At Stuck Up Films we are starting 2024 with a weekly release of a three-part miniseries of live performances by Finney at the Underground from October 2023. A shoot that to date has been our most difficult to complete (due to various trials and tribulations I'll cover in the blog), but also the shoot that I'd comfortably say Mitch and I have learned from the most as filmmakers.
Why we love shooting live music
Live music is one of, if not my favourite thing to shoot. As someone who spends his free time at gigs and has decided to pick a career in filming things, shooting live music is a perfect synergy of my personal and professional life.
Whether it's the buzz of the lights, or the roar of the crowd seeing their favourite band on stage, or the energy of the band headlining their biggest show. Everything can go wrong, and everything can go right, it's live, and Stuck Up Films are filming it!
In this blog, I'm going to analyse the two live shows we have had the pleasure to film and highlight the immense jump in quality that Mitch and I have managed to create in just six months with reference to Finney, as the comparison between both live shows of the same band is fantastic!
The Backyard
Our first experience shooting live music was in April 2023 when we filmed Finney's sell-out headliner at the Backyard. We shot, produced and edited two videos from the show 'Walking in the Rain' and 'Technicolour Daydream'.
We shot on two Canon C100s, both mounted on tripods. This was one of our main takeaways from the shoot, as although we had a certain element of movement from the cameras, this was minimal, and we weren't able to capture the full fluidity of the performance as the cameras were static.
Another mistake was the use of prime lenses. Although the use of primes gave the videos as an image quality that zooms may not have given us, this again added to the static nature of the final product as the inability to zoom into the individual members of the band.
In regards to camera placement, we had one C100 stage left and the other stage right allowing us to cover the whole stage when cutting between the two angles. Due to how the Backyard as a venue was set up, there are unfortunately two pillars on either side of the stage resulting in each camera angle only being able to cover 3 members of the band at a time, therefore we didn't have a 'true wide' shot. And we couldn't have moved the cameras further back as then we would be in and amongst the crowd which although the Finney fans were all calm and respectful of us and the cameras, it would have created an unnecessary risk to the equipment if, let's say, a drink is spilt near or someone attending were to fall.
The Underground
Six months later we filmed the band again, but this time at the Underground, this shoot was hit with challenges from the get-go (challenges that I believe we overcame wonderfully).
Challenge number 1, the Underground is an indoor venue, meaning camera settings will be different, lighting will be different, and so will sound and even the crowd, something we had to adjust to on the day.
Challenge 2, Mitchell was travelling back from Sheffield that day and much like a Mission Impossible film, this ETA was cutting it VERY close to the wire.
-Editor’s note from Mitch: He was exaggerating, we had plenty of time!
Challenge 3, the biggest roadblock, sound. The venue’s desk wasn't able to record audio to an acceptable standard on the day, meaning our only source of audio from that day was from an external memory stick that unfortunately recorded the show onto one track, making it impossible to separate the guitar from the bass, the drums from the keys. This made the sound we had to work with unusable as it was mixed for the room and not for a video. How did we manage to get over this immovable object? I'll explain later in the post-production section of the blog.
This shoot consisted of three cameras, a Canon C100 (wide) Sony FS5 (stage left) and Panasonic DVX200 (stage right), the FS5 and DVX200 both being equipped with zoom lenses elevated the results incredibly as when you watch the video(s) you can get a real sense of the energy of the day, almost as if you were really there. As for the C100, we fixed that on a tripod in the lighting box, allowing us a 3rd angle we can cut away to get the full scope of the stage.
We requested a barrier to be placed in front of the stage so that we could move freely with our cameras without posing a risk to the audience and them to us. This worked well not only for the safety element, but it also gave us more options for angles and positioning, resulting in the video not becoming static and boring over the three minutes.
This shoot was one of the most fun we have shot, with Mitch and I both looking to one another after the gig with the knowledge that we knew we had something special on our hands. Little did we know that was where the hard work would begin...
Post-production
Post-production for live music although can be difficult. Such as syncing the tracks, getting the camera angles in a multicam editing workspace (stay tuned for a later blog post from Mitch about how to do that), colour grading and bobs you're uncle. However, as mentioned earlier, through no fault of our own the sound couldn't be used. We discussed many options with the band on what we could do moving forward as no one wanted to waste the quality footage we had on our hands. So we originally settled on the idea of the band rerecording their set in a studio but as if it was live. After a couple of months of the band arranging the logistics of this, they concluded that it would be too costly and time-consuming. Therefore the use of the existing studio recordings was used instead.
Using studio recordings is risky however, as the energy of the recording may be different to the energy of the gig, guitar solos may be different, vocal cues may be lingered on for longer etc etc… making the syncing of the audio and visual difficult as it could result in us having to adjust every single frame to line the two elements up. That being said, we love a challenge at Stuck Up Films, so we got editing straight away!
Final thoughts
How did it turn out? Well, check out the playlist above to watch the performances as they release weekly. Turn on YouTube notifications to find out when another is available! Already watched them? Well now you know the process of making these videos, we recommend you watch them again, to get a whole new sense of insigh now you have the behind-the-scenes knowledge!
Tune into the blog next week where Mitch talks all things website, how to build one, why you need one and so much more.
Till then, thank you for reading - Tom :)
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