Top ten tips for school videos.
1-audio
Think about the audio. Most school performances are 30 minute plays, award ceremonies or 30 – 45 minute concerts. You have your video camcorder in hand ready to capture your 1st grader’s play and you are thinking about how it is all looking in the LCD screen. But you will also want to think about how it will record everything your child says or sings. The video is one thing but if you can’t hear what they are saying it is no good. I have read this before and experienced it too, an audience will tolerate a poor looking video but will get up and leave if the audio is bad. Now bad is a relative term. Sound that is so low you can’t turn it up enough or sound that has a lot of static or popping or people talking over the important audio, that’s bad. If you can hear it clearly but there is some hiss or hum that you would really have to listen for, that’s acceptable for what we are shooting here. We are not making a Hollywood movie, reality cable show or even videotaping the event as a business. These are our personal home videos and a few rough edges are okay. That being said here are some ideas to help your videos to sound as good as they can.
If it is a large school concert or ceremony most times it will be in a larger room, church etc and have a sound system. The closer you are to the loudspeakers the better your camcorder’s microphone will work. Wherever you sit it should sound pretty good because the sound systems are usually setup so most everyone can hear, as long as you don’t have a “talker” sitting in front of you or a cell phone go off. Nothing ruins a good video quicker than all of a sudden someone’s big loud voice booming in or a silly musical ring tone from a cell phone. And speaking of talkers, don’t be one! Resist the urge to narrate or comment while shooting. Let the performers do the talking. You will appreciate this later as well as the other parents trying to shoot it too. You can add a narration by turning the camcorder on you later after the show. Keep rolling from start to finish if you have enough battery and tape/hard drive room, etc. I have ruined a couple videos by stopping or pausing when it looked like a good place to pause because I wasn’t really listening and then after watching it later I cringed to hear that I cut off the host / announcer in the middle of an important message. Next goof was stopping in between songs only to have the performers start right into the next song and I cut off about three seconds waiting for the tape to roll. Wait for a definite stop before hitting pause. Better yet. Let it roll!
Here is a really cool trick that I have learned. If your camcorder has an a/v output jack like the kind you plug your camcorder to the t.v. with, then you can plug in a set of earbuds as headphones. Plug the cord into the jack marked a/v on your camcorder and one earbud side will give you the audio and the other side will give you the video signal which ends up being just a lot of noise. Don’t wear that one. Use a pair you don’t mind cutting, because you will cut off the side that gives you the noise and leave the other side that gives you the audio. To cut, make sure you have the side that is video signal and just has noise in it. Mark it, put a piece of tape on it, etc. then take side cutters, nippers, scissors, whatever you have and cut just that little earbud cord a little above the point where the two cords join into one cord. It will ruin that set for stereo use but you will have a mono earpiece like the pro’s use. Wear one in either ear so you can hear what’s being recorded in the camcorder and still have an open ear if someone needs your attention. I learned this trick from watching some pro’s shooting video for the news. Maybe all that sounds like too much but if you are up for it, try it, you’ll love it! If you know and trust your camcorder will record audio correctly or feel silly or just don’t like wearing earbuds then don’t worry about it.
Smaller performances, ceremonies and plays will generally be in classrooms and there will not usually be a sound system so you may need to sit as close as possible for the camcorder’s microphone to pick up the sound. That’s the best option for getting good sound. Sit close. The microphone on the camcorder is small and on the front so the closer you get it to the sound the better it will work. But everyone can’t sit in the front row (though they may try!) so if you are stuck for a good spot, my preference is actually to stand up in the back with my camcorder on a *tripod (another tip) set up at eye level or high enough to see over seated people’s heads so I’m not picking up as much of them if they are talking. Even hand held if you stand, you are still above people’s heads so your camcorder’s microphone is above their heads too. Now granted the camcorder will pick up more of the room sound if you are in the back, but you will still get pretty good audio as most classrooms are pretty small. Higher end camcorders have a microphone input where you could plug in a shotgun or zoom microphone and get the best sound yet. These pick up sound from right in front and don’t get any sound from the sides. They are a little pricey for good ones and you have to have a camcorder that will have a microphone input on it. Most people don’t use the added external microphone feature even though they may have it. Also be careful of finger noises and rustling around on the camcorder because the microphone is right there picking up everything. You may sometimes hear the sound of the zoom button if you zooming in or out. That’s okay. We can live with that. If you nervously tap on it or just fumble about creating a lot of unwanted and completely avoidable noises then that’s what we don’t want. All in all camcorders will generally produce pretty good audio especially if you really try to help it.
Finally if you want really good audio, plan on editing your videos and don’t want to be in front the whole time, you could a separate audio recorder like a digital voice recorder and place it somewhere near the front, preferably a safe and out of the way spot. I’ve done this myself and seen it done by a few other dads. Make sure the battery is full and it works okay. Maybe give it a quick 1…2…3… test before to make sure. Place it on a table or window sill or any flat, stable surface near the front and turn it on and start recording. Leave it there until the end of the performance. (Keep an eye on it of course you don’t want it walking away in the fists of a curious infant sibling). Then go get it and stop recording. You will have a really good consistent audio of the performance. This technique only works if you *edit your videos (another tip) because you will have to use a video editing program and add it to the video and sync it with the camcorder’s audio so the mouths match what’s being said. It’s really quite easy to do as this is one of my personal favorite techniques.
These are some ideas for getting good audio. Pick one or use them all.
• Sit close.
• Wear earbuds.
• Move back and up.
• Use a zoom mic.
Use a separate audio reorder.
Have Fun.

Jeff