special effects, the worlds greatest actors, with incredibly high fidelity sound (in six channels!) But still people go to live events and are moved by plays and live music in a way that movies can't duplicate. Why is that? There's just something about being there, about seeing the actors in three dimensions, of feeling the proximity to the people on the stage. No, there's nothing that equals seeing a live performance, but there are some things you can do to bring your viewers as close as possible to that experience.

The one great truth to shooting a stage performance is that the more work you put into it, the better your outcome will be. The absolute bare minimum, putting your camera on a tripod and turning it on will give you a record of the event. Shooting multiple performances with a mixture of wide and tight shots and then editing it together will give you a significantly better final product, but it takes a lot more time to do.

Don't just show up with your camera and start shooting. Many directors will be overjoyed at the prospect of getting a professional video of their performance. Ask beforehand (the earlier the better) and you may find yourself with a roped off shooting area, access to electricity, back stage interviews, and other special perks that will make things go more smoothly.