Unplugged Tree House Concert Series
First Episode is in the can, but not without resistance. I’m just about finished editing the footage and I’m really happy with how it turned out, all thing considered. I had ordered a gimbal, which is a camera stabilization device. It came the day before the shoot, and was defective. I ordered the Zhiyun Weebil 3, and was super pumped on it after doing thorough research. I turned it on and immediately got an error code, ERR:0100. BIG SAD. I spent the next few hours when I was not delivering coffee trying to fix this problem. There was very little information available. I rigorously searched YouTube and google and found almost nothing. I did see there was one fix for a similar model with the same error code. I tried what had worked for this other user, downloading the Zhiyun software, and trying to manually flash new format code, but alas nothing worked, and I ended emailing tech support. They informed me that it was manufacturing error. They had sent me a bunk gimbal… I took the walk of sadness through Kohl’s with my Amazon box to the return counter. However the show must go on and I would need to make due with my innate stabilization skills built into my arms, hands and legs.
I was super Grateful that Matt Crays agreed to do the first episode with me. We had fun, and have worked together on multiple projects, so we have solid chemistry. We got everything set up in the tree house and it was on! We began testing different methods of sound and audio capture and after some refinement ended up with some great footage with excellent sound quality. The sound capture technique is going to vary from performer to performer, and will be a bit of trial and error for each individual set up. We have gotten a proof of concept from this performance, and will only continue to improve as time goes on.
I think that we really couldn’t get much better of sound quality. It is great. Its like your sitting in the tree house when you listen to the audio. The camera work was pretty solid, considering that it was only stabilized by hand. In the future I hope to avoid a lot of the shakiness through using a gimbal, the new one is ordered and on its way for the next recording. In the future I plan to solely use my Sony A7 IV. For this episode it was nice to have my Samsung Galaxy Ultra on a tripod to cut to during times where my hands were not being as stable as I needed them to be. I will probably still set up my phone on a tripod just in case, but primarily be using only my camera. This recording was also just me and Matt, in the future Dave is planning to be present so I may have him move the tripod with the phone around throughout the recording to get different angles, or use the phone solely for close up shots of instruments.
Overall I would consider it a huge success. I hope you all enjoy this concert series as much as I enjoy making them. I can’t wait to do more recordings with lots of other bands. If your a band and want to be a part of this series please contact me. The first episode will be published Thursday July 20th.
