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Multi Camera Shoots

Multi Camera Shoots

 

Although unnecessary for typical web video, multi camera shoots can be an important tool for some of your most important information videos.

 

Anytime you watch television, the production crews are almost always working with multi camera shoots.  Be it sports, the news, talk shows or your favorite reality TV show, we are used to cameras switching back and forth to whatever the director feels is most important at that moment.  The problem is as I said, people are used to this style of shooting, so when a show is made with only one camera, the public knows it.  They might not understand the mechanics of what is taking place, but a subliminal frustration sets up in their minds if they do not see what they are used to.

 

With only one camera, there is way too much zooming and panning (camera movement from right to left).  It takes way too much time to get to the main subject and since the main subject frequently changes, frustration sets in and eventually the viewer will move on.

 

Now obviously a multi camera shoot is not always needed in web video. 
Most of your videos will be one person talking to the camera, but there are times you may want to consider a multi camera shoot for an extra amount of professionalism.  Here are a couple of examples.

 

The interview – Now if you only have two people in your shoot, then it’s possible to get a 2-shot of them talking.  But if you want close-ups of them or if they are talking about someone or something off to the side, consider shooting two or three cameras at the same time (see the diagram to the right for a typical 2 camera shoot of an interview), so you can focus on the person talking as well as cutaway when the second person begins speaking and cutaway again to the product or item they are discussing.  The footage is later put together with editing.  This type of shoot is quite professional looking and will add to the professionalism of your company.  You even may want to pull camera 2 further behind the host to get an "Over the Shoulder" shot.

 

Below is the typical setup of a three camera interview style shoot. 

In this scenario, camera 1 shoots the

host.  Camera 2 shoots a wide picture

of everyone.  Camera 3 shoots the 3 guests and switches to medium shots and close-ups of whoever is speaking.  You then take the footage of each camera and with the Sony Vegas Pro edition editing software you can edit this, in real time with "multi-camera shoot" editing.  You then end up with a professional looking program for the web.

 

You can also hook up the 3 cameras to a switcher and tape the program while switching the cameras in real time.  Although this method saves time, I recommend the editing option.  Not only are switchers quite expensive, switching in real time leads to the possibility of mistakes.  For example, switching to the wrong person or switching around too quickly.  I once was switching live and saw a close-up reaction shot from one of the guests, so I quickly switched to them.  Unfortunately, no sooner did I hit the button then the guest began to yawn.  Yawning is a real no-no in video interviews.  Another shot showed one of the guests digging into their nose.  Another no-no!  The moral of the story is luckily we had backup tapes for each camera.  I had to go back and edit out any shots I was not happy with and replace them.  Personally I like doing the switching in editing.  You can’t make mistakes because you know everything that has happened, is happening and is going to happen!

 

Seminars – Most customers ask me for a one camera shoot while filming seminars

mostly to save money.  And although there is nothing wrong with that, especially when shooting one person on stage talking, again bringing a second camera with you and editing the two together gives a much more professional looking final program.   

 

Here is an easy and inexpensive way to get a professional looking program with just two cameras (See diagram below).

Camera one shoots only the speaker.  You can play with close-ups, medium shots and a wide shot but just of the speaker.  Camera 2 shoots a wide shot of the whole stage or even a wide shot of the whole room showing the audience.  If the speaker has a PowerPoint, camera 2 can also shoot the screen whenever a new slide is introduced. 

You could also put camera #2 and a third camera to the right and/or left of the audience.  In this way, you will get not only shots of thespeaker and the stage, but you will be able to get reaction shots of the audience.  Reaction shots can really change the whole mood of the video, by showing the emotiotions of the audience.  Some laughing or some real tears could have a profound effect on your viewer.

All this can then be edited together in real time with the Sony Vegas Pro edition editing software with the muti camera editing function.

Some words of caution for multi Camera shoots:
1) Whether using tapes, or hard drives, press the record button of all cameras being used, at the same time, and don’t turn them off until the shoot is done or you need to change the tapes.
2) Sound or some sort of audio feed should be coming into all cameras involved (whether the internal or an external mic or an audio feed from a sound person) as the audio tracks will help you in the editing process to synch up all the camera’s tracks perfectly side by side down to the exact frame.  This is extremely important for multi camera shoots as you don’t want any of your video to be out of synch with your audio. 

 

A loud noise at the start of the tape can help put all your video feeds together, but may not always be possible, especially when you are doing live seminars. Everybody has seen Hollywood directors use the infamous “Clacker”.  Most people think that the “Clacker” is used to give information to the editor, regarding the scene being filmed.  Although this is true, a more important use of a clacker is so that the audio and video from all cameras can be synched together perfectly.  If the sound of the clacker is synched on all the tracks, the rest of the audio and video will be perfectly synched until the end of the tape or hard drive file.  See why I told you to leave all the tapes running?

 

Remember that with any video, whether you are producing a one, two or a three camera shoot, you need to keep your viewers watching.  The more professional you keep things, the less likely you are to lose your audience and the sales you are reaching for as your ultimate goal.
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