PROJECT: Every fall we have the opportunity to get into the holiday spirit early by producing and directing a multicam production of Inspire Dance Centre’s Nutcracker performance. Watching Tchaikovsky’s timeless fairy ballet performed by the talented youth from this prestigious dance centre is sure to give you goosebumps. Can we just say that the dance of the sugar plum fairy never gets old? Many of the youth featured in these performances go on to dance professionally. You saw them here first! APPROACH: We were hired to shoot three separate performances of The Nutcracker, each of them highlighting different dance leads. Once we set up three cameras in the Mt. Hood Community College auditorium, we power up our tricaster backstage which enables us to live switch between cameras during the performance. From there, our director starts vibing with the rhythm and mood of each dance number as they direct the camera operators, and the person who is switching to ensure we are getting a good variety of shots, and cutting from camera to camera at appropriate times. Watching all the moving parts that work together as the director conducts is almost like a dance in and of itself. Since The Nutcracker is a ballet, we intentionally crop the dancers loosely in our shots because it is important to see the lines these incredible athletes make during the challenging and whimsical choreography. RESULTS: Along with distributing the three performances on our channels and online platforms, we supplied our client with a digital file which was used to create DVDs that were then sold. The profits were used to fund future performances and recitals!