SOUND ON MY FILM

Recording the Sound

When it came to the sound on my film I wanted it to be as good as the camera shots, so I asked my dad to help me recording the sound.  I needed his help because it would be very difficult for me to concentrate on filming with the camera whilst also trying to make sure the sound was being recorded well.

Sound Equipment

• Directional Microphone
• Wind Shield
• Boom Pole
• XLR Lead
• Zoom Recorder

The film was recorded on a very windy day in the forest, so we needed to use a wind-shield over the mic which stops some of the wind hitting the microphone itself. The microphone I used is called a shot gun mic which is very directional, this means it records the sound in front of the mic really well, and not the unwanted sound from the sides or back of the mic. The mic was attached to a long boom-pole so it could be held close to the actors but just outside of the area being filmed. the mic was connected to a digital recorder device called a zoom recorder using a XLR lead

Lining up the sound with the Video

In film making, sound and video are often recorded at the same time, but on two different devices. Video is captured on to a video camera, and sound is captured on to a digital Audio recorder via a microphone.  This is so that the camera can be positioned far away from actors but the mic can still record the sound of the actors speaking vey clearly - which would not be possible if we recorded the sound using the microphone built in to the camera.

Fig #1

Recording Sound with a Boom Pole

After the video and the sound have been recorded they need to be added together and synchronised so that the movement of the actors mouths is lined up with the sound of their voices. In film making, a Clapper Board is often used to help to do this.

The movement of the clapper board is recorded on the video camera and the sound of the clapper board is recorded on the audio recorder.  This gives a reference both on the video and the audio which can be used to perfectly line them up together.

Fig #2

A Clapper Board

I also had to line up the sound with the video after I had shot the film - and this took a lot of time.

To help me to do this, I always clapped my hands together two times before I shot any video. This meant that I could use the video of me clapping, and the sound of me clapping, as a reference to help me to line up the sound (which was recorded on the Zoom Recorder) with the video (which was shot on the camera) when I needed to add them together. it still took a lot of time though!