Video production and editing: My first Cabaret Symposium
- Posted on 16th February 2016
- in Entertainment, entertainment books, Hollywood memoirs, Video Production, Video Production & Editing
- by Ben
I did more
video production and editing
on this Cabaret Symposium gig than seemed possible – especially shooting; about seventy hours in nine days.
Here’s an excerpt from Waiting for Elizabeth:
“August 15th [1996] and it was time to pack up my gear and the next day head for the O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut and my first Cabaret Symposium. I took an extra camera owned by Ellie Ellsworth (who hired me), my Sony monitor, several microphones, lots of cables and about 90 hours of Hi-8 tape. …
“The place is beautiful. … The lawn slopes down a hundred yards or so to the Long Island Sound. The Barn, office, dorm, Farm House and other small buildings [comprise the rest of the campus].
Barn at the O’Neill Theatre Center
“The first event of the Symposium was on Friday, late afternoon when everyone assembled for the introductions of the Fellows [students] and Faculty. This would be followed by dinner then the first three hour group class called an “Immersion Session”. I really had no idea what I was getting into so I got there around noon to see the lay of the land, as it were.
“The rectangular interior of the barn had a stage at one end, chairs on the floor and a U-shaped balcony on three sides. … [A]fter scouting the space I took my gear to the center of the balcony. From there, on the long end of my lens, I could get a medium close-up of anyone on the stage.
“With a little help from the Stage Manager and using a couple of tables, I created a little shooting booth for myself. We strung cable and hung a couple of mics, I got my camera and monitor powered up, ran a sound check and was ready to shoot. …
“… The age range of the Fellows was broad from late teens to late sixties. It was quite a polymorphous aggregation. The only person I knew besides Ellie was my old piano player pal, Paul Trueblood. …
“If you have read Three Stages, the first volume of this memoir, you know that I was a fairly successful professional singer for over fifteen years. I only mention that to highlight my astonishment at the brilliance of the Cabaret Symposium’s Immersion Sessions.
“Fellows and Faculty were randomly assembled in the front rows of the barn. I don’t recall if there was any preamble or explanation about what was soon to occur or not. I do remember Ellie inviting the Fellows for a volunteer to get up and sing a song. A young man named Jack got up, conferred briefly with whichever pianist was at the keyboard and launched into a pop standard. I’m shooting and listening and thinking, “This guy is damn good. Don’t see where he needs much coaching.”
“Wrong.
“What followed Jack’s song was astounding. It was eighteen years ago [when I wrote this] and I no longer remember the details but one after another the teachers took his performance apart. I don’t recall anyone being outright cruel but the critique was amazingly strong, bordering on harsh at times. He was queried about the meaning of the lyric, asked to re-sing certain phrases. There were comments about his seeming interest in vocal quality over sensibility and emotion. This went on for at least half an hour, maybe longer. Finally he was told to sing the song again.
“The improvement was stunning. There was more heart and depth in this performance. Where the first time through had been impressive, the second time was moving.
“This pattern was repeated with several other Fellows, each critique process shorter than the previous. Obviously the Fellows were learning from what was being said (and done) to their predecessors. During that first three hour session I believe only seven or eight singers were critiqued. This left more than twenty seven or twenty eight to go during the three remaining immersions.
“By the time the session ended at 10:00 PM … I was exhausted and sweaty from the long day and could hardly wait to get into the shower. A-Ha! But this was also true of several dormitory mates. A group shower in a football locker room is one thing. A group shower at a Cabaret Symposium is – for a straight guy – something else altogether. I now knew what a cute girl felt like when being ogled by the boys. However I took the salacious remarks with good humor and told the men that while I was flattered by their attentions I was definitely not inclined to change teams this late in the game.”
Many more tales of the Cabaret Symposium and other adventures in video production and editing will be found when you click here and get Waiting for Elizabeth.
Tags: Cabaret Symposium, Ellie Ellsworth, O'Neil Theatre Center
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