This blog post won’t be so much a reflection as a speculation, since I had to miss the class on filming live musicians, which was very frustrating for me. I want to look at it from two perspectives, one is recording a live studio session, the other a live performance. I feel like different approaches will be necessary for each.

Firstly, theres the audio considerations. With a studio session its nice and easy because they’re singing into the nice neat audio recording equipment, which is what a normal soundtrack they would give you to work with is recorded on, so its almost just like working from a recording and then filming footage rather than the other way around. Theres also a much better chance you’re gunna get a perfect sync for the footage and the audio, as you’re filming what is going onto the track rather than a redo. We learnt the lesson on our shoot that singing along looks way better than lip syncing, but there were still moments when the audio didn’t quite measure up. Another benefit to studio recording is that its possible for them to do it several times. We got multiple takes of our singers while we were inside filming, which was very useful when it came time to edit.

I wanted to consider the logistics of filming a live performance, because my first thought when I took this course was that I could make a music video for my friends band ‘Mango Retreat’. They have a few recordings of songs out, and where they really shine is in their live performances. They have an amazing stage presence, and if I ever was to make a video for them I think I would try and use that. Theres so many things to consider though. Using audio from the performance isn’t ideal since theres only one take, it can pick up the audience and you can’t get as high a quality. Using a recording is better, but the problem with live performances is they tend to vary a bit, just little things that means its harder to sync up. Also, you only get one shot at filming the song, meaning you need multiple cameras if you want more than one angle, its harder to get a decent shot if people are jostling you, and getting up on stage to get a better shot would be detrimental to the audiences enjoyment. You could get the band to play the song a few times, but again that ruins the experience for the audience. Unless they want a lot of encores. Its a tricky task, and one that would require a lot of forethought if I ever wanted to undertake it.