This weekend we shot another microsode of the “Leonard Who?” show. What made this production unique was the introduction of a second Canon HV20 camera and a pair of wireless microphones to our shooting arsenal. Since the inception of the show, we have always had a single director/camera operator/sound guy (me).
I’ve shot a ton of corporate/industrial video as a one-man crew with multiple cameras, so I was determined to keep things lean on this production and do everything myself. To add an additional challenge I set out to shoot, edit and post online within 48 hours. How did things work out? Well, some good things and some lessons learned…
Lesson 1 - Auto White Balance = Bad Choice
Chalk this one up to the “doh!” category. I arrived at the location on a wonderfully sunny day with a limited time frame in which to shoot. I know better, but because of the time limitation and great natural light pouring in from huge windows, I opted to set both cameras on auto white balance to save time between shots. My normal workflow is to shoot a slate, chip chart, and set white balance for each camera at least every scene/camera position change. Those few minutes between each shot might add a half hour to production time but can save many hours on color correction in post.
Lesson 2 - If using two mics, check the adapter setting for stereo
No excuse for this one. I use a Beachtek adapter to step XLR cables down to 1/8″ for the HV20 camera and generally shoot with a single shotgun mic. When shooting with a single mic I set the adapter to mono. Makes sense that since I was shooting with two wireless mics I should set the adapter to stereo so I could have two isolated audio tracks (one per actor) to work with when editing. Yeah, about that…woops.
Lesson 3 - Check focus on B camera between each take
I locked off the B camera for some over the shoulder (OTS) shots while I roamed with camera A to follow any actor movement. The OTS shots looked really beautiful compositionally, but as the actors shifted within the frame they threw off the focus which I not set to manual. In the future I’ll be sure to make composition decisions not just on framing but also on focus and depth of field, even on a quick run & gun shoot.
Lesson 4 - Work on blocking with your actors
This one is related to Lesson 3 when it comes to locked camera composition, but needs to be taken a step further. We usually shoot the “Leonard Who?” show with a great deal of freedom in movement & dialog with the actors. As we try to improve the production qualtiy we’re working hard to find a balance between those freedoms, quick shooting, and a high quality production. One of the first places we are focusing is on actor blocking — setting marks for movement and running quick rehersals with cameras rolling so we can all watch a quick playback so the actors know their marks and how they relate to dialog.
Lesson 5 - Work from a checklist
I’m developing a checklist for two-camera, one-operator video production that should help maintain the quality of production. All the areas above, plus a couple more will be covered on a single, laminated notecard. More to come on this one.
Lesson 6 - Sometimes it’s best to lock off the cameras and just direct
One of our actors, Ridge Tolbert, reminded me that sometimes a scene can just play itself out without camera movement. Ridge made me realize that I sometimes I overthink the technical aspects of the production instead of setting the cameras, calling “action”, and paying attention to the actors.
Bonus Lesson - Gaffer tape is your friend
This photo is of camera B. I love the fact that the HV20 camera is almost the same size as the two wireless mic packs. Good thing for gaffer tape!
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Overall, it was a fun weekend and we’re all generally pleased with the resulting video. We shot the first frame on Saturday morning around 9:00 a.m. and uploaded the final footage to the web distribution sites by 9:00 p.m. on Sunday. 36 hours. Not much sleep but a great exercise in indie filmmaking.
See the final product at: http://leonardwho.com/season-2-microsode-7-ghosts-and-waffles/
The complete production gear list for this production:
- Two Canon HV20 cameras
- Two Sennheiser EW100 wireless microphones
- One Beachtek DXA-2S XLR to 1/8″ adapter
- Two tripods
We love music!
This post written while listening to Great Northern on the Morning Becomes Eclectic show from KCRW radio