Multi-camera editing is a unique beast. It can run from 20 cameras or more over several nights at a music festival to just a couple of cameras shooting an interview. The challenges can be unique in that often the cameras might not get timecode sync or one angle might start and stop throughout the shoot. All of these technical challenges must be tackled head-on before even getting to the fun part of the creative edit. I’ve worked on multi-cam shows that run the gamut from well funded, properly engineered productions to run-and-gun shoots that added extra cameras at the last minute. All multi-cam challenges accepted.
CMA Fest 2024
The 2024 CMA Fest was a huge production with a very tight turnaround. The small post-production team (consisting of myself, another editor and an assistant) was able to edit and finish a 3-hour network TV special in two weeks. CMA Fest is a 4-night music festival at Nissan Stadium in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. This was a 22-camera shoot with delivery of footage each night of the festival. 30+ songs and 13 acts were delivered to the network on time and on budget. Below are two of my favorite edits from the show, two very different performances.
Lauren Daigle World Tour concert
This show was captured near the end of Lauren’s world tour. 14 cameras around the arena gave us a lot to work with. We also produced supporting marketing materials like promos and behind-the-scenes bonus footage to social media teasers. This show aired as part of K-LOVE’s On-Demand platform and was viewed over 50,000 times in its first week. Below is the promo that includes some of the live show.
Words at the Well
Words at the Well is a 6 episode, multi-camera songwriters-in-the-round concert series. Each episodes also included a short historical documentary segment as well. This series was a challenge as we had a fixed budget for post-production and we had to balance a mountain of footage against our delivery schedule. Media management was an important aspect from the shoot all the way through delivery as all six episodes roll out at once. This entire series was edited, color graded and delivered from DaVinci Resolve.
Garth Brooks - Drive In
Garth Brooks was one of the first artists to bring his live show to drive-in theaters across the country during the summer of 2020. A group of three editors turned around a full length Multicam show shot at a rehearsal space in Nashville, TN in just a few days culminating in a late-night edit with Garth himself in order to deliver the show to drive-ins across the country for one night of socially distanced music. Since the show isn’t available to view anywhere online enjoy these two programs about the show to get an idea of what it was all about.
SC Pictures | Encore Live | Drive In & Rock Out - Garth Brooks :90
Garth Brooks Drive-In Event And Reactions 6-27-20
Toby Mac - Alive and Transported
This show was a fast moving, arena show that was not only a lot of fun but a great break from Music City’s usual country focused artists.
The Committee.
Not all multi-camera editing is music-based or in a large venue. This 15 episode short-film narrative series was produced “sitcom style” with 2 - 4 cameras on a set. The show combined comedy and drama for unique educational experience. Working from a script with notes from a script supervisor I was the offline editor who also did final finishing after sending audio for mix and picture to color.
The Committee - Episode 1
The Committee - Episode 15
Gary Allan Live from the House of Blues
I was especially proud of this Multicam show that aired on Great American Country back in the day when GAC was around and broadcasting music programming. I believe this to be one of the (if not the) first Multicam music shows that was filmed on the legendary Canon 5D. There were 8 - 10 of these DSLRs roaming around capturing the show. Those cameras were chosen for their low cost and, of course, the shallow depth-of-field look. It was then entirely edited in Final Cut Pro Classic. At the time those cameras would only record in 30p frames-per-second and we had to get that onto 29.97 drop frame broadcast tv.
