Audio question

C

Commercial Reject

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Saturday I'll be shooting a wedding with a DVX100A. I was hoping to buy a shotgun mic, but I just don't have the money for it right now. So I have to restort to using the internal mic.

The ceremony is to take place outside and the reception inside. I just got the camera a week ago and haven't had time to toy with all the audio settings. I was wondering what settings you guys would suggest for this situation. Any input would be completely appreciated.

I'm taking headphones along to watch my levels. But it will be much easier going into this situation with an idea of what to do.
 
First of all, you should never use a shotgun mic for a wedding...Saying that, you should NEVER NEVER NEVER use your incamera mic lol.

What I do, is when i film a wedding, i make them a 6 minute montage, to music....So its a 6 minute video, with some background music. here it is:

http://blip.tv/file/353125/
 
Robbie, I'm not trying to offend you in any way shape of form, the montage was great, but all I could think about the whole time was Napoleon Dynamite lol.
 
Your best bet? hope you can stick your camera in front of a speaker, and be able to get the shot at the same time.

I would NEVER use the internal for a wedding. Always wireless lav's, my friend. Even cheap one's would be better than nothing.

This isn't a paying gig, is it?
 
And just for the record... a standard wedding video is between 45 minutes and 3 hours long, not just a 6 minute montage (although those are usually included in the final product).

Good luck. Maybe you can rent a wireless lav for the day? check your local rental house, they usual for for 10-30 bucks a day for just a basic setup.
 
I would disagree with the "Never use a shotgun for a wedding comment". There are plenty of times a shotgun is very useful at weddings. 9 times out of 10 you have no idea what the acoustics will be before you arrive, and the location will really dictate the type of mic you need. I run with a NTG-2 on my camera for pre and post event footage at almost every wedding. There are plenty of times that it will work perfectly. Also good for ambient sound to mix with the clean ceremony audio.

That said, rbrown is absolutely right. Other than ambient sound as mentioned above, it is almost worthless for the ceremony if it is on camera. You'll need a good set of lavs. At very least, one for the officiant. It will normally do an ok job of picking up the groom and bride. Preference is to place on on the groom too. It will for sure pick up the groom and bride very well.

Don't think you need a countryman/lectro setup for the wedding. I shoot all of mine running into the cam with G2's (but I wouldn't go any lower than that in mic quality).

rbrown is also correct about the length too. The wedding I just finished editing today was 1 hr and 34 mins. That doesn't include the Love Story video we filmed for the DVD or the Comic that was at the reception (He got his own place in the Extra's section on the DVD menu).
 
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