I found that one of the most surprising challenges I faced during filming for this video project was filming in the pub where Off Topic had a residency. This had a huge impact on how I was going to record in the first place, as I could not be stationary during the entirety of the gig due to their being a number of people moving around and either getting in the way of the camera or having the risk of knocking the equipment.
In order to first combat the filming issue, I decided I would have to handhold the camera rather than use any stabilising equipment or the tripod. Even using a stabiliser had the risk of someone knocking into it and by keeping the camera close to me I could use it to capture exactly what I was seeing. While this meant that footage ran the risk of being more shaky, I was able to navigate the camera better without the risk of having any alcohol spilt on the equipment. However by doing this I forfeited the footage looking as professional as it could, as I would have to move while filming every now and again in order to keep the equipment safe which made the camera jerk to another side too quickly.
Lighting was another issue I did not foresee, as I believed I could correct it myself using the functions on the camera. However when the band was recording they used a number of multi-coloured strobe lights which were constantly flashing and changing colour and so in the end I had to pick a setting in which I could best cover the scope of colour without washing out the band members or the rest of the pub.
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I then had to figure out where to best record separate audio, as the level of noise created by the instruments was too loud for the camera to capture properly. I chose to place the recorder with a friend near the front of the stage on a table that was apart from the other pub go-ers but close enough that the sound would register. However later on I found that the audio from the camera was actually better than that of the audio recorder, which was really surprising as I thought the quality would be better with a separate recording. That being said, the majority of the audio from the audio recorder was better and so I believe using both pieces of equipment was the best course of action to ensure the best result.
Overall, I found that recording in a pub was extremely challenging and did limit how well I was able to obtain footage in a way that didn’t risk the equipment being damaged. However I believe that filming the gig was the best course of action in order to best portray the band in my own project.