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What about the audio? - Microphones
Before my brother and I started Guy Graphics, our dream was to make independent films. We've written several scripts and have written down several hundred ideas. Sadly, most of those have never gone beyond the idea stage, but we did get out with the camera and crew on more than one occasion to put an idea to tape. We've always worked with video and the best camcorders we had at the time were Hi-8 (this was before DV). Although our video looked nothing like film, we were able to process it (with the amazing BVP4+) and get a somewhat decent image. Processing the video made a big difference, but we quickly learned that while viewers could put up with less-than-perfect video (perhaps considering it artsy), having crappy audio would make a video practically unwatchable.
I'm not talking about the lame MIDI-orchestrated royalty-free music that was available to the no-budget independent. Instead, I'm referring to the incredibly poor dialog that was captured to tape by the camcorder's own microphone. We quickly realized that if you want to get recorded dialogue anything like what you might see on a "real" movie, you have to get the microphone closer to actors. We also found that in almost all cases, the stock camera-mounted microphone is not the best one for the job.
Handheld Microphone
 If you are doing a news reporter scene, or perhaps someone in on the stage singing or speaking then a handheld microphone will work well. In most circumstances you won't want your talent holding a microphone though. The main benefit of a handheld mic is that it can be placed inches from the speaker's mouth and will usually not record other ambient sounds. If you are trying to record more than one speaker then each person will need a mic, or they'll have to pass it back and forth.
Lapel Microphones
 Lapel, or lavaliere microphones, are worn by the actor and are ideally placed 6-8 inches from the mouth. To get the best audio, each speaker should have their own microphone. The main benefit of the lavaliere mic is that once set up properly the speaker does not have to think about it and the microphone will move with the speaker. There are some disadvantages to the lavaliere mic though. While the microphone element is small, it is not invisible. Hiding under clothes will typically muffle the sound, and maybe even record the rustling of fabric rubbing across it. There is also the inconvenience to the actor of having to be setup with the microphone. Even with these disadvantages, the lapel mic is usually the best option when the speaker will be moving and it would be impractical to follow them with another type of microphone.
Shotgun Microphones
 The shotgun microphone is the workhorse of the film and video recording industry. This microphone gets its name from its long cylindrical shape, which resembles a shotgun barrel, and it's pickup pattern, which is very directional. The shotgun microphone works very much like a telescope and picks up audio from the direction it is pointed and cuts out sound from outside that area. This directional behavior allows you to move the microphone farther away from the actors and still record them clearly (just like you could look at someone across a crowded room through a telescope and not be distracted by the other people). The microphones length typically determines the range and focus of the shotgun microphone, with a longer microphone having a longer range and more focused pattern. The benefit of the shotgun mic is that your actors can move more freely and you will generally get good audio as long as the microphone is pointed correctly. The main disadvantage is that as the microphone is moved farther away from the speaker, the voice will usually not sound as good.
Boom Poles
Using a boom pole goes together with the shotgun microphone. Even though the shotgun mic can record audio from 10+ feet away, the best sounding audio is usually in the 2-4 feet range. Unless you’re only doing extreme close-ups a camera-mounted shotgun mic will not give you the flexibility that you need. We discovered that using a boom pole to get the microphone close to the actor and just out of the camera's view we usually got the best audio-recording compromise.  With a boom pole you can keep the mic close and follow the actors as they move. The main disadvantage of the boom pole is that you need a dedicated person to man the boom pole and constant communication to keep the mic as close to the actors as possible without dropping it into the shot.
Wired or Wireless
Another thing I should mention is the use of wireless versus wired microphone setups. Wireless microphones typically fall into either the handheld or lavaliere categories, but a wireless transmitter could be connected to any microphone. Wireless offers the main advantage of mobility over a wired solution. This is true for both the actors, which may be wearing a microphone, and the sound crew monitoring the audio. When using wireless equipment special care has to be taken to make sure that batteries are charged and the correct frequencies are chosen. With wired microphones you don’t have to worry about radio interference.
My suggestion is to have more than one microphone option available so you can choose the best one for the situation. Next time I'll write about different ways to record the audio.
Ashley Guy |
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