Cats, the (school) musical.

[Gorf]

Sam's school are doing a "review" of Cats at the end of term, and I've been collared into filming it and trying to source a PA for them to use. I think I'm covered in that respect, but I want to have some sort of warm up before the thing starts (parents mostly show up 30-45min before the start so they can get a seat).

I was thinking of having a LOLCATS slideshow running, obviously with the more profane language removed. Does anyone have any inspiration for alternatives?

Incidentally, if anyone fancies trying their hand at online vision mixing from two cameras, I'm hoping to have access to the projector too, so I can feed live video from the cameras. The problem with schoolkids is they are short, so late-arriving parents can't see them. Solution: a rock concert-style projected feed. Got the gear, but I'll be busy filming so I can't man it.

 

[Cop]

Incidentally, if anyone fancies trying their hand at online vision mixing from two cameras, I'm hoping to have access to the projector too, so I can feed live video from the cameras. The problem with schoolkids is they are short, so late-arriving parents can't see them. Solution: a rock concert-style projected feed. Got the gear, but I'll be busy filming so I can't man it.

I assume you are having one camera static then, or do you have another camera operator? When is the production?

 

[Gorf]

Dress rehearsal is during school hours Fri 11 Jul with the productions taking place early evening Mon 14 and afternoon & early evening Tue 15.

I know I should leave one camera static, but I'll probably move them both alternately. It makes for a more interesting video - although I'll have to be careful having just onboard sound from an XL1. If I can get a quality audio feed into the XM1 it won't be so bad.

Does anyone know if S-Video output from DV cameras goes through the internal compressor/decompressor? It just occurred to me that if I'm taking all this gear, I might as well capture the video mixer output as a finished, ready-edited DVD, rather than muck about editing the tapes in MediaStudio. There's little point bothering, though, if there's no quality advantage...

I just thought of something I can do for the early arrivals - spoof adverts for local businesses (such as the local hairdresser: "Specialists with problem hair" & a picture of Medusa)

Sorry for the rambling post. Typing while thinking only works if you're drunk...

 

[Cop]

Does anyone know if S-Video output from DV cameras goes through the internal compressor/decompressor? It just occurred to me that if I'm taking all this gear, I might as well capture the video mixer output as a finished, ready-edited DVD, rather than muck about editing the tapes in MediaStudio. There's little point bothering, though, if there's no quality advantage...

To be honest, I would worry too much about the quality, parents just want it as it is, as long as the quality isn't bad.

Oh and make sure you copy protect the DVD's if your selling them - parents are fuckers for copying the discs of eachother. We made that mistake at Shooters once, we didn't make our money back because we forgot to tick a box before burning them.

 

[Booth]

Remember that S-Video will give you less rez and a lesser quality feed than DV video, something you may want to bear in mind.

How did you copy protect it Cop? I thought copy protection during authoring was only to 'leave room' for when the DVD is glass mastered.

 

[Gorf]

I didn't think you could copy-protect DVDR, I thought it was only glass mastered (replicated) DVDs...

I don't profit from the things- the proceeds go to school fund, so even though I should be, I'm not terribly bothered about piracy.

When you mentioned "Shooters" it jogged my memory, and I ended up at the Shooters Media web site. Why is that nagging at the back of my mind - have we done a wedding or coporate event together? The website hasn't (or doesn't seem to have) been updated since 2006, so I can't find anything relevant there, but I'm sure I've seen it before. Perhaps, it's just been mentioned somewhere here on the forum...