This week premieres the long awaited episode about my camera & camera settings, lens choice, and microphone. As someone with film experience, I approached the 2020 season differently as I already had quality equipment. The only thing left to do was make that equipment work in the way I needed it to.
By November I was no stranger to filming different set-ups as Santa Claus. In fact, my studio is dedicated to being both a place I can work and film in (not ideal, but it works). So far I've managed to create three different settings for shooting in. One for livestreams, one for my "professional" Santa set, and one for the Season 02 episodes of the Jr. Claus Workshop. It's a struggle and things get crowded quickly. With the challenge of space, I had to come up with ways to frame & compose, light, and get good sound, all while still maintaining room enough to perform.
It is this set of circumstances that greatly influenced how I used and what gear I favoured. I'm not one to spend a fortune on gear as I have a family and other obligations that come before my wish list of studio equipment. I've made do with what I can get away with because it's both cost effective and more readily available to replicate for others.
On the Resource Page you'll find links to my exact camera make and model, lens choice, and microphone. These have been posted for your consideration if you would like to get into Santa video and photography and want the quality I've been able to produce (there's no need to spend thousands of dollars to do so).
This part of a my video overview series which is purely documentorial. There is no tutorial on how to set up 3-point lighting, why I choose the camera settings I do, or any specifics to teach you how to get started. These videos are made for those who are a bit familiar with my work and are curious as to what I use to create that work (for a more fundamental approach to Santa video work, enrollment in the Video Work course I offer will help you get started).
For those of you who have asked, I am delivering. You'll see behind-the-scenes of what the studio looks like and why it's so important to offer the children the best quality experience technical-wise.
You can watch this week's episode here: Season 02
Yours as always,
Santa Stuart
