Den’s production Update – Dec 2011
Duran Duran Live…..well maybe.
So back in May, I was asked to DP a multi camera gig shooting on Super 35mm with Director James Tonkin from Hangman Studios. We planned to use Sony F3′s, FS100′s, a Sony SRW 9000 and some minicams on stage. But sadly due to vocal problems with the lead singer at the time, the gig was postponed. This can happen on productions although fortunately, not all that often. We had gone to Berlin in Germany, rigged the venue and were setting and testing camera positions the night before the show. The sound system was in place, the lighting rig was in place, 2 of the 4 band members were in the venue, then we got the call we were dreading. But you can’t have a live show without the lead singer.
Fortunately Simon Le Bon has fully recovered and now the band are continuing the tour albeit a few months later than planned.
I was filming behind the scenes at the time as I wanted to show you the process we go through on these big shows but was holding off showing you this because I was always hopeful that we might get the chance to shoot one of the new shows and therefore the complete project…
Well, we are in negotiations with the band’s management about possibly filming a Gig next week. And this is why I wanted to write to you about this. You see you might think that these things have months of planning. The truth is that in many cases we get very short notice. For example James called me 2 days ago to say he’d had a call from a Music Management Company based in LA who represented a Danish Artist. They wanted to shoot a music video in Copenhagen, Denmark in 4 days time. So James called me, then wrote a treatment for the band. We started planning a 1 day shoot, not knowing if we’d win the gig. So the plan was to shoot on the Sony FS100 but use a Pl to E-mount adaptor. I wanted to shoot with Arri Superspeeds because much of the planned filming would take place at night. [private_ICFM]
Arri Zeiss Superspeeds
You see, despite not knowing if we’d even win the gig, we still went into full on pre-production planning mode, pencilling kit with hire companies, planning logistics, looking at flight times etc etc.
Anyway, it’s now Wednesday evening and we haven’t heard back from the Bands management so we’re figuring the gig went to someone else. This is not uncommon. A manager will put out to tender to 5/6 directors to pitch an idea then he/she will present the ideas to the band and the band will choose the concept they like the most.
But the process remains the same. You have to plan meticulously and things don’t always go to plan.
So back to Duran Duran. One phone call later and we’re now prepping a potential 13 camera shoot for Dec 16th in Manchester at the MEN Arena.
MEN Arena, Manchester
This is a much larger venue than we’d first spec’d, so we need to take our original camera plan (see below) and do some reworking of positions and lens choices.
Live Show Camera Plot
The biggest single challenge in a show like this is the sheer distance you need to be from the stage due to where you can safely put cameras in an auditorium filled with 20,000 paying guests. So focal length of lenses becomes critical but also the ability to keep the shot steady.
We previously did a number of lens tests in a park trying to figure out frame sizes and distances…. it may surprise you to learn that we try to figure things out in this way but our problem was we could not physically see the venue until the day before the show and we had to hire lenses and tripods in advance. So you have to call on 17 years of experience and some advance guesswork.
Here is a .pdf article I wrote about the experience:
In this video diary we made while preparing the last shoot I show you how we go about preparing for a shoot like this.
Naturally, if we get the go ahead next Friday 16th, I’ll be bringing you an exclusive behind the scenes. At the time of writing it’s between us and a 3D production company…. I will let you know.
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160 days ago
Yeah, that’s the way things go. What happens to all the expenses incurred? i.e.: rentals, travel, time ….
Great material non the less!.
thanks.
160 days ago
In this case the production was quite complex. The band were doing the gig for free and to get PR for their upcoming European tour ( at the time)
So I was being hired by hangman studios but they we actually working for a telecoms sponsor in Germany via a creative agency. So the filming was being funded by a corporate sponsor who would then brand the event as ‘Presented by ….’. So when the gig got cancelled there was a fair bit of debate on who’s Insurance should cover the cancellation.
The general rule of thumb in these large budget events where kit hire and travel cost can rack up quite quickly is to charge 50% of the budget ‘up front’ so you don’t end up cash flowing the project yourself.
For this gig I charged 100% of my original fee simply because I actually went Germany and was ther for 4 days. The fact that the gig got cancelled was not ultimately my liability. It’s one of the toughest parts of working in this industry because relationships and good will are so important and you need to maintain good relationship because you want to be hired again. Fortunately I have a very good relationship with James at Hangman and so we discussed everything before I invoiced.
They then had quite a battle with the sponsor who wanted their 50% back but logic prevailed. We had to supply original receipts for every cent that was spent and ultimately they relented ands agreed to pay. But it took 3 months of negotiating.
It’s important that you protect yourself and are firm when things go wrong if circumstances are outwith your control.
159 days ago
Hi Den, I will cross my fingers this works out for you over the the 3D company! Thanks for the insight into planning for this potential event.
154 days ago
What a great opportunity. Good luck on this coming together, finally and for sure stoked to see your upcoming, inner circle, content.
152 days ago
Den – looking forward to hearing more about the Dec 16th opportunity… And thank you for putting this together, along with the explanation above about liability, insurance and simply protecting one’s business interest.
This type of content, in my opinion, is exactly why I joined the Inner Circle. Practical and real-world, definitely thought provoking…
118 days ago
Like Brian said, exactly.
118 days ago
Also, would be interested in any tech details e.g. were the F3′s each recording SDI and was it SLog etc. (settings/profiles). Were they all set clock-timecode? I guess 19 odd cameras bolted in highly-separated places of varying accessibility woud preclude jam syncs. And/or were they genlocked in separate bunches? I’d imagins PluralEyes would be out of its depth, given the likely issues and variations of sound recorded at each camera, not to mention the “speed of sound” lag-effects at such a huge place.
Aside from syncing, was audio taken off the sound-desk and if so then what about the issue that a mix (at sounddesk) for a venue tends not to be balanced in the same way as for recording (or were there separate mixes for both targets – venue & recording – or did you simply get raw dumps of all audio channels to mix separately at your own convenience)?
Then what about that awesome stage-light – did it present a challenge? I’m guessing saturation as well as exposure uncertainties here, pre-event. I see you only got to see the venue the day before, did you get the opportunity to be there at night with the lights testing/rehearsing? Or did you have to just wing-it (based on your years of experience I mean).
On the more human side, did you have time to cross-brief with the gig production people, e.g. to exchange what each side needed, what was going to happen when etc.? Or was there no time on either side for much of that, requiring use of just “The Force”? And was there a game-plan or did each cam op work pretty independently according to their own intuition, or were they occasionally directed live by radio or gestures or “telepathy” (that’ll be “The Force” again I guess)?
Lots of questions – I realise it’s your blog not a QA forum, but just letting you know some other kinds of things it would also be interesting to hear more about. I’ve done live gigs, but only at planetary level, not galactic!
Lastly, did you invoice each Duran separately
118 days ago
Hi David
All great questions and I will create a detailed response in time. As an aside If you are coming to BVE I’ll be hosting a seminar where I’ll be explaining but more about it also. The Production Show Theatre. But for the benefit of everyone I’ll be delving more deeply into the process in future tutorials