A Mini Documentary : Minds Eye 2012
John MacDonald was asked to do a Mini documentary for some art students who were putting on an exhibition. My job was to do the sound operation and a little bit of camera work.
Camera: John
Editor : John
Current Experiences
I thought I ought to blog about the recent events taking place to bridge the gaps between my posts. So where to begin? I’ve been working on a few different projects… Read More
Behind the Scenes: A Chapter in the Life of Elizabeth Keckley
Video is only half the production
As the title suggests, the visual element to any production is only half the experience. The other half is the audible sound made up of music, voice, ADR and so on.
Last week, The University held a ‘Skills Week’ – a week of perfecting and recognising our skills with others we wouldn’t usually work with. This year was the first time the film students did something outside the CMS (computer, mathematical and science) school. In previous years the Skills Week had very little in the way of a film aspect or were just incredibly boring. This year however, it was The 48hour film challenge. Where we had 48hours to shoot & edit the film. That in itself is a challenge. But we did have Monday to plan and Thursday to finish and then showcase all the productions. In this instance, being a third year, I had to Executive Produce said production along with another third year. Together we led a group of first and second years ranging in skills from a lot to not much. This is what Skills Week is all about, recognising our strengths and weaknesses and using this experience to better ourselves in the area we fall short.
My reasoning behind this post is simple. After watching all productions from the Skills Week challenge, it has come to my attention that many if not, all the productions lacked in having a decent audible experience. What this means is the sound levels on location may not have been set properly or the post production of the audio just didn’t happen. And if it did happen, it was a rushed job. My aim here is not criticise. It is to highlight the problem area and show how it can be corrected by doing a few simple things, both on location and or in post.
As a result of this experience I have learnt the hard way not to trust the universities equipment. Countless times I’ve been handed broken or missing items that result in bad sound. Batteries not charged, settings changed from default on the solid state recorder, broken shotgun microphones, leads bent causing artificial static, the list goes on… So to rectify this, I’ve taken the plunge, so to speak, and purchased my own shotgun mic. A Rode NTG-2. A phantom powered microphone of which is broadcast quality. I currently use the Zoom H4N solid state recorder for various sound applications, but it’s time for an upgrade to the on-board mics of the Zoom.
Here’s how to use this equipment to get decent quality sound every time. It’s the basics that count, so this should work for all solid state and shotgun microphone set-ups.
(Starting at the end of the shoot and then moving on…)
1) Keep your stuff clean, fully charged and packed away neatly after every use. After using the equipment for a prolonged time like on a days shoot, you should always clean it up, be it a quick wipe or a full on clean. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but don’t let it get clogged up with mud or dust or grime. Dust is the biggest killer in electronics, fact!
Replace or recharge those batteries, you don’t want to pick it up the next day and run out of charge before the day has even started, do it the night before or after the shoot!
Pack it away neatly, wrap the cables up nicely without bending the metal cabling inside. They’ll last longer! Plus you wouldn’t want to use something after someone else who just shoved everything back in the case without any regard for the next person and that next person could be you!
2) Check to see if you have everything and the microphone is working before going on the shoot. This applies to people who are getting it out of uni stores or even if it’s your own. You don’t want to turn up with broken or missing stuff.
3) Check to see if the mic you have needs phantom power 48 volts or not. This can be provided from the solid state recorder, or from a battery that gets placed inside the microphone itself. If you’re using the 48v from the solid state recorder, TURN IT ON. If you don’t know how, refer to the manual for that solid state recorder which you can easily find on the web or ask someone, that’s what they’re there for. Sometimes the preamps on the solid state recorder are too weak for these microphones, this is where you’ll need a preamp to power the mic. NOTE, the solid states at the university work fine.
4) Format or transfer the files from the current memory card and set your sample rate. You don’t want to run out of space, format or transfer files. Then set the recording quality. Usually these solid states can record at broadcast quality, I like to record at 96khz 24bits. But if you want to save memory you can record at 44.1khz at 16bits.
5) Set the audio to the right audio channel where the mic is plugged into and check your levels. setting and monitoring the audio can and must only be done by someone using headphones. Ideally you want someone tweaking the levels as you go, if your talent gets louder the levels need reducing. You don’t want to peak, you’ll never recover the peaked audio in post. You want it ideally at -6db.
6) Listen With Your Ears Not Your Eyes.
Added: 18th March 2012. Submitted by Oliver Cooper
7) Refer back to point number 1!
Other techniques include using a boom pole and wrapping the XLR Cable around the pole for safety and for general tidiness. For capturing dialogue, you ideally need to be 3ft away from the subject, pointing towards the mouth from above.
If I’ve missed anything, please feel free to add your comments below! :)
London TimeLapse Shoot
I am venturing into London today; Solar powered backpack strapped upon my back and a case full photographic goodies carried on one shoulder. Tripod attached to the bottom of my bag. AH MAN this is heavy!
So why am I lugging this stuff around? – It’s the London TimeLapse shoot, which is to go along with my dissertation as the product. I wanted to produce something that was iconic to the audience and also visually stunning- London is that iconic place and the astrological timelapses will provide some stunning attributes. But that’s not the only reason, the title of my dissertation involves the words “experimenting with the different forms of TimeLapse Photography” Which means, there needs to be a variety of different types. The London TimeLapse is one of three types that I shall do. London = City Scape.
I thought I’d do the City Scape TimeLapse first. My thinking was logical, it was to be the easiest and possibly the most fun, however I did learn a few things. Vital things are needed, such as:
A Decent Tripod. I thought my new tripod would stand up to what I wanted to do, but I soon found myself trying to stop it from minor wobbles, which would have a devastating effect. And that is true for the first TimeLapse I shot. it’s a bit of a write off. Reshoot is needed.
A Decent Variable ND filter for ALL your Lenses: Although it might be a costly affair, I found one on Amazon, it’s a Poloriod Varible ND filter which fitted on my widest lens. However, it’s not top notch, purple fringing is seen if zoomed in and if turned to the highest ND setting, ghosting appears, and it’s not the type of ghosting that you could get away with. I’m going to save some cash up for two DECENT variable ND filters. They are a must have, for video and TimeLapses, if I wanted the effect of people or vehicles moving fast I have a 1 second exposure. Without the ND filter it would be overexposed.
A very fast SDHC or Compact Flash card: Depending on your camera of choice. Without it, you can’t capture the timelapses fast enough, IE the writing of the data to the memory card. Also, you should be shooting in RAW format, it’s the highest quality and very easy to manipulate later, however it takes up a lot of room. I recommend Sandisks 32GB class 10 30mb/s SDHC card, works a treat. And although on the pricey side, you won’t regret purchasing.
A battery grip : we’re always in need of extra power and the cheap generic versions of canon battery grips work just as well. I had one on the timelapses in London and I found it worked perfectly, even after 2hours of continuous use!
Have a good idea of what your post production workflow will be. I’ve experimented with a few different ones and have settled with the Lightroom> LR timelapse> Lightroom> and then finish it off in After Effects method.
Here’s a sample of what’s to come.
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