Filming Church Service « Videomaker Community Forums

mcgofy
Member

I want to start shooting our church service on Sunday. I am a newbie! I purchased 2 Canon XHA1's, and I have a couple of nice quality tripods. That's about it!

I had planned on getting an audio feed from the sound board, pre fader, so that whatever the sound guy is doing, or not doing, will not affect me. I am uncertain on a few key points, (to say the least) and I would appreciate ALL the advice I can get.

First, should I record sound on both cameras?
How can I set the two camera's up so that I can monitor what both are doing?
Do I just shoot two independent cassetes, and then merge them together in editing?
Should I have bought the HGA1's, and then would they have synched together? Would that have made it easier, or higher quality. Would it justify the nearly DOUBLE price?

I have always been a PC guy. (please don't hate me!) So I was going to purchase Premiere Pro. Do you think that is a good choice, or would Elements do as well for my needs.

Please give me any other advice. I going to buy a quality shotgun mic for one camera, while I went through the board with the other. That way I thought that if something went wrong with the board, I would have a decent audio track as backup.

Well, that's it. Thanks in advance for your help

kevin

Posted 4 years ago #
SpencerStewart
Member

Hi,

Here's some basic advice.
My church has a three camera set-up. We get audio from the sound guy, and mix the video live, via a video switcher.We use the video switcher to cut between angles. The output of the video switcher is projected, and also recorded.
The recording we save and post online.

By using a video switcher, we don't have to spend time in post syncing the footage and cutting it.

Here's an article about video for worship:

http://www.videomaker.com/article/13339/

Goodluck!

Posted 4 years ago #
nosliw
Member

I'd also love to hear from someone who has experience doing something like this. The article (that Spencer mentioned) had some valuable info but didn't have the depth I'm looking for.

What I am capable of adding:
- Premiere Elements does NOT let you do the multicam editing like Pro does. Here is a how-to on doing multi-cam:
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0234

I've heard of a semi-inexpensive remote controller called a Grizzly Pro. Unfortunately, for the live switching I think it just uses the composite out from your cams. (only fairly certain on that)

Otherwise, if you don't want to switch, and do all of the work in post-production (ie multi-cam), you can simply monitor the two cameras via a TV (switching the composite-in with a $15 switch) while you record to tape. A portable DVD player that has composite-in can work as your TV. Having that TV monitor can be valuable, especially for getting your manual zoom & focus.

Ed

Posted 4 years ago #
SpencerStewart
Member

I'd also love to hear from someone who has experience doing something like this. The article (that Spencer mentioned) had some valuable info but didn't have the depth I'm looking for.

Yeah, Videomaker almost goes there, but I agree would be great with more depth and advanced articles.

I forgot to mention, any live switcher that can work with HD will cost a lot, so doing the cuts in post would probably be the most practical way to go.

To answer some of your original questions:

Filming Church Service
I want to start shooting our church service on Sunday. I am a newbie! I purchased 2 Canon XHA1's, and I have a couple of nice quality tripods. That's about it!

I had planned on getting an audio feed from the sound board, pre fader, so that whatever the sound guy is doing, or not doing, will not affect me. I am uncertain on a few key points, (to say the least) and I would appreciate ALL the advice I can get.

First, should I record sound on both cameras?

Yes, you should. Recording sound might help to sync your videos in post.

How can I set the two camera's up so that I can monitor what both are doing?

For this, you'll want a live feed. One way you can do this is to use component video cables linked to monitors. As a warning, don't your S-Video. Component is probably the cheapest and more reliable way of sending video over a fair distance. My church uses BNC cables (which are more expensive, but better) and has their wires go under the cement to the video booth.

Do I just shoot two independent cassetes, and then merge them together in editing?

Yes.

Should I have bought the HGA1's, and then would they have synched together? Would that have made it easier, or higher quality. Would it justify the nearly DOUBLE price?

About syncing, you probably can sync them together, but I'm not sure. Does it make it easier: yes. Does it make it higher quality: not really. Does it justify nearly double the price: in my opinion, nope.
I'm not the "expert" on this topic, but there's my two cents.

Posted 4 years ago #
mcgofy
Member

I see that a video switcher is very cool, and a bit pricey but definately a tool that I should eventually get. I can see that it makes the live feed smooth., (we don't have the big screen ability yet, so live feed to the congregation will wait), and once you get the hang of it, it makes post editing almost unnecessary! It looks like the Panasonic unit is nice, at about 6k!! (ouch) The Adobe training clip on using their multi camera tool is very informative, and I can see that without the switcher, and using individual tapes, this tool is very handy. It also appears that with this tool, all you need to do is sync the shots at the beginning, and from their on it looks pretty smooth. No real need for genlock at a cost of 3k per camera.

As to using the video swictcher, is genlock necessary there?

Great info, and great help. Thank you all

Peace

Kevin

Posted 4 years ago #
faqvideo
Member

Is there demand on Church service videos?
Shoot-It-Yourself Wedding Video Guide, http://www.faqvideo.com/siy_book

Posted 4 years ago #
SpencerStewart
Member

Our church sells DVDs of services. It's also uploaded onto the internet for free.

Sorry, I'm not sure about Gen-lock specifics. All I really understand is the concept.

Posted 4 years ago #