Also, be aware that you can freely mix 30p and 60i footage. Just use the standard Bluray or DVD 60i templates when you render to disk and run the 60i/30p mixed master through Handbrake's decomb for online viewing.

For a school play I would definitely choose 60i. Your camera will have greater light gathering ability with 60i and for a school play that will be more important.

I didn't look it up for your specific camera, but in 1080p mode, your ISO will probably be 400. In 1080i mode your ISO will probably be 800. With dual-row summation you will get twice the sensitivity.

John

Another vore for 60i for the same reason.
I'll also add my voice to those saying forget anything "auto" and do not even try to chase exposure. Set exposure for the brightest scene and don't touch it.

One other tip, try to get the camera close to the stage. Zoom lenses are fastest wide, you generally loose a stop or more over the zoom range. If you're right at the back of the venue and have to zoom right in you are loosing a lot of light.

Bob.

I film a number of school plays and dance recitals and I always use 60i. I have the same camera and I love it. I get crisp clean footage and no smear.

In addition to manual exposure, use manual focus. Set it to focus just slightly down from midstage. You don't want your autofocus thrashing about during blackouts.

Fantastic recommendations, all of you... your input is greatly appreciated. Exposure and audio are my critical factors. What complicates it is the 'live' nature of the recording. I have to shoot in the back as per the technical director, so live adjustments cause camera shake with the long zoom. Setting the exposure and locking it down is a good idea, but there is so many dim scenes I fear they will be too dark (especially if I limit the gain to reduce noise). The blown out faces during wide shots is a killer, most definitely. I would love to have someone riding my exposure remotely!! I try to remedy this by not zooming out too much and keeping as much of the lit set in the frame.

Basically, plays are a bear to shoot! But, on the bright side, the AX-2000 is eons beyond my GL-2 (the last cam I used for play recording). Plus, the acceptance level of parents buying the DVDs is ridiculously high, so I could probably phone in the job and still have parents love it because Timmy is on the screen. :-) Kidding of course, but it is nice to have 100 parents thank me for my work (even after I collect their money).

Thanks again all of you!

Dave

Exposure and audio are my critical factors.

If they have it, get a feed from the audio board.
Run a separate audio recorder such as one of the Zoom models as a backup.
It can be added into the project later.

...live adjustments cause camera shake with the long zoom.

The only cure for that is to get a better tripod or find a way to hold yours down tighter.

I would love to have someone riding my exposure remotely!!

As has already been mentioned, set your iris to manual and leave it there.
Try to go a rehearsal so you that you can figure this out before the big day.
If not, show up before the show opens, ask the TD to show you the brightest scene and adjust accordingly, preferably with a few performers on stage.
I do a lot of shooting at a local theatre and have learned that setting my iris to f 4.0 is best for my particular camera.
If the scene goes really dark or bright, I'll sneak it up or down but otherwise I leave it alone.

Basically, plays are a bear to shoot!

I've shot several over the years (all single camera) without ever attending any rehearsals (not a recommended practice BTW) and I love doing it!!
One eye is in the viewfinder and the other is watching the stage to see what's happening if I'm in on a tight shot.

Mike

Setting the exposure and locking it down is a good idea, but there is so many dim scenes I fear they will be too dark (especially if I limit the gain to reduce noise). The blown out faces during wide shots is a killer, most definitely. I would love to have someone riding my exposure remotely!! I try to remedy this by not zooming out too much and keeping as much of the lit set in the frame.
==============
I have been back and forth with this for years. Stage productions is basically what I shoot. In the end I decided to let the darkest parts of the image stay dark. I gave up chasing exposure quite some time ago. It ends up looking grainy and washed out too often and the blacks aren't black anymore. Moreover the constant ramping up and down of the exposure makes it look like the lighting was screwed up.
If a student (actor's) face is not able to be seen because they are in the dark, so be it. The choice is often that you have to wash out someone else's face to show the ones in the dark. I am most often around f/4 and I change it only when there is a really really dark scene. With HD TVs they often show a lot more detail in the dark areas than the CRTs did.

In terms of the incandescent ball that is supposed to be a face, there isn't much you can do about it at that distance. I mix rehearsal footage (close-ups) with show footage, but that is a lot of work and you have to make sure that everyone is dressed the same as for the show and that their hair is the same including things they wear on their heads.

John

When shooting stage performances, I always expose for the brightest lighting, color balance on incandescent, and everything else is the director's vision.

If the director wants to use a spot to highlight an actor, then don't fight him by trying to bring out the actors in the shadow.

If the director wants the stage in a blue wash, then don't fight him by trying to color correct the scene.

Thanks for all the advice... I appreciate it.

After much testing during dress rehearsals, I wound up videotaping in1080-60i on (gasp!) full automatic. The resulting video was unbelieveable. Compared to performance I shot last year using my GL-2, this year's performance video is so clear and detailed... even when downrezzed to DVD.

Here's a snippet from the play if you're interested in seeing how it turned out:

http://www.vimeo.com/19789130

Your video looked very good. Here are a few ideas for how to make the next one look even better:

1. Use the "Spotlight" feature. There is nothing wrong with using full automatic settings, but you will not get the optimal exposure settings when you do this. In particular, look at the light shirts and watch closely what happens when you zoom out. What you will see is that the auto-exposure opens up, and those shirts get over-exposed and you lose all the detail in the highlights. The spotlight function will, in most situations, make sure that the highlights don't get blown out.

2. Create presets that use the +-EV function. Turn on the Zebra setting on your camera and, during the performance, if you see zebras (on the 100+ setting) showing up in major portions of the field of view, select one of your EV presets. This function takes the auto exposure value and then subtracts (or adds) exposure from that preset value. Doing this lets you still use the auto exposure so you don't have to worry each minute about focus, sound levels, exposure levels, white balance, etc., but still lets you quickly take corrective action if the exposure suddenly gets screwed up.

3. Use the indoor white balance preset, or create a custom white balance before the performance, if you can get the stage manager to give you some basic lighting with no gels. The white balance on your clip definitely does not look correct to me.

4. Try to get a direct connection to the soundboard, especially if the performers are mic'd or if there is a mic down on stage that is feeding the house speakers. Use some other device (a second camcorder, for instance) to record that audio. This is probably one of the most important "tricks" to improving the end product.

5. Use a second camera. I always use a second camera when shooting stage performances. I set one camera to capture the entire stage, and just let it grind away (although I always check it a few times during the performance just to make sure it is still working, etc.). This second camera gives me a backup in case my main camera fails, but the key reason for using it is that it gives me a way to cover any mistakes, catch unexpected entrances, cover the inevitable zoom-in, zoom-out, zoom-in, etc. that you always have in a one-camera shoot.

Hope that helps!

I'll expand on John Meyer's comment #5 (2nd camera).
I've shot several plays over the years and all of them have been single camera.
I do what Dave does (zooming in and panning) so that I can get reasonable close-up shots of the entire cast (makes kids AND parents very happy!!).
If it's possible, slow both your zooms and pans by at least 1/2 as they were too quick.
I'm fortunate to have a high-end camera with a good zoom as well as a real fluid head tripod so, if you can't do this, I understand.
If you can though, try it and I think you'll agree that it's more pleasing to the eye.

Mike

Dave,

Nice clip (I'll leave the critique on technique to others).

However, what I do want to says is, "Wow! What a professionally done production for Middle School!" Lavalier mics! Quality set! Costuming! And an orchestra pit!!! My kids were involved in Middle School plays and the quality of their productions were no where near what I see in the 60 seconds of your clip. Even when my kids reached high school they didn't see this kind of quality.

So, with your video - you, your son, the other participants and parents with have a lasting memory.

...Jerry

"4. Try to get a direct connection to the soundboard, especially if the performers are mic'd or if there is a mic down on stage that is feeding the house speakers. Use some other device (a second camcorder, for instance) to record that audio. This is probably one of the most important "tricks" to improving the end product.'

Many prosumer camcorders accept mic level input, whether through xlr or 1/8" trs. A precious few have a setting for mic/line level. Very few sound board operators have the savvy or the interest in giving you a mic level from the board. If they offer you -10dBv it is still to high. The result will be distortion from clipping and AGC overload at the camera.

Carry a pair of attenuators (line pads) with you at all times, or better yet, a pair of clean DI boxes with ground lift and -20dB attenuation switches.

I just completed a choir concert this weekend at my local arts center for a client using a AX2000 as well as a HG21 and HG10...
Due to the choir size of up to 250 kids I wound up setting up midway back in the auditorium , all cams were set to 60i..Working now on color correction due to the stage lighting which was really bad...
I use the HG21 as a stationary cam, the HG10 is set up shooting the piano for closeup intro's, and the AX2000 is used for panning and closeup shots.....

Most audio mixing boards have a pair of RCA jacks labeled "Recorder Out." We try to grab this and import this directly into a Zoom H4, and set its levels during rehearsal. We take an extra step of preconditioning the sound in SoundForge (getting rid of room noise and static that the audience ignores during the performance) prior to importing it as a *.wav into Vegas.
However, don't use this as your only sound source. Get a pair of good mics near the stage. Remember that sound (in watts) degrades with the square of distance to the mic. (If sound is measured in decibels, it's only an inverse proportion.)
The bottom line is that you need excellent audio signal to noise ratio. The distant camera's microphone doesn't handle it.