Is this feasible?

I have very little video experience but a friend wants me to help him shoot a 30 minute long video. Wondering if I'm equipped properly and capable of seeing it through.

He's proposing a fairly simple project, a few people speaking for about 10 minutes each, shot in black and white. (It's for a presentation at the local bar association. It will be humorous in nature, so it doesn't have to be technically perfect.) I could shoot it with my 7D and I have Premiere Elements for editing.

My two main concerns are the length of the video (I've never edited anything over four minutes in length and that was a long time ago) and the challenges associated with getting good sound from the 7D. Equipment-wise, I believe I'm all set with the 7D, some good lenses, a good tripod, and some make-shift lights. I'm not sure what he plans on using for presentation, probably a digital projector and a fairly large screen.

Should I offer to help?

I would help out. Why not? It would be selfish not to.

Ask him to part-finance an external microphone though.

Then, just enjoy the project. You might discover something about yourself.

If they are going to be 10 minute speaking, you will need to use a few angles to break the monotony, rather than just a fixed position. So either two or more cameras, else stop at certain points reframe and then continue. Good editing will be the key.

Yeah you're not going to be able to get any kind of reasonable audio from the in camera mic. If the two people are comedians playing off of each other then hearing them is a must. I definitely agree with ARTY if you've ever watched a ten minute static interview that wasn't a stand up comedian i would be surprised if it kept your attention. (although in stand up they usually use several cameras..)

I recommend wired Lav mics for the reduced cost/ performance ratio that you're probably looking for.
The 7D can make some great footage but with bad audio any piece really suffers.

artyman wrote in post #14052526
If they are going to be 10 minute speaking, you will need to use a few angles to break the monotony...

Good tip. I'm looking for an excuse to do this, not to get out of it.

The last time I edited video, a five minute sequence seemed to tax the limits of my computer and took forever to render. I know that things have improved but I didn't want to volunteer only to tell them later that it wasn't possible.

The 7D evidently has a problem with the audio gain. Should I be concerned with rigging up a fix or is the problem overstated? The Lav mikes sound like a very good idea.

Edit: If I had my way, I'd be looking for about 5-10 minutes maximum. However, their presentation is being used for continuing education hours and has to be at least 30 minutes minimum. Our goal is to present something interesting and humorous enough to mitigate the tedium of the normal CE class.

No one is ever gonna read ten minutes perfectly. so you will surely have pickups where you have to break and start over a the top of the paragraph or sentence. Use these to make cuts to different angles. The tedium really starts to show up here, at a bra minimum you need two angles.. Sometimes you can cheat a shot by pushing in a little (in Post) to fake a "Different Camera" but be careful not to zoom so far in that you loose to much quality. As far as time or rendering. Make sure you work as natively as possible. I think the 7D shoots H.264... Dont try to use a sequence that is 10 bit uncompressed or DVCproHD. If you are going to Xcode try to do it as little as possible. Also watch that your timebase is also matching. Dont edit 23.98 video in a 29.97 seq. that will cause slowdowns. Good Luck, Have fun.

Yes, remember to shoot b-roll for cut away, etc. You 10 min of a headshot of someone talking will be boring.

cacawcacaw wrote in post #14053526
Good tip. I'm looking for an excuse to do this, not to get out of it.

The last time I edited video, a five minute sequence seemed to tax the limits of my computer and took forever to render. I know that things have improved but I didn't want to volunteer only to tell them later that it wasn't possible.

The 7D evidently has a problem with the audio gain. Should I be concerned with rigging up a fix or is the problem overstated? The Lav mikes sound like a very good idea.

Edit: If I had my way, I'd be looking for about 5-10 minutes maximum. However, their presentation is being used for continuing education hours and has to be at least 30 minutes minimum. Our goal is to present something interesting and humorous enough to mitigate the tedium of the normal CE class.