Recently I filmed my high school production of the musical "Pippin", but since I was one of the leads I had one of my friends behind the camera during the show.When I looked back at the tapes I noticed that there were some flaws that I would like to correct in the future and I was hoping someone here could help.
My first problem was White Balance. How do you do it in a theatre where the lighting scheme changes every few minutes and the camera has to be set in the balcony about 25 yards from the stage and can't be moved other than panning left and right? I tried zooming in to block out any excess black from outside the stage, but the performers faces were still washed out by the lights.
Another problem was that when using auto focus the picture went out of focus whenever most of the stage was black and when a lot of people were on stage.
I also had some issues with audio for which I was being fed straight from the soundboard in the tech booth. However I think most of the audio issues were with stage mics themselxes. But any tips will be graciously accepted.
Well that's about it. Hopefully someone can help me out.

I'll give ya my thoughts on a few of the things...
From what I have learned, lighting makes all the difference. If they are using theatre lighting they are probally not taking into respect that you want to film it, therefore its not balancing out and u get a washed out look. Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that is what is happening.
And NEVER film with autofocus, cuz it will catch one thing and try and focus on that then it throws your whole game off. Set it to manual and adjust it appropriately, zoom in and out and make sure it stays in focus etc.

Not sure about the white balance or audio stuff tho.
Hope this helps?

If you don't look I'll force you to _=_

Hi Jelstro,
Lighting: White balance should be no problem. If the scene is lit warm, you want it to look warm in the camera. Same for cool scenes. Before the show, ask your light board op to bring up a daylight (or the brightest neutral) light design. White balance off this. If you only have presets, use the indoor preset. The biggest problem you will have isn't white balance, it'll be contrast. Your friend behind the camera might need to ride the exposure wheel. Even if the "house" is so dark it's black, you'll want to expose for the stage, so the actors aren't overexposed. If you want audience reaction, get it later as b-roll.

Focus: Set it once and lock it off. In dark situations (i.e. inside a theater), contrast based auto focus (what almost all cameras have) doesn't work well. So turn it off. Here's what to do. Set up the camera, send someone down to the stage and have them stand in the middle of the stage (or if you want to get exact, the down stage 1/3 line), Zoom the camera all the way in on your friend, focus, turn auto focus off, zoom out. Assuming you don't have a deep stage, you should be fine. If the depth of field is too shallow, make adjustments by hand, or if you have enough light, stop the aperture down.

Sound: Need more info. I would check how you're getting the sound source. Is it low impedance or high? Unbalance or balanced? Try potting down the signal you're sending the camera. Also, many cameras send a 6 volt signal out through their mic input. Sometimes this can distort the signal, in which case you'd need a beachtek/studio1 adapter (they absorb the voltage).

Hope this improves your video.
joren

Thanks for all of the advice. Now I just need to try it out sometime!