# Last Shot playing Border Crossing, Calgary - best way to film?



## LastShot (Jun 4, 2015)

Hi everyone, new forum member, this is my first post. I hope this is the right place for this post. 

Anyways, my band Last Shot (check us out at LastShot.ca) is playing a local venue called the Border Crossing this Friday and Saturday (June 5 and 6, 2015). It is our first time playing there, we have played elsewhere but first time here. They just spruced up their stage, added a new PA and lighting so we want to record ourselves, mostly so we can add it to our website and facebook page.

We have a video camera and a tri-pod so we figured we would just set it up and point it at the stage. I was wondering if there are any tips or thoughts out in forum land to help us get the best quality video and audio. Also, a specific question, is there any issues with filming people dancing? Do we need to get their permission to upload it to the web?

Thanks everyone and if you are in Calgary stop by and check us out. Introduce yourself and I'll give you a free tour of the stage.


----------



## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

Cool, I played there many many times back in the early to mid-2000's. Used to get just a bit sketchy and colorful in there, but we always had fun. Long-running live venue, nice to hear they spruced it up. 

Static single-camera video with room mic (usually the camera's mic) can work for basic demo purposes. It will reveal what you look and sound like and that you can play. But it won't look very pro and it's tedious to watch more than a minute or two of a static shot. 

Best bet is to use multiple cameras from different angles and edit the video later, cutting from camera to camera during the song. To do that on the cheap, get 3 or 4 friends to video the same songs on their phone and have your laptop ready to copy their files on the set break. Later on, load all these into your video editor along with your best audio source (multi-channel board capture is best if you're equipped, otherwise a 2-ch board mix or a quality stereo room mic. You can also blend the board mix with a room mic for 'live' ambience). 

In the editor, first you need to align all the video clips with audio. It's pretty easy in Sony Vegas, for instance, because each of the phone videos has it's own (crappy) mic audio track which you can align visually on-screen by lining up the peaks on the waveforms. You just drag each clip in the timeline until all the peaks line up perfectly. Then mute all the crappy iPhone audio tracks so all the audio is coming only from your best source. Mix\EQ audio to taste, and use the editor to create cuts from camera to camera and overlay cool logos and song titles... don't forget your website. 

Easy peasy  

Have fun at The Crossing!


----------



## LastShot (Jun 4, 2015)

Hey Robboman, thanks for the reply. Fantastic idea, don't know why I didn't think of it. I think we will setup the camera as a static video source and get a few friends do some video with their cameras from different angles, I can then mix them all together. Because of the different video qualities, etc... it will have a real DYI, Indie kind of look. I'll just have to check if the sound guy can get us the audio from the board... great advice, this could be awesome.

Btw, Border Crossing has been cleaned up and they are working hard to make it a premier live music venue. They have live music 6 times a week and have really stepped up the stage and sound. We are really looking forward to playing there.


----------

