shotgun and boom?

[The Kitten Technique]

I searched a ton of posts and Couldn't find the answer I was looking for. I am shooting a travel pilot in a couple weeks. Indoors, outdoors, day, night, etc. Variety of noise and situations. I was wondering what anyone would suggest for sound. We don't want our host holding a mic, and we dont want to deal with lav mics. I was told to try a boom and a shotgun. Is this wise? Should we just get one? or is both a good idea? And is there a boom mic that can be doubled as a shotgun? Or should we suck it up and go with lav mics? Of course like everyone we are on a limited budget. And if anyone has any suggestions for any other equip for the shoot I would love to know. Thanks for your help

 

[Nobody356]

a boom is the pole on which you mount a shotgun mic... sometimes they call a shotgun on a boom a "boom mic" ...at least thats what I thought...correct me if im wrong

 

[dvpixl]

Lol

 

[procam]

If your budget can reach to it id say go for the wireless mic and boom that way if one goes down you havnt lost out ... i use this set up all the time...a Sennheiser wireless system and audio technica boom total cost £500 for a boom pole i use the centre from a light stand it extends to 7ft and has the thread on top to take the suspension unit

Paul

 

[wabbit]

Ok, first off...what the heck is the Kitten Technique? Is this a new way to set up a dolly? Won't be able to sleep tonight until I understand this term.

What Nobody said is correct (that's a fun phrase), the boom is the pole that the mic (sometimes shotgun) is mounted on.

As procam said get both, get a mixer, and you might decide on set that a handheld is a good idea for some situations.

That being said and assuming you are trying to put together a serious professional production...hire a professional sound mixer. At one point or another a sound guy with the correct equipment is going to save your day. By not hiring him you are setting yourself up for sub-par sound, some shots being completely useless, and a ton of extra work. It cannot be stress enough that the world is a noisy place and you will get burned if you try to get a novice to do your sound.

IF you insist on pushing ahead without a sound guy and can't afford to buy all the needed equipment, just rent it.

Cheers

 

[Baluardo]

I am shooting a travel pilot in a couple weeks. Indoors, outdoors, day, night, etc.

i have some exp with this kind of situation and i realized that for my projects (a lot spontaneous interation with people) the best was a camera mounted shotgun mic. it gets rid of a lot of unwanted environment noise, it picks people's voice very good up to 2 or 3 mtrs... the only thing is directionality which depending on what you want to do it may end up being critical. with a medium or long shotgun voices out of camera frame, on a wide angle, will be virtually lost. you should check the pickup pattern of the mic to see how it matches your shooting situations. a 90° pickup angle may not be enough for you (eg if you want people holding the camera interact with the situation)

Lavs are good in specific situations when interaction with other people is not needed (otherwise you dont pick up their voices).

if your project targets a top notch video and audio quality national geographic style, you want a boom stick and audio op.

what sounds are you goin to record? other people? just the anchorman? animal sound? wind and water? depending on your needs different miking situations are needed..

in ANY case, dont forget the windscreens!!

Andrea

 

[pmark23]

One channel radio lav, one channel boom-mic mounted on camera. If you watch other travel shows, you'll see that that's what they're doing. This assumes you only have two channels available.

If you're doing two-way interviews, then you'll need a boom-mic and a sound-mixer. If it's a quick 'n dirty interview, just give the announcer a handheld mic and switch it in place of the lav.

ALWAYS record backup audio, so if there's a burst of wind or a dropout on one channel, you can recover it from the other. That means that if you aren't using the lav on one shot, then switch on the internal mic. If something messes-up, then you'll at least be able to do something in post.

 

[ptalsky]

Depending on what you're doing, you can get a good wireless omni lav mic, mount it outside the hosts clothing and get fairly good pickup on anyone he/she is talking to. This may not be the best practice, but can work for low-budget (seemingly becoming my specialty. ;-)