The APT style of doing visuals is a half way house between a full professional operated multicam shoot and a clubland VJ, I had to find a way of making a two man crew feel like a broadcast show that the audience can identify with seeing on the TV. To do this we worked on the premise of multiple well placed bullet cameras with me operating a PD150. As the main operated camera it is my responsibility to stick to the lead of the music, be it singer, guitar or a drum solo. This is an instinctual skill that I have had to develop over the years of working with bands that I had no rehearsal or even sample music to work with! But the trick is letting the music guide your operation and change your shots along with the beat.
To also help in the big shoot theory are grip movements, these are travelling shots that you would see a Dolly or Crane/Jib-arm doing. This is a job I have done for several years in the film game and so have a natural feel for this kind of movement - I have boiled it down to an adaptable monopod cunningly used with other various gadgets. If I am lucky enough to have a clear runway in front of the stage I can achieve some tracking shots but otherwise the monopod allows me to find different and unique shots, either up high, down low or with all the movements in between the two. The crowd also love it when I pan/swing over them, it helps with the live feel of here and now with added audience participation.
A top tip to any camera operators
wanting to get into the band/performer scene is always try and keep in
on close-ups. It is far easier to keep your shots loose in anticipation
for mad sporadic movements from the performers, but when you are projecting
onto the big screens the people at the back of the gig need to see the
facial expressions of their favourite artists, and the audience nearer
the stage don't want to see the artist at the same size they can already
see with their own eyes. Also, if you are lucky enough to work with multiple
camera operators but don't have the budget to use a talkback system (intercom)
- always watch the output of the mixer to check that your not doubling
up on the same shot at the same frame size. Two cameras on the same subject
is OK only if one is wide and the other is close. This year at Leeds festival
our talkback system turned up halfway through the first day, with the
two stage camera operators flying blind to who was being used when! It
was down to me at FOH (Front Of House) with my telephoto lens to be on
the case and shoot what they weren't getting. We pulled it off, but it
shows the importance of good communication during and event, so always
push for talkback in your budgets.
The term LC (Live Camera) is something that got tagged onto me that I
like the sound of and describes a creative discipline for the future of
VJing. As a DJ can go hand in hand with an MC - I believe a similar partnership
can happen between an LC and VJ. Having a live camera feed of an event
always helps tenfold to the feeling that the audience are seeing something
unique for them only. Personally with my use of the monopod I am making
up a unique style of LC, this is giving me my own camera persona or LC
identity. I hope other inventive camera operators may follow suit.
As performance artists APT
Visuals are trying to push the boundaries on the new concept of LC and
have grown our own live show that works in clubland. It involves me dancing
to camera and wellREDman manipulating my image. This is an ongoing development
that always spawns new ideas and different ways of abusing/building old
or new technology. Usually when I'm LCing I'm looking for cool looking
exhibitionists in the crowd or podium dancers that bring across the energy
in the music, but when I get to turn the camera on myself I can perform
and fill (or not fill) the frame as desired and get to play with mirror
or kaleidoscope effects with a lot more control.
As video support for events and tours we have got to where we are now
by having to Adapt, Improvise and Overcome the gap between big budget
professional shows and no budget fly by the seat of your pants rock'n'roll
shows. And as for the future we're designing our own act following the
words of Mr. Bowie himself - where it goes? Who knows but it'll be fun
and creative finding out.
