Lessons Learned From a Live Shoot That Went Awry

当你看完刚刚拍摄的镜头后做的第一件事就是购买另一件音频/视频设备时，这绝不是一个好兆头. So it was with my shoot last night; despite auspicious beginnings, 在最糟糕的时间，我经历了可能是我一生中最糟糕的枪击. 继续读下去，也许你可以在即将到来的拍摄中避免同样的问题. 我还将介绍Premiere Pro中可用的不同过滤器来解决这个问题, which in my case was blurry video.

To start at the beginning, 这是对我一直支持的国会候选人的一次免费宣传, about two weeks before the election. 那是一个市政厅会议，地点是一家剧院，离我住的地方大约80分钟路程, so build in about three hours of packing, unpacking, and commuting time.

这次活动的志愿者推动者是我的好朋友，也是一个伟大的推动者, 但不要考虑灯光和声音会影响视频质量. 所以，我按照她的要求做好了准备，但不知道会发生什么. Surprisingly, the conditions were optimal. That is, the stage was beautifully well lit, 音板就在我设置的地方, and the soundboard technician-friendly and helpful.

我做了自我介绍，然后问:“你能从董事会给我什么建议吗??“不到两分钟，他就把XLR的输入完美地输入到我那台老旧但值得信赖的松下HMC150上. 大约五分钟后，我有清晰的音频和美丽的视频，如所示 Figure 1 (below; the fabulous Pointer Brothers).

Figure 1. Nice crisp video complemented by great audio.

Hubris Sets In

就在那时，我开始庆幸自己能提前思考，并从最近的一些经验中吸取教训. 大约两个月前，我在一个有音板的地方拍摄了另一个政治活动, but I didn’t bring any audio cables. 当另一个工作人员带着电缆进来，捕捉到原始音频时，我感觉自己像个业余爱好者. 这次我带了两根50英寸的电缆和一整套其他适配器.

我最近还为当地的一个剧团拍摄了《百家乐软件》. 我原计划用一台静态摄像机覆盖整个舞台, 但在最初的几分钟后，我决定放大镜头，跟随行动. However, because I thought I was going static, 相机在三脚架上没有平衡，平移和倾斜设置太紧, 在前55分钟的表演中，镜头出现了一些小跌落和抖动. This time, I balanced the camera and tuned the settings for smooth, drama-free coverage from the start.

实际上，我正在考虑写一篇文章，说明这次拍摄是我最近经历的完美高潮. Then the band twanged out its last chords and harmonies, the MC strode on stage to introduce the candidate, and my perfect shoot fell to pieces.

The Shoot Falls to Pieces

First to go was audio. 当音板的人做了一些调整，从音乐切换到人声的XLR信号趋于平缓, and suddenly, I had nothing. I frantically asked the soundboard guy what happened, but he had no answer, so I quickly changed Input 1 to the onboard mic. 然后我接上了霰弹枪麦克风，这是我的主要选择，并将其插入2输入. I had decent sound by the time the candidate started talking.

我用过很多次音板，从来没有像这样失败过. Next time, I’ll keep the shotgun (or another alternative) attached, so if the soundboard fails, I won’t have to make any hardware adjustments. Or, if possible, I’ll mic the speaker up with my own gear.

Just after I got the audio under control, 候选人决定跳进舞台下面的井里，以便更好地与听众交流. He’s a great speaker, and of course was entirely visible to the audience, but without any direct lighting, he looked like someone in witness protection to my camera (Figure 2, below). 我的虹膜已经张开了，所以我所能做的就是增加一些增益, 但我决定推迟，并尝试在Premiere Pro中修复它. 与此同时，我找到了一个工作人员，可以请他回到舞台上.

Figure 2. Candidate turns to witness protection.

In due time this happened, but after returning, the candidate stayed on the front edge of the stage, not the middle, which was well-lit (Figure 3, below). 拍过现场视频的人都知道，光线不足是一个经常出现的问题, so I wasn’t worried; again, 我可以用Premiere Pro的Lumetri Color控件把它调亮.

Figure 3. Candidate back on stage but in front of the lights

In the camera’s LCD panel, the video looked fine. But when I loaded the footage into Premiere Pro, 我立刻发现这位候选人几乎从头到尾都很模糊. Why? 因为，相机自动对焦在候选人身后明亮的标志上，而不是候选人本人.

The bottom line is that a well-lit object, pattern, 或者扬声器后面的标志是一个红旗，上面写着“手动对焦”, manual focus.否则，最好的情况是，标识前面光线充足的主体可能会经常失焦. Worst case, if the speaker moves from well-lit regions on the stage, he or she will be out of focus, and the sign will look great, though that will provide no consolation.

Of course, it’s tough to manually focus on a 3.5” LCD; hence, 我为我的摄像机购买了一个7英寸HDMI显示器，大约15分钟后，我在Premiere Pro中看到了这段视频.