To be irritated by all the Camcorders at church

[ShanahansRevenge]

Our school has a really nice Christmas service in the Cathedral, the school choir sing, some children do a little solo and others do a reading....and there are prayers.

It has been ruined every year by a sea of camcorders and mobile bloody phones! People think it's fine to hold up their recording equipment and obscure other peoples view.

AIBU to hope/expect that people would just sit in a church and listen to the service and the singing without the need to record it for posterity?

It seems sort of wrong somehow...it's a religious service not a school assembly...and yes...it is a Christian school. Not CofE but Christian.

Yes, it's crap. But your life isn't valid unless it's liked by someone on FB so I doubt you'll stop it
If it's really bad then mention it to the school/vicar. They could be getting someone techy to do it and selling it for a couple of quid to raise funds.

YANBU! The church we used to go to in London did not allow cameras or camcorders or mobile phones, so you could enjoy the services in peace, including at weddings, baptisms etc. At our wedding only one picture was allowed during the service and to be honest I was glad of it as I could concentrate on the service!

Completely agree, and hate all the camcorders in the primary school plays/assemblies too - laughable the way people queue ridiculously early to get front row seats, then don't watch it, record it and spoil everyone else's veew. One family even used to set up a tripod! Luckily DS1 is now a an indie schoo, where they don;t allow camcorders, you can buy professionally produced DVD instead for a tenner - fab quality, no distraction and the proceeds go to the bursary fund. Win, win, win!

Oooh Good! I feared I might get shot down in flames for being unreasonable!

Our school iss indie too MrsGuy...I think I will speak to HT about it tbh...it IRKS me!

Our church is in a modern building. When we have a performance, baptism etc at the front we have a camcorder on a tripod rigged up to show everything on the big screen so everyone even right at the back can see. Sometimes we have 2 for different angles.

The recording can then be copied for anyone who wants it, or we put clips on the church website (never charged though.)

I would ban them from all school events. Parents should be actively involved in watching-not doing it second hand through filming-and spoiling it for others.
If the school did one and banned the rest it would be a big improvement.

I loathe it. And I bet no one ever watches them.

Gosh..everyone agrees so far. So where are all the people who actually DO it?

I totally agree, I am sick of watching school plays through someone else's camcorder screen. What really winds me up (as a TV technical type) is that the framing, sound and lighting quality of these videos are SHITE and they are also ruining it for anyone behind them. Not to mention the mums who get up and climb on chairs to take a better shot of their child picking their nose.

At the school carol concert one parent had the camcorder practically stuffed up their child's nose. And it is often the same set of parents every time.

I have a theory that there is a secret society somewhere who take people off the street and forces them to watch endless badly filmed footage of their child doing all this stuff. Do they really watch it enough to justify ringing everyone else's viewing. I don't even bother taking my camera now, I know what DD looks like.

DD's theatre school also bans recording equipment and flogs a professional video as well. Far the best way of doing it, and the children get an individual professional photo. This is a memento worth keeping.

My friend went to a concert the other night and she said she saw it all via someone's iPhone, who then proceeded to start emailing his friends pictures he had just taken, so he missed most of the concert as he was too busy emailing people saying "I am at the concert". This "having a record is more important than living for the actual real moment as it occurs" baffles me.

I have very few recordings of the DCs-I decided early on that we needed to experience the moment and live it-not film it. I have never regretted it.

Well, I will tape my DC's Church performance, as my DH, MIL and mum cannot come, but would LOVE to see it later.

I will choose a seat at the back by a pillar, so I do not obstruct anyone's view.

How is that wrong?!

Our school always film every show/concert that we do, and then makes them available to all parents - we just charge a few pence to cover the costs of the disc and printing - it works really well for us and does stop people from filming, as they end up with better quality anyway

Another non-filmer here. I even banned my family from secretly organising a wedding videographer, on the basis that in years to come I want hazy, rose-tinted idealistic memories, not cold reality.

I was really pissed off at the Remembrance Service this year when the man in front of me started taking pictures during the service. It is so unnecessary and totally without respect.

It always strikes me as incredibly sad - they spend the entire performance making sure they've got the best camera angle - always in extreme close up so you can only see their own kid and none of the actual wider picture - and they must miss out on the entire actual performance.

Not to mention they always get a seat in the second row, dead centre and then stand up and block everyone else's view.

I tried that at our wedding - and guess who insisted on filming - my bloody FIL! You'd have thought he'd have been busy "in the moment" but apparently not. I won't watch it though, I prefer my memories as you say, kodokan.