I used to think planners with time columns and day-to-day notes were stupid - now I'm thinking that I'm going to need one soonish. Makes me wish my iPod was a little smarter.

On Friday I got an email asking if I could videotape a recital on Sunday, and after working out some details, it was a go. The "recital" turned out to be a performance at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center, so it was quite an experience. I, of course, managed to bluff my way through the evening, even when my client mentioned to the theater manager that he decided to hire a "professional". I either blushed or crapped in my pants a little because I keep having this feeling that I'm really just pretending to be good at videography.

When I was setting up, I couldn't even tell the sound tech what kind of plug in I needed for my camera. And then when the sound was distorted, he figured out that I had it on "mic" instead of "line in". Stuff I would figure out eventually, but I didn't, so I felt even more amateurish.

The performance started and I got progressively more worried because:

A) Stage lights hate my camera. The red lights wash out my subjects and suddenly it's like a cheap horror movie in some dark room. They had many different lights to drop my camera off.

B) One dancer was fine, great, dandy. Multiple dancers who go all over the place is not so great. Establishing shots are too blurry and indistinct, and you can't see any faces. Closeups mean there are people you're leaving out. Sigh. I had a second camera but my old Digital 8 can't make out faces and colors well. I would have better luck with a 35mm camera.

C) My second camera failed - at the end of the first hour, I went to change the tape and the carriage got stuck. Leaving me with one camera.

D) The performance is supposed to be one and a half hours. If it ran a minute over, I'm screwed because my tape usually runs an hour. I can stretch to an hour and a half, but beyond that I'm screwed. The trouble isn't that I don't have another tape, but the performances and breaks were so closely intertwined I was afraid I was going to cut something out - something I wouldn't worry about with a second camera. (i.e., change tape on camera one but not miss a thing because camera 2 will be recording, and then switch off.)

Luckily, I managed to pull through. Just not looking forward to seeing the footage because I'm way harsher than I'll need to be with my own footage. Wanna hear some swearing and self-loathing? Sit with me while I watch my dailies.