Event Filming is Once In A Lifetime

Of course, if you film events for a living then these happen every week. 

And yet for the event organiser they are, invariably, special and rare occasions, so as well as preparing for akin to a military campaign this planning also includes space for coordinating the needs of a film crew.

Attention to detail, a temperament towards being inconspicuous, plus all-round professionalism is the very definition of a dependable live events film crew. How many operators, first and foremost?  The size of the event will dictate this.  Where to place the safety camera, which obtains full and uninterrupted coverage that later forms the foundation of the edit?  Next, how many operators will be moving around and within the mainstay action, and what will be each one’s function: to capture close-ups, long-shots, gimbal-based tracking shots? Any drone shots?  And stepping all the way back, what are to be our establishing shots (often wide angles of the venue)?

To be clear, there can be no retakes – no asking any delegate to repeat his or her action so we may perfectly capture the moment.  ‘Perfectly’ is ever-unfolding in the moment, and an experienced crew would have the experience to know how to film it.  Nerves have been long-stilled and attuned to the task.

Finally, what is to be the closing shot?  If, say, it’s a wedding then this is the bride & groom setting off on new adventures together – that’s the metaphor.  If it’s an awards ceremony then it is the triumphant winners in euphoria.  We decide our ending in advance so we know which narrative we are to construct in the edit.

Then, after wiping the sweat from our brow because one more live event has been successfully filmed, we pull all the footage into the edit suite, sync up, review everything, then begin the task of selecting shots and angles so to reproduce the magic of what was a highly memorable and enjoyable day.