AladdinPeter PanThe Jungle BookChristmas CarolSeussicalThe Hunchback of Notre Dame Aladdin Jr. Jafar, the Royal Vizier of the fictional city of Agrabah, placed near the Jordan River, and his parrot Iago seek a lamp hidden within the Cave of Wonders. They are told that only one person is worthy to enter: "the diamond in the rough", whom Jafar later identifies as Aladdin, an Agrabah street urchin. Princess Jasmine of Agrabah, upset that the law requires her to marry a prince instead of one she loves, escapes the palace and meets Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu. The palace guards capture Aladdin on Jafar's orders. Jasmine confronts Jafar to demand Aladdin's release, but he lies and says that Aladdin has been executed. Peter Pan Jr. In London, England, circa 1900, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their boys, John and Michael, acting out a story about Peter Pan and the pirates that was told to them by their older sister, Wendy. George, who is fed up with the stories, declares that Wendy has gotten too old to continue staying in the nursery with the boys. That night, Wendy and the boys are visited in the nursery by Peter Pan himself, who teaches them to fly with the help of his pixie friend, Tinker Bell, and takes them with him to the island of Never Land. The Jungle Book Mowgli, a young orphan boy, is found in a basket in the deep jungles of India by Bagheera, a black panther who promptly takes him to Raksha, a mother wolf who has just had cubs. She and her mate, Rama, raise him along with their own cubs and after ten years, Mowgli becomes well acquainted with jungle life and plays with his wolf siblings. Bagheera is pleased with how happy Mowgli is now, but also worries that Mowgli must eventually return to his own kind.
Christmas Carol In 1843, on Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old businessman, does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines his cheerful nephew Fred's invitation to a Christmas dinner party, and rejects two gentlemen's offer to collect money for charity. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit asks Scrooge to allow him to have a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees before leaving. In his house, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like he was, carrying heavy chains forged from his own greediness. Jacob informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits, who will guide him out of his misery.
Seussical The show opens on a bare stage, save for an odd red-and-white-striped hat in the center. A small boy wanders into view and notices the hat, wondering to whom it might belong. He finally mentions the Cat in the Hat, who appears before the Boy and tells him he has been brought to life by the Boy's "Thinks". The Cat creates the "Seussian" world and characters around the boy and himself ("Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!"), then reveals he is about to tell a story about someone as imaginative as the Boy is.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame In 1482 Paris, Clopin, a Romani puppeteer, narrates the origin of the titular hunchback. A group of Romani sneak illegally into Paris, but are ambushed by Judge Claude Frollo, Paris' Minister of Justice, and his soldiers. A Romani woman in the group attempts to flee with her deformed baby, but Frollo chases and kills her outside Notre Dame. He tries to kill the baby as well, but the cathedral's archdeacon intervenes and accuses Frollo of murdering an innocent woman. To atone for his sin, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed child in Notre Dame as his son, naming him "Quasimodo".

How Filming Your Show Works

  1. Your show liaison uses the Show Planning page to make choices about how and when they would like the show filmed, and then they submit those choices for scheduling confirmation.
  2. Show Filming replies to the scheduling request with an email that confirms availability, and acknowledges your show planning choices.
  3. Approximately one week before your filming date, a reminder email is sent which may include a request for photos of the venue and the sound equipment.
  4. The show is filmed on the date scheduled. (More info under Filming below)
  5. The show’s footage is checked and put into the editing queue.
  6. Once your show becomes first in the queue, contact will be made to find out how many orders have been placed for discs.
  7. A preliminary invoice may then be sent to you for confirmation and approval.
  8. With your approval, final editing begins and typically discs are ready in about a week.
  9. Before disc duplication, the show liaison will be contacted to get the final disc count.
  10. A billing invoice is sent that reflects the final number of discs ordered.
  11. Once payment is ready, the discs are delivered.
  12. Show organizers distribute the discs to those who ordered.

Show Planning Choices

The Show Planning calculator takes your show’s filming needs, and estimates the best price per disc given the number of disc orders you anticipate. There is never a fee charged to the show producers. The price per disc is the only cost. (If a first-time customer were to find it impossible to collect enough orders, discs would simply not be created, and no fee would be charged.)

For some productions it is important to enter the lowest possible number of discs that may be ordered, and not a goal or best-case scenario. The reason being that if you inform people of a price per disc based on your hope for 50 orders, and you only get 30 orders, it is usually difficult if not impossible to then go back and tell them the higher, 30-disc price. Conversely, it is usually not a problem if you get more orders and the price per disc drops lower than you originally communicated.

There are several combinations of options that are most common, and they have been set up as option packages. There is also a custom option that allows you to create your own package. For all options there is a sample YouTube clip created using those options. The sample video for each package is of exactly the same show and segment in order to make the contrast as easy to see and hear as possible.

Once you click Submit on the Show Planning page, you are not committed. An email is simply sent with your show’s information to Show Filming. Your dates are then checked on our calendar. At that point, we’ll confirm the dates, and may request further information. You are welcome to do the same, at any time. Your information is never shared with anyone else or used for any other purpose, though it may be added to our website’s show gallery, unless you request otherwise.

Filming

In most situations cameras are placed behind the audience to prevent obstruction and distraction. Our cameras do a great job at any distance, and are also capable of being operated remotely. So, in situations where space is limited, or when no seats can be reserved for filming, cameras still can be optimally placed without obstructing the view of ticket holders.

It is always helpful to have photos of the venue in advance so camera placements can be coordinated.

A note about arena seating: Stages that are lower than the audience seats present a special challenge. Every foot farther from the stage often requires that the camera be a foot higher, meaning that cameras placed behind the audience will be shooting down from above. In such a theater the video looks best when you can put the cameras among the seats so that they’re just above cast eye level. Unfortunately, that usually means blocking seats. This is another situation in which a remote camera may be the best solution.

Sound Recording

Sound is the most commonly underestimated aspect of show filming. In our experience, for shows with music, people would rather watch a PowerPoint with good sound, than Spielberg cinematography with weak sound. Unfortunately, sound is typically a factor that is beyond the director or producer’s control. On the day of filming there really isn’t anything that Show Filming can do to improve sound, but there are things that can be done to make the sound on the discs even better than it was for the live audience.

  1. Send us a photo of your sound system and wireless mic receivers.
  2. If your sound system is digital/programmable then we can’t touch it, and your soundboard operator will have to know how to output one mix of mics without music, and one mix of music without mics.
  3. If you have chosen to have all the individual mics recorded and your wireless receivers are able, then we can correct many possible mistakes made during the live show, like missed sound cues and feedback, but a mix from the board is still critically important.
  4. We will also need the musical accompaniment tracks for the show. If you are playing the music directly from a device and don’t have music files, we must know that in advance.

Editing

Generally speaking editing is done to simulate a typical audience member’s “mind’s eye.” That means that the edit will focus on the things happening on stage that an audience member who is trying to follow the story would focus on. Obviously, that includes the characters that are talking, and who they’re talking to. Whenever possible, there will also be wide shots so that viewers can appreciate context, atmosphere, choreography, etc. This is the same approach used in commercially produced concert films and live performance recordings.

A few customers have requested that the shot always be wide enough to include anyone who is performing choreography. While this will make the story harder follow for many, it is an option for anyone who requests it in advance of filming.

Delivery

Show Filming has no capability for collecting or delivering individual orders.

DVD Bad, Blu-ray Good

This post regards individuals who still order DVDs, rather than Blu-rays. In the last year Show Filming has noticed something strange happening with DVDs that hasn’t happened with Blu-rays. There has been a sudden increase in the number of people who have reported problems with their DVDs (skipping, glitching, etc). We’ve systematically gone through creating […]