taping a graduation

Zamir Merali · June 13, 2006

Hello Everyone my name is Zamir and I have a question about an upcoming videographing job that i have to do. I am taping a grade 6 graduation for a small school. The camera I am using is an xl2. So far I have only done narrative movies and music videos so I was wondering what the procedure would be for shooting a graduation. Should I use 24p ? 30 p? or 60i ?. Also, what sort of things am I supposed to be taping. Graduations usually have a long boring section where each kid is called up, so for that shot should I just point the camera at the stage and wait or should I zoom in on each kid as he goes up? Should I put music to the background or should it only have the principal talking? I have a lot of questions and most of it boils down to the balance between how artistic i make it and how much it should be like just sitting in the audience.

Thank you

Michael Collier · June 13, 2006

I would sugest 60i, just because the event is very traditional, and you dont want 24p or 30p getting in the way (to some it might seem like lower quality video on a story like this)

As to what you should shoot, that usually depends on whos paying. If its one parent, be sure to get their kid walking accross stage, if its a school, you may be asked to get everyone. Co-ordinate with the money-men and see what they want. Be sure to get lots of cut aways though. If you get 10-15 shots of the parents either before the cerimony, or during a dull moment, you can use those anywhere. Same with shots of the kids in the seats. If you have the freedom to get a variety of shots and dont need every kid walking accross stage, dont ignore the whole event. It is really easy to get wrapped up shooting the stage and sometimes you miss the best moments. Follow a kid from the stage until they walk to the stands and hug their parents. Get good moments from the kids celebrating their accomplishment (these moments are almost always off stage. Eitehr they run into parents, a teacher they had or other friends.)

you can use tracks from the teacher and validictorian throughout the walk scene. If you set a mic on the podium and shoot continuously you would be free to get plenty of cutaways while still getting the sound bytes. Then you can work the most poigniant soundbytes into the walk, maybe with nats of the school band underneath.

Its all a matter of how creative you want to get. Be shooting the stage when you need to be, but get stuff to cover the rest when they arent walking. If you get a chance, you can attend the graduation of another school in the district to see how the event unfolds, so you know what parts you need to be shooting.

Alex Wuijts · June 17, 2006

I would have someone assist me, so I could have wide shots and closeups of the important people at the same time.

I wouldn't try to make too artistic, because this is about documenting a special event, you can't make it any better other than showing as much as possible of the the right moments. To make it a little more attractive i would put some fast cut impressions in between the regular scenes with music to it. You could also interview some students and ask them silly questions and edit those in between the more serious moments.

Robert Hughes · June 18, 2006

And of course you are getting written releases from everyone in the auditoreum, aren't you? Otherwise they'll sue you to kingdom come.

Zamir Merali · June 18, 2006

Thanks For the Tips. I'l probably end up using my xl2 to get the wide shot of the entire stage througout the ceremony and my cheaper camcorder to get shots of the crowd as they applaud and as specific students go up to the stage.

And as a reply to the above post .Yes im getting a written release from all the kids

Bob Hayes · June 19, 2006

One of the tough elements of this kind of thing is sound quality. You?ll want to give some thought to this. A wireless mike clipped to the podium mike is an easy but expensive solution. You may want to run a hard line from the podium to you xl2. If you do be sure to tape down the loose wire so people don?t trip over it.

Robert Hughes · June 20, 2006

As bob1dp says, you need to hear what's being said. On a video shoot today, I took one channel from the podium microphone aux feed of the public address system audio mixer and one channel from the camera shotgun mic as backup and house ambient sound. If you provide 2 channels of sound, be sure to mark your tape thusly so as not to confuse the editing engineer later on.

Zamir Merali · June 21, 2006

I am going to be getting a microphone mounted on the podium with an xlr cable to my camera plus my built in mic. Hopefully that will be enough. Since I am doing everything including the editting there shouldn't be any confusion later on.

Thanks again