Month: March 2020

https://vimeo.com/401004995

I used my own audio and tested with myself both with the lav mic and without and just used my dog as the subject.

Discussion: The new additional instructional recess, updated spring break dates, and what that means for this class.

• We won’t “meet” again until next Thursday. If you feel you don’t have the right computer equipment/reliable internet at home to complete the documentary and portfolio website assignments, please let me know so we can get you set up in this interim period.
• Considering how much this is putting us behind, I’m cutting the breaking news assignment entirely. The logistics are just too complicated and with the constantly moving scheduling goalposts of the last couple of weeks, I won’t be giving an alternate/replacement assignment. If you already filed it, I will give you the option to have it replace your portfolio website assignment OR count for extra credit.
• I’m also removing the reel requirement for your portfolio websites. You’re welcome to include one, and I recommend that you do if you’re serious about filmmaking as a career. But it’s not required, and because of the limitations on going out and shooting right now, most of you won’t be coming out of the class with as much footage to show for yourselves as you otherwise would have.

Rough cuts of your docs will be due on Thursday, April 23. Leading up to that date, our equivalent to in-class production days will be a series of 1-on-1 phone check-ins on your progress so if you need coaching or feedback, I can help you with that before it’s all due.

Final cuts of the short doc will be due  Thursday, May 7.

Your portfolio website, complete with your reel, will be due on Thursday, May 14, the last day of class.

Discussion: Your audio exercise.

How did it go? Did anyone run into any issues with the Tascam, lav mic, or whatever other setup you ended up using? Now is the time to troubleshoot so we can make sure you’re up and running as you start work on your short docs.

Screening: Visual poems

We’ll look at the handful of visual poems we didn’t get a chance to see yet. (I plan to have these graded for you this weekend—sorry for the delay while I update the curriculum and adjust to remote teaching.)

 

Audio Assignment

By Yasmeen Persaud

Video info — Enjoyed practicing with this assignment. My dad describes working in a pharmacy after enduring a long shift and preparing the store for next day’s frenzy of customers amid the COVID—19 outbreak.

Notes on practice — I feel as if the merged audio could have been better, and I would like to know how to eliminate the background noise if possible. My audio on the camera itself was okay, but with the iPhone mic (using the QuickVoice App) I think I achieved better sound quality.

 

The lavalier mic has no sound, I suspect this may be due to dead batteries.

Also, I only have an iPad Pro at home, so I cannot download any audio from the Tascam or Canon camera.

https://vimeo.com/400772424

No Zoom meeting today!

DSLR Audio Workshop

DSLR cameras shoot gorgeous video, but they are… not great when it comes to audio. They’re not built for capturing high-quality audio; even when you capture it with a decent mic and feed it directly into the camera, it will be compressed and not nearly as good as audio recorded separately on proper audio recorder, ideally with a lavalier or “lav” mic clipped to the collar. Which creates a whole other set of issues when it comes to syncing the audio in post. Fun times! Fortunately, there are a lot of creative solutions out there available at not TOO high of a price.

The Rode Videomic

One thing to be aware of with the Rode Videomic is that most Canon DSLRs with video capability register a pretty audible hiss if you use them with an external microphone in Auto and with the default settings in a quiet environment. This is because the camera has an automatic feature that increases the audio gain in a quiet setting because it’s essentially looking for sound.

With the Videomic Pro, there are recommended settings you can change manually to eliminate this hiss. Unfortunately, we have the Videomic Go, so this doesn’t apply to our equipment, but I still mention it because the Pro is an affordable and a very common mic for videographers who are starting out. (By setting the Rode Videomic Pro’s dB switch to +20 and adjusting the manual sound level setting on the camera to about 20%, you can achieve a virtually hiss-free recording if you’re recording in Manual.)

Still, don’t worry about the hiss too much. It’s great for low-fuss recording in situations where there might be a low level of background noise (outside with birds chirping, etc., on a street with a bit of traffic noise, etc.) and if you’re in a totally quiet environment there’s a good chance you’re in a controlled environment like an office where it’ll be easier to use the lav mic anyway.

Using the Tascam

The Tascam is the audio mixer in your kits in the bubble wrap. It allows you to record audio from multiple mics/sources at once. You can record that audio separately to be synced later or feed it directly into your camera to avoid having to sync it. There are good reasons why you may or may not want to do that.

If you’re feeding audio from multiple mics into the Tascam, it will record them separately which can help you in editing later, but when you’re monitoring the audio on your headphones you will hear the sound from both mics at once together. If you feed the audio directly into the camera, each separate track will be combined into one (and at a lower, more compressed quality to boot) meaning you will lose the ability to mix those multiple sources separately in post.

It will, however, allow you to avoid the often time-consuming process of syncing your high-quality audio with the clips filmed on your camera that are paired with the low-quality, built-in camera audio.

You can sync audio within Premiere Pro using the Merge Clips feature (demonstrated below) which is a lot easier than trying to do it manually. Watch this and pay attention to what he says about doing a loud clap once both camera and audio recorder are recording, which will help when it comes time to sync the audio.

But even with this tool, syncing can be a pain, especially when you consider that DSLR interviews are by necessity often broken into shorter clips than you might find with other video cameras (they can generally only record for about 12 minutes before they will stop recording automatically and you will need to begin a new clip, meaning you may need to do this a number of times).

I’ve also found sometimes that “Merge Clips” doesn’t always work, and you’ll need to go in and line things up manually, which usually requires you to zoom all the way in and adjust the sync frame by frame to make sure it’s lined up perfectly. The visual waveforms are hugely helpful in terms of making sure the sync is exact; I recommend stretching out your audio tracks vertically so you can see the waveforms while you’re doing this.

So whether or not you decide to input the Tascam audio into the camera will depend on your individual assessment of what’s most important for this project; ie ease vs. quality/control. I personally always record the audio separately.

Exercise

Set up your cameras for an interview with the lavalier mic. Practice interviewing someone about their day, first with the Tascam recording the audio separately and then with the Tascam feeding the audio into the camera. (You can also just mic yourself and talk about your own day if you’re the only one at your place right now.) Make sure to start a new video clip when you switch recording methods. It only needs to be 30 seconds to a minute. Upload your footage and your audio into a new Premiere Pro project and practice syncing the audio. Post on the blog.

The Tascam gets mounted onto your tripod and then your camera gets mounted on top of it. The long XLR cable will connect the Tascam to the lav mic. Clip the lav mic pack to your belt, and ask your interviewee to run the lav mic under their shirt and clip it to their collar. Plug your headphones into the Tascam as well so you can monitor the audio. The very small cable in the clear box is what allows you to feed the Tascam audio directly into the camera.

I know it’s not ideal that I can’t be there with you in a classroom to give hands-on instruction while you’re getting the hang of this equipment, but I’ll be available by phone/FaceTime etc. in case you need assistance! Please don’t hesitate to call.