Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011 - 73

The recording Process

* Place and test the camera until the angle allows viewing of
both the stage manager and the stage itself. Establish a wide
enough shot to document location of the prompt script,
placement and use of cue lights, video monitors, etc.
* Be sure the camera is capable of recording the feeds from the
video monitors without distorting on screen.
* If the audio recorder allows, opt to capture intercom feed off
battery power rather than plugged in to avoid a hum that
will be difficult to cancel out in editing.
Other equipment You Will Need

* Hard drive space to store individual files (the Rent files take
about six gigabytes for a two-and-a-half-hour show)
* Video editing software capable of combining multiple video
and audio sources and allowing you to trim the video, add
effects, and control selective focus.
* Audio editing software capable of sharpening individual audio
tracks, adjusting balance, pitch, and EQ as needed. Ideal
if linked as part of a suite to your video software for ease
in importing changes back to the movie file.

Preparing Class Material
The digital video and audio footage were edited together using Sony's Vegas Movie Studio HD software suite. My software
choices were ultimately governed by previous hardware choices
made by my department-the PC in my office and a wonderful
digital video camera with large internal hard drive but no capability to export via FireWire. This article references this camera
and those PC-based tools, but a variety of software options exist
for instructors on both the PC and Mac platforms. They can
range from simple to complex, and from relatively inexpensive
to significant investments. For my purposes, the Sony suite provided a solid mid-range set of editing tools, but any number of
similar options will suffice.
Video editing software is necessary so that the individual
digital components can be combined to create the most successful instructional tool. More sophisticated programs will
support nuanced manipulation, but having class material that
delivers this new perspective is far more important than having footage that does so looking as if it came from a Hollywood studio.

The Editing Process
Import the video and audio tracks and get them
appropriately lined up. No matter how noble the effort to
push the record button on two devices simultaneously, there
will inevitably be a slight discrepancy. The placement of the
tracks on the editing timeline can be adjusted to correct this.
My recordings featured a video track and two audio tracks. I
have separate tracks for the native audio on the video camera
and for the headset chatter recorded directly from the base
station. You may find that the camera's audio track also
captures the stage manager talking in the booth. This can be
both a blessing and a curse when attempting to line up the two
audio files. Given the choice, I recommend keeping the audio
files distinct.

The conductor monitor.

In the editing software,
Vegas Movie Studio HD,
the lower section of the
master editing screen has
visual representations of the
tracks stacked in numerical
order: track 1, video from
the camera, is on top; track
2, audio from the camera,
is in the middle; and track
3, audio from the intercom
system, is on the bottom.

2011

theatre design

& technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011