Events
What to actually film at an event
Most event footage fails the same way. Someone filmed the stage for two hours and came away with nothing that makes anyone want to attend the next one.
The room is the subject
Nobody watching a recap is deciding whether the band was good. They are deciding whether it looked like somewhere they wanted to be.
That decision is made from faces, density and energy. A packed floor with the stage barely visible sells the night far better than a clean shot of the performer with no indication that anyone was watching.
Get the fill
There is a specific moment, usually earlier than people expect, when the room goes from arriving to full. That is the shot.
It is easy to miss because it happens while everyone involved is still working. It is worth assigning to someone, because it cannot be recreated later in the night when the room has thinned and everyone looks tired.
Details make it feel real
Wide shots establish. Close shots convince.
Hands on a drink, a laugh caught mid sentence, the light through the crowd, whatever the venue does that nowhere else does. These are what make footage feel like a night rather than documentation of one, and they are the shots most likely to be missing.
Film the people who will share it
Anyone performing, hosting, sponsoring or working the night has an audience of their own, and the footage they are in is the footage that travels.
Getting a deliberate clip of each of them is a small amount of work and is often where most of the reach after the event comes from.
Vertical, and more than you need
Shoot vertical for anything going to social, which is nearly all of it. A horizontal cut for the website can come from a second pass.
And get more than feels necessary. The ratio of footage shot to footage used at a live event is unforgiving, because you cannot ask a room to do it again.
Ask before you point it at someone
Notice at the door covers the general case. Anyone featured prominently, especially in something that will run as advertising, deserves to be asked properly.
It takes ten seconds and it avoids a conversation nobody wants to have after the fact.
Common questions
What should you film at an event?
The room reacting more than the thing they are reacting to. Arrivals, the moment it fills, faces, and a handful of close details. Stage footage on its own reads as a recording rather than a night worth attending.
When is the best time to film at an event?
The first hour once the room has filled, before people tire and before the light gets difficult. The peak of how the night looks usually happens well before the peak of the night itself.
Do you need permission to film people at an event?
Notice at the door is the normal practice, and anyone who asks not to be filmed should be respected without argument. Anything featuring a person prominently, particularly if it will run as advertising, is worth getting explicit agreement on.
How long should an event recap video be?
Short enough that it is watched to the end, which for social is usually well under a minute. A longer cut has a place on a website or for a sponsor, but the version that sells the next event is brief and vertical.