Filming Live Performance and Theatre

Whether you would like a showreel for promotions, a trailer to entice a larger audience or the full performance to send to prospective theatres, we are highly experienced filmmakers, ex BBC, specialising in theatre and live events. Filming in theatres always requires the very experienced filmmaker and requires creative, high quality video production to achieve the best results.

Before Filming Begins

The theatre production is intended to be performed for a live audience and not necessarily for the film camera, so it takes a high level of skill to work around the lighting, the stage, the moving audience, scene changes, wide shots, zoom shots, capturing the fluidity and re-telling the story.

Planning ahead is paramount so rehearsals are not just for the dancers, the rehearsal is key to planning and producing a great film, where shots are planned before the live filming begins

Communication is King

Evenlode Films work closely with the Directors and discuss the key moments to capture. At rehearsals, we usually take notes on characters, emotional moments, props, scene transitions, artistic movements, any light changes and when to maintain the wide shot or zoom.

Considerations when Planning the Filming

The Stage:

Theatre always plays in 'wide' shot and video usually needs close shots which need to be carefully planned.

Theatrical make up:

Make up is more extreme than in a commercial video, the skill is knowing when to go wide or zoom and working with the light changes

Lighting:

Close ups require special lighting in normal video production, however, we work with stage lighting to capture the right effect, planning each scene

Camera:

Theatres are not always film friendly, stages too high, with rows and rows of seats that obscure part of the stage. We work closely with the Stage Manager to careful plan and set up the camera positions to capture the best possible aspects.