Banquet Video have no idea how to approach doing this!

[Fwilly]

Hey! I was signed up to help with a video at a cheer banquet and I don't know much about what to do here so there's some quick questions so i know but i should be getting done during the cheer banquet because i have no idea what to do. So First, we are interviewing the girls on questions that are not necessary to tell you guys but is there anything i should focus on while interviewing them? Should I get a nice light to shine on them for better lighting? Anything I should focus on there? I also don't really know how to put all of this together editing wise. Should i add some kind of music in the background? If so, what kind of music would be appropriate for a video like this? Should there be any kind of sound effects. Should I do some cool angles for the awards stuff? I've only got one HD camera that i know of but i have some lesser quality ones that i could use. So pretty much can someone tell me how i should go about this? Should i get a microphone that picks up the whole room or should i just use the one that I'm gonna use for the interviews? How should I put it all together in the editing software? So pretty much how should i go about this whole thing because I'm very confused and any reply's would be helpful! Thanks!


- Frank

 

[Scoopicman]

Hi, Frank. I had to shoot a banquet and ended up doing it this way. I set up a secondary camera (just a standard definition model - DVX100) and set it up to cover the podium, from a side angle, which included the podium and some of the audience. I also had a mic going to that camera from the podium.

My main camera (HVX200) is not good in low light, but I preadjusted the room lighting and it worked. I had a battery operated light clipped on top of the camera, but didn't really need it - however, I recommend doing so!

Before the banquet started, I got footage of of the building, then people entering the building and signing in. I got them used to the idea of me roaming amongst them with a camera.

For interviews, I would suggest using an external mic that the people can hold and speak into, otherwise, the sound is going to be really hard. A lot of people don't speak up and I had to tweak my levels in post, quite a bit.

The nice thing about the stationary podium camera was that it gave me something to cut away to, which was pretty often.

At the end of the banquet, I got people leaving and saying goodbyes.

Another thing that really helped, was that my wife was taking pictures. I was able to use those stills for the compiled edit. I used music for the photo montage, beginning and end, but not for the rest of the video. The best thing I can suggest is to get as much coverage as you can, along with the best sound that you can, otherwise, the sound will kill you. In post, you just take the interesting bits and shorten it up as much as you can, while conveying the essence of the banquet.

I hope this helps some.