Shooting Live Events

[George Ebersole]

I'm wondering if anyone here can reccomend a good reference (book or website) for shootig live events like rock concerts, plays or operas.

 

Thanks for any reply.

[George Ebersole]

None of you folks have shot a rock concert? :huh:

[Martin Hawkes]

Hi,

 

I guess you haven´t many replies because there isn´t really a book or website.

 

Watch a lot of live stuff very closely and see how its been covered/edited. Break down the songs into shot lists of where you want to be and when. Budgets will effect greatly.

 

Sorry I cant be of more help.

 

Good luck!

 

Martin

 

I'm wondering if anyone here can reccomend a good reference (book or website) for shootig live events like rock concerts, plays or operas.

 

Thanks for any reply.

[Phil Connolly]

Hi

 

One book that is quite good is "Studio and Outside Broadcast Camerawork" by Peter Ward. It doesn't cover everything but does have some information about multi-camera event photography.

 

A search on Amazon for Outside Broadcast does list some other titles - but I've no idea how good they are.

 

Shooting live events (especially music) is quite difficult to learn from a book, its really an hours in the chair thing. One way to learn is try to go on some shoots as an observer, Ideally you need to be either in the gallery or be able to hear the director over talk-back.

 

Camera assisting on these sort of shoots is a good way to learn to camera side of things or there are courses in multi-camera directing. I'm currently doing an MA in Television directing and am gradually getting my head round the process. The first time in the gallery is very daunting. Its a head masher to watch all your camera monitors, your mixer output, direct all these cameras in a concise way - while your also reading your script, so you know whats happening next.

 

But theres a real buzz about working on live unrepeatable events. The best advice I've been given about shooting music events is to know the songs backwards, so you know the songs word for word. Know that the guitar solo is 8 bars long and what instruments are playing when, in the mayhem of the shoot its easy to get lost, especially if you don't have many cameras and you have to move a camera from instrument to the next to capture key events.

 

Watch the below clip as a behind the scenes mayhem of live music broadcast, pretty standard

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj2NX03Uo_4

[George Ebersole]

Thanks guys. I guess I just need to work some gigs as an AC or AD.