nycineaste
Well-known member
yeah i know its better to boom but I might hafta one-man-band my next short...
good affordable shotgun mike to hook up to the dvx100a?
good affordable shotgun mike to hook up to the dvx100a?
good shotgun for atop the dvx100a?
- Thread starter nycineaste
- Start date
Steve House
Veteran
Depends on your definition of "affordable." My own definition of affordable is "whatever is the least amount it's going to cost me to get the right tool to do the job properly." If that turns out to be more money than I have on hand, part of the job becomes finding the money. But never settle for less than the right tools.
You never "hafta" do your project as a one-man band, you always have options. It's a matter of being willing to exercise them and doing whatever it takes to do the job preoperly.
Bargain, mainstream, or top-of-the-line, any mic you choose is going to be marginal at best when used from the camera position.
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Noiz2
Sound Ninja
The answer is "none". There is NO good choice for on top of the camera.
Now to answer the next two statements that usually follow being told that strapping a mic on a camera is not going to get good results...
"I can't afford a sound person" - Translation: "I haven't looked too hard or asked friends, I don't really care that much about the sound."
"I spent all my money on XYZ and I don't have anything left for sound" - Translation: "I never thought about sound till this problem and, I don't really care that much about the sound."
If you "don't really care that much about the sound." then you can do just about anything. IF you do really care about the sound. then you NEED a sound person, PERIOD. They probably don't need to be a professional, depending on what you are trying to do, but you need to have a person who's job it is to try and keep your production sound from sucking.
Now to answer the next two statements that usually follow being told that strapping a mic on a camera is not going to get good results...
"I can't afford a sound person" - Translation: "I haven't looked too hard or asked friends, I don't really care that much about the sound."
"I spent all my money on XYZ and I don't have anything left for sound" - Translation: "I never thought about sound till this problem and, I don't really care that much about the sound."
If you "don't really care that much about the sound." then you can do just about anything. IF you do really care about the sound. then you NEED a sound person, PERIOD. They probably don't need to be a professional, depending on what you are trying to do, but you need to have a person who's job it is to try and keep your production sound from sucking.
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Richard Crowley
Veteran
Repeating for emphasis and in case you missed it:
"There is NO good choice for on top of the camera."
The camera is NEVER EVER an appropriate place for a microphone.
"There is NO good choice for on top of the camera."
The camera is NEVER EVER an appropriate place for a microphone.
You'll always get the same response from the audio guys, they do have a job to protect but it's common sense that you won't get good audio if you cant get the mic close enough. For non-narrative stuff, theres ways around it such as to stand as close to the interviewee with a wide angle lens as possible or use wireless lav mics if you have them. For a shotgun mic, I'd recommend a Rode ntg3 for best bang for your buck.
recordingwhiz
Well-known member
The OP does state that he is intending to do a 'Short' which leads us to believe it is not a interview scenario but a narrative and in that case the is NO good microphone on camera if you want anything reassembling decent results.
It is not about keeping sound guys involved and hired, its about giving proper advice, period.
Physics dont change because your budget is tight.
Cheers
It is not about keeping sound guys involved and hired, its about giving proper advice, period.
Physics dont change because your budget is tight.
Cheers
Steve House
Veteran
Going in close to the subject, close enough for a mic (24inches), and using a wide angle lens is going to distort the subject's facial features in very unflattering ways.
I missed that part about shooting a short. Unless its an arthouse with no dialogue, its going to be difficult to pull of something that isnt distractingly low budget with an on camera mic.
With respect to using a wide angle lens, it doesnt always have to be unflattering. I'm not talking low angle fisheye here but eye level close up which is quite restrictive but works better than nothing if you are in a bind.
Here's a good example of when an on camera mic (rode ntg3 on a canon c300) works.
http://vimeo.com/39997736
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Noiz2
Sound Ninja
That might be true on a professional forum where the filmmaker posting might actually have a budget. This however is DVX User and the OP is shooting a short, there is no paid gig in that scenario. Maybe gas money. So no I am not trying to "protect a job", and in fact I do post 99% of the time so I wouldn't likely be getting that non paying gig anyway.
BUT as a post person I'm likely to to see the results when the OP comes to someone like me to "fix" the production sound. This is also probably a non paying or very close to non paying gig because, again, this is DVXUser and it's a short! It's not Scorsese asking the question it's a new filmmaker.
I am being self serving however because I can spend a lot of time working on that bad production but I won't be able to "fix" it, because it was recorded badly in the first place. So the OP will not be happy, I won't be happy (because I will be wasting my time doing salvage work rather than building the films sound world.
It's a lose, lose, lose scenario to strap the mic on the camera. Unless your doing a doc. (you can probably get away with the bad sound) or news/ journalism (the bad sound might actually make it sound more "real"). For EVERYONE else it is a poor choice that is NOT fixable after the fact.
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
The only possible way the OP could get decent sound in this scenario is if he uses the audio track from the camera-mounted mic as a guide for ADR of all the dialogue. That's do-able, though not ideal.
I can't imagine any kind of shoot where anyone would HAVE to go it alone without at least one person capable of holding a boom pole. Generally even an unskilled boom operator is going to give you better sound than a camera-mounted mic.
Also, in addition to wireless lavs, you might also consider wired lavs. They're cheaper, if the shoot is designed in such a way as to make them usable.
I can't imagine any kind of shoot where anyone would HAVE to go it alone without at least one person capable of holding a boom pole. Generally even an unskilled boom operator is going to give you better sound than a camera-mounted mic.
Also, in addition to wireless lavs, you might also consider wired lavs. They're cheaper, if the shoot is designed in such a way as to make them usable.