A performance happens once. A child's piano recital, a dance school's annual show, a choir concert, a band's gig: a few minutes on stage after months of preparation. Many groups have no professional recording and rely on the phones and cameras of parents and members. Well organised, that footage makes a good keepsake.
Three common kinds of performance video
- Full record: each piece from start to finish, with title cards for the piece and performers. For the performers and their families.
- Highlight: two to three minutes of the best moments, plus backstage and the bows. For the school or group to share and use for promotion.
- Individual cut: one performer's part only, often needed for applications, auditions and portfolios.
Filming
- Tripod, wide shot. Dance especially needs full bodies and formations; don't chase close-ups.
- Centre, and high. Clear of heads and raised phones in the rows in front.
- Lock exposure. Stage lighting swings, and auto exposure turns faces white, then black. Lock on the performer's face and bring brightness down slightly.
- Don't stop during a piece, or between pieces. Let it run.
- With a second person, one films wide and one films close; see multi-camera editing.
- Check the venue's rules. Some venues or organisers don't allow filming, or limit where.
Sound makes the biggest difference
A phone in the audience records coughs, applause and neighbours talking, and distorts when the music is loud. Ways to improve it:
- Ask the sound desk whether a recording of the live mix is available. If so, it can replace the phone audio in the edit.
- For dance to playback, send the original music file; lined up in the edit, it sounds far cleaner.
- Place another phone or a recorder near the stage and away from the speakers.
For sound that is already distorted or very noisy, repair is assessed separately through our repair page.
If it is going online
- Music rights. If the piece or backing track is copyrighted, an upload to YouTube or social media may be muted, restricted by region or flagged, whoever filmed it. We can describe what commonly happens, but we don't give legal advice; ask the organiser or the rights holder about public-performance permissions.
- Other children in the frame. Get other parents' consent before publishing. To show only your own child, the frame can be cropped or faces blurred; see blurring faces in video.
- Family only: an unlisted or private link avoids most of these issues.
Organising the footage for us
- The programme (a photo is fine), with the pieces you want kept marked.
- One folder per device, file names unchanged.
- Performers' names and piece titles as typed text, so title cards are right.
- The live recording or original music file, if you have one.
For uploading, see how to send large video files.
FAQ
It was filmed vertically. Is that usable?
Yes. For a solo performer vertical works well and suits social media. For a group, the people at the edges are cut off, and that can't be restored.
The stage was dark and faces are hard to see. Can it be brightened?
Somewhat, though noise in the shadows becomes more visible, and faces blown out to white can't be recovered. How much it can improve depends on the footage.
Several parents filmed. Can their footage be combined?
Yes, and it usually gives a better result. Put everything in one cloud folder and note where each was filmed from.
