Recently I did a two-camera shoot of a dance academy's end-of-year performance of dance and music, including a soloist from overseas. I ran two cameras. I ran two cameras. I had them set up side-by-side on tripods, one mostly on a wide shot, taking in the full stage, and one that I zoomed for closer shots. The academy director wanted the feet always visible, so the usual concept of a close-up shot was too tight. Of course, the wide shot ended up being too wide, so I was tweaking it for many of the pieces, so I really was shooting with two cameras. And changing tapes. And keeping an eye on the audio level. And switching back and forth between auto and manual focus. All the usual, times two.
However, at home with eight tapes of footage and my edit system, life just got easier. Unlike the Media 100 upon which I learned digital editing, my current system lets me switch between feeds of video. I can sync up the tapes and view them simultaneously, choosing the best shot as I watch, and change audio feeds too. In fact, I could sync up and edit a 16-camera shoot. (Whoa... but seriously, if you're going to have sixteen cameras going, why not just get a switcher and switch it live?) And because it's all digital, I can change my mind and tweak the edit or change the shot as many times as I want before I run off the masters and hand them over to the dance academy.
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