For those of you who are into choirs, here's a clip from my latest project. More importantly for us videographers, it was filmed with one camera, hand-held.
The client just wanted "impressions" of a number of concerts and didn't have the budget for two (or more) camera teams at each venue. There were also numerous concerts at the same time, so it was very much a case of turn-up-and-shoot-and-go.



http://media.putfile.com/Europa-Cantat-Church-Choirs

Wow! The choir was excellent and your camera and editing superb! Your client sure got his money's worth.

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System - Athlon 1.4GHz, Win98, Hauppauge PVR250 receiver and compressor.
Software -Magix Movie Edit Pro 10, Nero 6 + NeroVision Express, Moho 4.61, PSP 8.1, Bryce, Quicktime 6.52 pro, Goldwave 5, DVD-Lab.
Cameras - Panasonic GS9, Canon ES8400V, Canon EOS D20 and Canon A70

Very nice- that the one where the sound got screwed, sounded fine to me here.

What camera did you use, some the shots, even with the compression, look very polished.

At he end it looks like a classical gastonbury.

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JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Thanks chaps.

The camera was a Sony PD170, edited with Premiere Pro.

What I missed was a tripod, there's a fair bit of wobble in a few of the shots and I had great difficulty holding the PD170 still. I tried using a monopod and couldn't get to grips with the PD170 although I have no problems with holding shoulder mounted camcorders steady.

Some of the movements made with the PD170, which I thought would have been easier with a smaller camcorder and flip-out screen, aren't as smooth as they should be, the extra weight of a shoulder-mounted cam certainly seems to help smooth out the bumps. A big thumbs down for the Sony wide-angle adapter too. The one Sony make for the PD170 is only a 0.7 (as opposed to an 0.5) and becomes very soft (ie unsharp) as soon as you try to zoom through it. This meant that for every situation where you might want to zoom you had to unscrew the lenshood, unscrew the adapter, screw on the lenshood, get your breath back, then shoot.

I was also disappointed in the flip-out viewfinder in that it only showed about 80% of what was shot. This meant that, in the edit I could see that the compositions had a bit "extra" around the edges so objects which I thought were out of shot, can be seen on computer playbacks. This isn't a problem with those who'll watch the DVD on a television as the viewfinder is (more-or-less) the same area as the average domestic telly but since more and more people watch DVDs on a computer nowadays, they get stuff which even I didn't see when shooting!

Hmm, I like my old but heavy shoulder mount vx9000 cos all that weight cuts out those nasty high frequency vibes. I have heard in other places that sony make crap convertors. Mine is a Kenco 0.5 50 quid cheepo. Zooms 90% of the way in then goes soft.

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I have two prejudices - I am anti HDV for consumer camcorders, and I eat mooks who claim to be pro wedding vidders and ask dumb questions.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Was it just the one camera? Your editing is excellent and one would be forgiven for thinking it was a multicamera setup!

How did you record the sound?

Good vid although the subject matter isn't my cup of tea exactly - I have to appreciate the post vid!

Excellent!

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Yep, it is a single camera shoot. I had the advantage that I would be editing my own material and so knew the shots I had in the can, and what was required as "cutaways".

Thanks for the compliment.

The sound is a sore point. the twit who was employed (by me, at great expense) to record the sound, wasn't as good as he claimed. The South-American music should have been recorded as stereo by a pair of Sennheiser MKH-40 mics into a Marantz PMD660, unfortunately the soundie mixed both mics into one track, so the stereo effect was lost. Some stereo was "faked" in post by judicious use of the pan-pot and the on-camera microphone.
The sound in the Cathedral is courtesy of the sound team who did the PA and recorded one of their feeds for me.

The music in this clip isn't what I'd normally chose to listen to either. This is the only song from the Peruvian/Bololivian/whatever group without those awful pan-pipes. I couldn't bear editing those for hours, so I waited until they performed without flutes.