Question for Luis C. (re: Austin Connoisseur)

andersonnd

andersonnd

Active member
Luis,

I didn't want to hijack the hpx170 vs pd170 post to ask this question regarding one of your posts.

You said:

"I've shot countless things with my HVX with all available light - no DP, and a crew of one person (me).
Here's just one example: www.austinconnoisseur.com"

How did you go about getting sound as a one man crew?

Thanks,
Neil
 
As a one man crew, depending upon the shot, you would either use a lapel mic (Clearly visible in the few clips I saw), or a shotgun on the camera (Not very Pro, but it works better than nothing).
 
Capt Quirk got it exactly right.

A wired lav mic on the interviews (I prefer not to use wireless unless I absolutely have to) - and a short shotgun on the cam for ambient sound. Seeing as the ambient sound was not really front and center in any of those episodes, I figured it would be okay to go that route. The dialogue from the interview was the foundation of the audio - the rest is just kind of there to lend some flavor.

Those were truly 'run and gun' type shoots - which is what the budget dictated.
If we'd had a larger budget we would have boomed both the interview and the broll - and taken much longer to shoot as well. Each of those episodes was shot in a couple of hours, doing the interviews first (about 15-20 minutes for the first one, and usually 10 minutes for the seoncd one or so), and then spending a couple of hours grabbing 'broll' footage.
All the slomo was done in camera on the HVX.
 
Nice, I'm trying to anticipate a move from 3 person crew to a 1 man band and sound is my biggest concern right now. Do you ever boom and shoot by yourself or should I take the "we" as an additional set of hands?
 
The "we" was referring to the person who conducted the interview.
I've also done quite a few shoots where I literally do everything, from lighting to sound to interviewing (and I do not recommend it at all).

In the case of Austin Connoisseur I had a partner who conducted the interviews - and I ran all camera and sound solo.
So I still consider that a 'one man' camera crew.

I've never boomed and shot by myself - personally I don't see the gains as outweighing the detriments in that scenario. Yes, audio would be much nicer if I were able to boom... but the amount of time/effort that I saved by only using a wired lav was well worth it (to me).
 
i have to tell you, for general narrative (like luis' BBQ show) i have always had better results with a well hidden lav mic than a close-boomed hypercardioid.

if anything. ill let the lav be the key audio and let the boomed track sit real low just to add a little air to the room.

and to second another of luis' points - wired always sounds better than wireless if you have the option. somebody from my musical past once said that no guitar player who cares about TONE will ever use a wireless system.
 
The only way you would possibly be able to boom by your self, would to either have the cam locked down on a tripod, or use a boom mic stand. Either way, you won't be able to have much movement from the subject.

And Luis, thanks for giving me that credit, it's nice to have someone admit I was right about something. Now, could you talk to my wife for me? She'll never admit I was right, even though we both know the truth ;)
 
Capt Quirk said:
The only way you would possibly be able to boom by your self, would to either have the cam locked down on a tripod, or use a boom mic stand. Either way, you won't be able to have much movement from the subject.
Click to expand...

Very true. And while I've used locked down booms on studio interviews before, I've never used them in these sorts of 'live' situations. We went into each of these locations with minimal time to setup, usually in the middle of an actual working day. So it was mainly an issue of time, both in dragging in the needed gear and setting it up.

And Luis, thanks for giving me that credit, it's nice to have someone admit I was right about something. Now, could you talk to my wife for me? She'll never admit I was right, even though we both know the truth ;)
Click to expand...
I feel your pain, Capt.
:beer:
 
luis, those were definitely well produced pieces. i'm a one man band myself so its nice to see what others are doing with limited resources.
 
Actually, I would like to see what mic you are using, how you wire it to what you use to record it with. I have a pair of Azden wireless lapels, and you are right, the audio suffers. But since I moved up to a camera with XLR inputs, I don't have much use for the 1/8" line.
 
manglerBMX said:
luis, those were definitely well produced pieces. i'm a one man band myself so its nice to see what others are doing with limited resources.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
Much appreciated.

Capt Quirk said:
Actually, I would like to see what mic you are using, how you wire it to what you use to record it with.
Click to expand...

I was using a Tram TR50 wired lav running straight into the HVX, recording both channels (one a few dB lower than the other).
 
This is great you guys, thanks. It would make me very nervous to crew and interview myself (either a crap shoot on the image quality or a really bad imitation of the Interrotron!). Well worth the investment to hire one or the other.

I agree that wireless is iffy, so wiring straight into the HVX is my plan.
 
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