How to tape a Food TV video?

[iKwak]

Hello everyone, I am planning on taping a "food tv" sort of a video with my friends.
Two friends will prepare the ingredients, pots, and all that good stuff and come up with a meal.

I like to tape this from start to end like what they do in food tv. Something that we can cherish when we get older.



I will be using a tripod for filming. I have never done a "food tv" videotaping and like to get some tips and help. I will have only one dv camcorder during the shot.

1) Do I tape the cooking from start to finish in one shot (not stopping)?

2) Or do I record the ingredient preparation and the entire procedures first and then record the cooks pretending to be cooking at a later tape....so that I can cut and edit the two tapes and make it look more interesting?


I will do cut/editing after the taping at a later date. I like to do this right and make it a bit enjoyable for future viewing.
And as you can see, I have no idea on how to approach this simple project. Thanks in advance!

[NightWing]

Porabbly have already finished or at each of the peperation steps parts that take time to do. Best to watch some of the food shows on TV. The ones on Food TV ones are good examples.

If you take it in parts. Make sure thing dont do the magic shuffle! Also if possible may want to get more than one camera. One for wide shots. One for overhead shots of the counter area. A mirror over the counter can help. And another to foccus on the making area at an angle. Emeral Live is a good examples. I Love Lucie and Julia Child's created this basic concept that still works well today.

Makes for more intersting video. More polished.. Will save you time in not needing to setting up and breaking down for shots. And give you more than enough material to edit down.

Last. Try to story board it. I know it sounds like work but give a good what is occuring to all in volved.

Good luck!

[iKwak]

My first project is tomorrow. I will only have 1 camera on hand.

What do you think is the best way to approach this?

[edDV]

Food TV usually shoots multicamera but rarely all in one take. If you ever attend a studio taping, you will see many retakes during the shoot and they sometimes do the whole thing over and edit the best material from each taping.

A better example of a single camera food show is Nigella Lawson over on the Style channel. She once explained that each 30 minute (really 22 min) show takes a full week to shoot with mulitple takes of each segment and careful setup and lighting for each new scene. The show is extensively edited.

Single camera film technique uses the multi-take formula (wide shot, medium shot, closeup) for each actor and scene so the editor has more to work with later in post production.

You can cheat this a bit with at least a second camera recording a wide shot, so the editor has someplace to go when a continuity glitch occurs. Overhead shots should probably be shot separately since they will probably require different blocking (ie people, camera and lighting placement) to make the shot look right on camera.

Ref http://www.nigella.com/

[rdwalt]

The answer you're looking for is what some people pay thousands of dollars for to learn in film school. I know you're on a short time schedule and you may not have thousands to invest but I would consider picking up a couple of books on the subject of home video production. Here's an example http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0895774593/qid=1097587722/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_2_2/...567149-4956601