This was my third time fortunate enough to be invited to film The Sandbox Rock & Roll Orchestra’s Christmas concert at The Bristol Riverside Theater in Bristol, PA. I recorded the show first in 2014 and then again in 2015, before they took a year hiatus from the show.

It was another great concert as always, if not their best. One of the changes they made this year was inviting a few other local acts (H.M.S., Secret Base Life, The Fredz) to perform in the show. This added a new layer to the concert and also allowed the main performers to stay fresh and not have to carry the whole show.

Filming-wise, I’m also trying to make improvements year-after-year.

In 2014 I started using three cameras; a Canon 7D, Vixia G20 camcorder, and a GoPro 3 Silver.

The the following year, in 2015, I added another GoPro (3 Black) and an iPhone 4 to make it a five-camera shoot. I also broke up the 2015 video with some fun behind-the-scenes vignettes sprinkled throughout the concert video.

This year, I replaced one of the GoPros with another DSLR, the Canon T5i using a 50-250mm lens for some decent closeups. I also changed my shooting location the the center of the balcony, which was crucial! Previous years, I was relegated to the side of the stage cutting off some performers from view.

In the editing room, my motivation was to up the pace and focus of the video a bit. To accomplish that I added some invisible edits between songs and added some creative transitions that hopefully add to the enjoyment of the video. I also worked hard on adding a unifying color grade to the video and I’m quite happy with the minty greens and reds that pop!

I think this is the best Enabling Peace on Earth concert film yet and I’ll try to do even better next year. Did someone say 4K?