Many of us will have been asked to video
a wedding or two. The form of service is well known to everyone and
one can plan the event in some detail without discussing very much with
anyone.However in March this year a group of RFVM members were asked
to make a film in a church for which we had no previous experience.
The story began in the early months of the year when Brian Hibbitt,
as Chairman of the club, was approached to make a film of the induction
of the new vicar, Father Keith Kinnaird, into St. Andrews church who
are, in effect, our landlords. The significance of this was not lost
on Brian and he sought to create a team of members to carry out the
task.
In the early stages we knew that we would not be able to move around
the church once the service had started. We also knew that there was
to be present a very distinguished list of church dignitaries including
Deacons, Arch Deacons and none less than the Bishop of Oxford himself.
It was our good fortune that on the Monday prior to the ceremony the
church had planned a rehearsal. Brian's team of Laurie Joyce, Phil
Bryant, Peter & Bruce Dawes and Neil Hodgson assembled along with
a number of other club members and began planning the "shoot"
around the ceremonial events that were being described to us. The
first problem was the positioning of the cameras and the wishes of
the various officials of St. Andrews. Each one of these seemed to
have a strong opinion on where we should be and some, it seemed, thought
that was not inside the church! However as our services had been requested
by the incoming vicar and approved by his superiors we chose to work
around the obstacles as best we could.
Our plan was to have 4 cameras covering the ceremony from inside;
one either side of the nave, one looking down the nave from the back
of the church and one from the doorway to the vestry alongside the
altar. Not having the luxuiy of scaffolding, such as is used on Songs
of Praise, we bade to improvise with platforms and supports. In addition
to the 3 on-camera microphones, one Seinheiser directional microphone
was placed near to the step up into the choir to pick up any dialogue
that was lower in volume in that area.
Two additional cameras were used externally to cover the procession
to and from the church. Peter and Bruce were chosen for this lonely
task and were ably assisted by Callum McFayden.
On Saturday 25th March we gathered about an hour before the proceedings
to set up, test sound, white balance and focus. Laurie took a vast
array of "cutaway" shots in preparation for the edit. As
we unpacked I found that the space I had been allotted was no longer
there, being occupied by a book of remembrance and display of flowers.
Neither were to be moved, I was told. I therefore had to shoot slightly
off centre. It was not ideal but there was no alternative.
Brian had his own problems too. As the choir arrived an extra chair
appeared in front of his camera together with a six foot four inch
chorister!! The ceremony was very colourful and somewhat spectacular
in an ecclesiastical sense.
There were very colourful clothes and plenty of highly polished silverware.
Each camera had a specific brief to cover but, once the ceremony had
started, there was no contact between us. This was to prove to be
a problem later.
The ceremony took around 2 hours, so there was some changing of tapes
and power. I was lucky as I could still access a mains power socket,
discovered during rehearsal. Afterwards we gathered back at Laurie's
house and discussed the event. It now became clear that we had four
cameras, each with 2 hours of film, plus those pictures taken externally.
Sound would be variable due to the differing proximity to the "action".
Laurie and Brian volunteered to take all the footage and edit it together.
This was a massive undertaking and only then did the lack of communication
become an issue. In the main, when one camera was refocusing or reframing
another could take up the shot. However, sure enough there were times
when every camera was busy changing something or another and there
was no useable shot of the scene for perhaps a few seconds. Cutaways
to the rescue!
Eventually, afterl 40 man-hours Laurie and Brian managed to produce
a 90 minute video. This was shown to the vicar and received a great
deal of praise. At a subsequent screening members of the congregation
came along and placed orders for 20 copies.
The vicar, Father Keith, has stated that all proceeds should go back
to the club.T'his was a generous offer that was accepted following
a very successful team project from which we all gained new experience.
I hope that this will encourage the club to invest in some communication
equipment to enable several cameramen to keep in touch in future events
where we are covering events without the luxury of a master control
centre.
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