Been at it for 20 years. Bring one extra operator with you. Have camera 2 pan around the entire crowd of dancers the entire time, while you follow the main dancers in the routine. Cut frequently between the two, getting as many faces in there as you can along the way while still following the flow of the dance with the main camera.

Other than that, recognize you will never make everyone happy, and sometimes you just have to politely tell someone to **** off. An explanation of the above mentioned fact, that you'd have to bring an extra operator just for their kid, wouldn't hurt if they still feel that you didn't get enough of their kid.

Musicvid, could be the case but I don't which one was her child. Since I have not done many of these, I still take it personal and I guess I need to turn that off. I do agree though I should send the complaint to the person who hired me. I also made the mistake of putting my information on the label (in the hope of getting some referrals).

Frosty, there were two operators. I was on the CU camera and another on the wide. You described what I tried to do, get close-ups of as many faces as possible and I feel the editing was not the kind to draw attention to itself. Like you say, I won't please everybody and out of the 100 DVDs sold, this is the only complaint so far.

I was raised in the video business with the idea that the client is right and has final say. I guess I need to get in my head that the choreographer is MY client and she was very happy with the end product.

You need two operators getting the close ups though, with a third angle wide. One focuses on close ups of the main dancers (whoever is at the front of the stage), the other focuses on the others who aren't the focus of attention of the dance. The wide can be unmanned once it has been adjusted for proper exposure with any spotlights being used. I usually position one of my CU cameras next to the wide so both can have a central position (dance teachers hate to see the students waiting in the wings, they prefer frontal shots of the stage) and one operator can watch both other angles.

Note that when I say close up, that never means tighter than head to toe. Don't worry about extreme close ups.

Also, one thing the dance teachers love is if you can run a monitor backstage of your wide shot. Then record that video stream's output and give it to them at the end of the recital. They love to be able to go over the choreography right after the recital. Another good selling point that will help you get gigs, some schools will help you sell many more copies if you give them a cut of it. They can brand it as a fundraiser (or even include it as part of tuition so you are guaranteed every student buys one) and it gives them incentive to push sales for you, so all you end up doing is filming the show, delivering the video, collecting a check. No hassle with the sales end. I usually offer them $5 per video sold once a certain amount is made, which I determine based on the size of the school and complexity of the production.

Your choreographer will tell you that stage parents want all of the authority, and none of the responsibility. That's about all you need to know about them.

And knowing your level of diligence in other matters on this forum, I can assure you that you did just fine, and the person writing your check is the only person you are obliged to please. Keep up the good work.

Never work with children or animals.

No animals were harmed during the taping of this performance. 😀. thanks for everybody's input. It has been a couple of weeks since the DVDs went out and only the one complaint so far.

Frosty, good ideas, unfortunately would not work in this particular situation. I had the wide shot unmanned last year and was off center from the dancers most of the time. Not my fault, they just positioned themselves differently each performance. This year I had it manned and I ran the CU camera. At times there were 50 dancers on stage, so trying to get CUs of each would be near impossible, but just staying on a Wide shot does not allow you to get a good TV show. Thanks again everyone.

I only worry about centering the stage. If that was a problem, I'd shoot 4K and digitally zoom to center. Or just bring a third op out, but that adds $.

I only have HD cameras and of course, a limited budget. If I centered on the stage, this works fine with larger groups, but when you get a group of 10 or less and they go offcenter (sometimes even off camera) it doesn't work. I found an operator on the WS saved me several times during the 3 shows.

Dance teachers are so very hard to please. Not to mention the grousing about the quality of DVD vs MP4s. I only do dance if it pays really well. Oh, and don't try to explain copyright law to them...for the music. Gads.