Which cams for videoing a band?

[Driller]

My 3 piece needs to make a couple of videos of some songs to present to venues to get gigs. The audio will be picked up by dedicated mics and go to a Mac but I need 3 cams to simultaneously record the musicians.

I don’t see the point of forking out serious dosh for GoPro type things. I was thing more camcorder type things of there seems to be a multitude of Chinese knock offs now on Amazon for about fifty quid (and 8 for the fruitbat)

Are these any good? Any tips for getting a decent result kine lighting etc? Thanks!

[megaphone]

You could just use a good quality iPhones and then use iMovie on the Mac to edit and add the audio in. Add some titles etc and some credits.

[Driller]

Well I thought of that but I was looking for something I could set up and leave set up with brackets for fixing the cams onto stands etc

[robsa]

Cheap cameras are ste, I bought a £150 'go-pro' style one with good reviews and though it was awful. I would definitely use the most recent iPhone you can get your hands on, they are so much better.

You can buy a smartphone holder with a tripod mount, nice and easy.

[peterperkins]

Filming and recording is the relatively easy bit.

You can use borrowed IPhones or proper gopros etc as has been stated..
Get some good lighting sorted ..

Editing the footage and audio into a decent video will be the tough part unless you have a lot of experience with video editing software etc.

Maybe hire a local pro to do it for you..

[therams]

Depends on how professional you want to get and your budget. IPhones will be great for capturing the video but you’ll need some skills in final cut/avid/premiere/resolve to put it all together

Here’s a low end but more professional solution, but requires real cameras rather than iPhone https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/hyper...

Hire in the kit from somewhere like this (there are many Pro rental companies, the whole industry is based on renting rather than buying) . https://www.visuals.co.uk/virental

Edited by therams on Sunday 26th September 09:38

[Driller]

Thanks for the replies and advice chaps. I would just reiterate that this isn’t for a “music video”, it’s just to give potential venues an idea of what we’re capable of as a live band.

It didn’t seem intuitive to me but by the sound of it the whole iPhone thing is going to be the best plan abd then iMovie or whatever to edit.

[andyA700]

Cheap s/h DSLR with video capability, the quality will be really excellent.

[xx99xx]

You could also perform and film each song several times from different angles to get the same outcome. I.e. 1 audio file and several different visual files to edit into one.

Alternatively, a film/editing student would probably be willing to do it for free/minimal cost as work experience/coursework.