How do you handle Inter-camera communications?

smhontz wrote on 2/8/2005, 1:32 PM
We frequently do two-camera shoots of presentations, keynote addresses, etc. It's just me and my friend with our cameras on tripods spaced somewhere in the venue. No director or combined video feed where someone can supervise.

Does anyone have a good way to communicate back and forth during the shoot? Right now we just say at the start "Okay, I'll stick with the medium head shot, you stay with the full shot" but it would be nice to have a way (walkie-talkies? cell phones? wireless headsets? hand signals?) to keep in touch with each other during the shoot...

A long time ago I had some goofy Radio Shack wireless headsets that made me look like "My Favorite Martian" but it did work...

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/8/2005, 1:40 PM
We have a ClearCom system, and a cheap Nady headset system as well. One is wireless, the other is wired. Depends on where we are. The Nady's are based around the construction-type handy-talkies, and are VHF. They are good for about 200 feet in ideal conditions.
The ClearComs take time to set up, but it's well worth it, they are cabled, can run for a coupla miles, and the headset and noise cancelling mike are great. You can often find the ClearComs on Ebay very cheap. Look for the older, all metal ones for the best prices. The newer white/black plastic are more money, but they have bigger, more accessible controls.
JackW wrote on 2/8/2005, 4:29 PM
Spot's right about the ClearCom system. It's great. However, we do a lot of shooting where talking to each other is out of the question -- in theatres during performance, for example.

We've solved the problem with a 100 foot reel of cable and a 6 inch LCD monitor. The output from camera "A" ( via cable with RCA jack) goes to the monitor, which is located at camera "B." We decide loosely before the performance begins who will shoot closeups. Since one person's closeup may be another person's idea of a medium shot, here's where the monitor comes in: the camera person on "B" can always see what camera "A" is shooting and adjust accordingly. Once you've done this with a fellow shooter a few times you get very good at shot selection, and there is rarely any redundancy.

Jack