Event Recordings

Berkeley AV Help

Event Recording Event Support

Below are some things to keep in mind when considering recording an event.

Purpose and Goals

What do you ultimately want to do with the video?  Berkeley AV supports the following options:

  1. Publishing videos to the UC Berkeley YouTube Events channel for on-demand viewing: After video recording your event, Berkeley AV can provide basic editing with the addition of introductory and title slides.

    1. Generally, videos published to YouTube are publicly available, open for anyone to view, can be embedded into your own website and easily discovered via search.

    2. Official University of California Berkeley events, sponsored by a department or organized research unit, are available to publish to the UC Berkeley Events YouTube  channel.

  2. Edited videos can also be delivered via file sharing or hard drive.

  3. We can deliver the raw, unedited footage from your event which you can edit and share.

Audio and Audience Participation

As a rule we cannot utilize microphones that may come with an installed sound system at the room or venue.  We must provide our own microphones in order to have optimum control of the audio we record.  We will run audio from our audio board to the room and to our camera(s).

If there will be audience participation you want captured during your event, there are a few different ways this can be accomplished.

  1. Have the person answering or a moderator repeat questions.

  2. Provide audience note cards for questions to be submitted to a moderator who then relays the questions.

  3. Place 1 or 2 wired mics on floor stands in the audience for those with questions to approach.

  4. Use a wireless stick microphone. Note, this option requires staff be available to act as mic runner and is usually the least effective option. If using this option, take a moment to instruct the audience to wait for the microphone before they ask a question.

Computer Display

Will there be Powerpoint or other computer display you want included in the final video. There are a couple of options for how to do this and this video helps explain the difference.

  1. We can directly record the output of your computer to a hard drive that is time code matched to the camera(s). After the event, we edit all the captured footage from the event together to create a produced video that is ready for distribution. This option results in the highest quality image.

  2. When we video record an event with only one camera, it is possible to record projected presentation images from the screen with the camera. One advantage to this approach is that it is a less expensive option. Another is that any references to specific parts of the screen by the presenter (e.g., using a laser-pointer) will be recorded. The primary disadvantage to this approach is that the image quality is not as clear. Berkeley AV will work with you to determine what the main focus of the camera should be – people speaking or the screen.

  3. We can also do “side by side” capture so you see both the camera and computer image in the screen at the same time.  The computer image is typically larger than the camera image, but we can adjust the image sizes to fit your needs.

How many cameras?

Some events benefit from using multiple cameras and some work just fine with a single camera.  This video will help you decide what is best for your event.

  1. For events with single speakers at a lectern, seated at a table or with a limited range where they will move, 1 camera is probably sufficient.

  2. For events with panels of people speaking, or people speaking in different areas, we recommend using more than 1 camera. Using a single camera for these types of events will result in more camera movement, which lowers the overall production value of the video. With 2 or more cameras, 1 can be used as a wide/cover shot while the other camera moves.