100% agree on turning off auto gain and avoiding shows with known overly-loud speakers.
There are a couple of things I'll pick up on here with two potentially useful ideas contained within.
EvanJScott wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 4:55 am
Is it a special directional microphone?
Yes but also no. Directional microphones are great but have pitfalls. If you have a speaker to your left and put the microphone on top of the camera like you're "supposed" to, you're going to pick up loud speaker noise every time you pan to the left and little/no speaker noise the rest of the time.
On a pro shoot we put our mics on the ground out in front of the crowd at the other end of a 20m cable. When it's just me on my own with a handycam filming a show for fun, whenever speaker noise is a problem, I mount the microphone on the tripod itself rather than on top of the camera (you can buy a $2 cold shoe from eBay and glue it to the tripod legs; I am lazy and use Gaffa tape). Then I position myself on the crowdline between two speakers, and bingo: where ever the camera is pointing, the mic itself is always facing forwards onto the airfield, through a gap between the speakers.
The other advantage is that, with a stereo mic (which most are nowadays), this method also means you get the advantage of the sound of the aircraft moving from the left channel to the right channel as it passes by, and vice versa - which is of course the very thing that stereo mics were designed for. Mounting a stereo mic on a moving camera kind of defeats the point of having stereo in the first place.
EvanJScott wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 4:55 am
Standing far away from the loud speakers would disadvantage the video portion as you'd want to be as close to the crowd line/action as possible.
Thanks!
I wouldn't be afraid of that. Yes, given the choice, I always prefer to stand on or in front of the crowdline - who wouldn't? But being further back can have its advantages and I don't hesitate to move rearwards if crowding or audio is a problem at the front.
1. The field of view is usually better. If you're on the crowdline sandwiched between people, the field of view is probably less than 150 degrees after accounting for elbows, heads and lenses getting in the way - no good for catching a photo pass that starts over one shoulder and continues right round over the other shoulder. Further back = less dense crowd = fewer intruding body parts.
2. It's easier. Those whip pans as a jet flies by occur more slowly, so the pan is easier to manage and thus you can zoom in more if you want to. Take a look at most of the big airshow livestreams by major national and international broadcasters (eg. Swiss Air Force 100th anniversary by Swiss national TV, Airpower Zeltweg by Red Bull TV, Italian AF centenary by Italian national TV) all have one thing in common: most of the cameras are at the back. Those big broadcasters want to make life as easy as possible for their (usually non-aviation-specialist) camera crews. And yes, those fast passes are a bit less dynamic, but...
3. It's a chance to get some different shots not possible from the crowdline. Perhaps some wide shots that give a flavour of the event with a sea of heads or static aircraft in the foreground. For example...
Take-offs between heads with motion blur looks great!
- Ex1 heads.gif (9.83 MiB) Viewed 998 times
And if you do decide to pull wide to catch a bomb burst or a tricky-to-track sneak pass, that wide shot is going to look much nicer if the bottom half is full of people enjoying the show, rather than a featureless windswept dusty airfield.
- Ex2 crowd34.gif (9.75 MiB) Viewed 998 times
Even if audio isn't a problem, there's a good reason to move rearwards some of the time. My go-to at a multiday show is to spend one day at the front for dynamic shots and one day further back for better audio and for wide-angle shots showing the crowd and venue in the foreground. Then, mix them together in the edit, as shown below. Both practical, and effective.
- Ex3 multicuts.gif (8.95 MiB) Viewed 998 times
(This is also a good MO for displays with ground pyro; film wide one day and tight on the aircraft ignoring the pyro entirely the next day, then mix them, rather than attempting horrible crash zooms when the pyro goes off and probably ruining both days' footage).