LIGHTING
Lighting for the stage is slightly different to lighting for the camera. Your lighting technician will help you find a balance, but here are a few important considerations.
LIGHT LEVELS - The cameras will work fine in a well lit stage, but very low lighting levels can result in a grainy or dark image. If possible, try to make sure the performers are well lit through the performance.
CONTRAST - The cameras are set to an average brightness across the stage. Even lighting across the stage is best for group numbers, if there are dark corners the performers in those areas won't be picked up well by the cameras. Similarly, if there are some areas of the stage that are particularly bright it will be hard to make out features in those areas as they will be over exposed. (The exception to this is if only a part of the stage is meant to be lit, for example when a follow spot is the only light.)
COLOURS - Cameras are not very sensitive to blue or red washes, they tend to result in images that are out of focus, washed out or hard to make out. If you have sections of the show that predominantly use a colour wash, try to have a little white or yellow light mixed in. That will really help the cameras and make the film much better.
STAR CURTAINS / UV / STROBE - All of these can cause problems for the cameras and may result in blurred or flickering images. They are best used sparingly when the show is being recorded. Star curtains often feature and, although we can try to compensate, it's worth being aware that there may be some loss of focus for these items.
SOUND
Generally for dance shows, sound is not an issue as long as the levels in the auditorium are not distorted. There are a couple of things to bear in mind though.
VOCALS - Please let us know beforehand if there are live vocals in your show. If all performers have microphones then there won't be an issue, but if you have group or solo singing without them it may be difficult for our microphones to pick up. If we know in advance we can mount some of our external audio recorders near the stage to help with the recording levels.
SOUND DESK - If you have live vocalists or live instruments on stage it will be helpful for us to connect an audio recorder to the 'post fade' output from the mixing desk. We can talk to your audio technician on the day of the show but you may want to mention it to them beforehand.
SCREENS
Recording screen projections does not usually result in a high quality image as very often the film will have a blue tint or flicker. If you are using projections and would like them incorporated into the edit, please try to let us have a copy of the original films.