If you can only afford to have someone shoot a performance who is not a professional, they should at least do these things:
- USE MORE THAN ONE CAMERA. You can mix things up visually, and hide problems by switching to another camera when you edit.
- USE MANUAL SETTINGS. Nothing screams out "amateur" louder than watching a footage shot with automatic focus. It's REALLY bad when you have low light (and you often do) or if you have fog or people walking in front of the camera. Some cameras will allow more manual control than others; if possible, borrow a camera that is fully manual. In low-light situations, even using the automatic gain will make it look like the image is going in and out of focus. It doesn't matter what the reason, the person watching the video will assume that the cameraman was not competent.
- USE A TRIPOD. On a least one camera, a tripod will make something watchable without getting the viewer seasick. A tripod shot will also have a better chance of being usable, because if you have 2 camera operators hand-holding cameras, there is a good chance that they will both be moving at the same time, meaning that you will have one less option when you edit.
- HOLD THAT SHOT. When you get a good shot, hold it for at least 5 seconds longer than you think you should. This will result in more usable footage.
- GET AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE. When you're far away, you will probably use the zoom on the camera to get a better picture. The problem is that with that focal length, the smallest movement on the camera makes a huge difference on the picture, making it unusable.
- DON'T STOP AND START THE CAMERAS. Once an editor gets the footage from 2 cameras synchronized, he or she can easily cut back and forth between them, but if you stopped and re-started one or both cameras while shooting, the editor will have to re-synchronize the footage, which wastes a lot of time.
- GET GOOD AUDIO. Get a mix from the board, or if you can't, use the audio from the camera on a tripod (ensuring a consistent sound).
- USE ATT (ATTENUATION) FOR THE AUDIO. If you have this setting, use it so that you don't blow out the audio, which is common for live venues.
- USE IN-THE-EAR EARPHONES. Headphones can't block out the exterior sound well enough.
- RECORD AUDIO ON ALL THE CAMERAS. You can use the audio cues to help synchronize the footage during editing.
- USE A FLASH TO SYNCHRONIZE THE CAMERAS. With cameras running, record a flash of a still camera on 2 or more video cameras. When editing, the editor will look for the flash and line up the footage from the cameras.
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