The next step for continuing on in my filmmaking adventures is to learn more about sound production, recording and editing. The number 1 complaint I've received concerning Boy Who Never Slept was the sound quality. I have A LOT more ambitious projects in the works and I'm working very hard to improve all aspects of my filmmaking skills and right now I'm especially paying attention to Sound.

Last week I bought the book "Producing great sound for digital video" second edition by Jay Rose. It's a 400+ page book and so far I'm read to page 165. It goes over the basics of what sound is (changes in air pressure) how it spreads through air, water, and other materials and gives many practical details about microphones and recording options. When I have time I'll provide some specifics of how I'm personally applying this info, but for now (I know I haven't even finished the book yet) my plan for recording the sound on my next short is as follows.

Considering I don't have enough money to buy a professional boom, shotgun, and lavaliere microphones, so here is my realistic plan for shooting better sound on my next production.

Buy a camera prosumer camera with an attachment option that adds balanced xlr microphone inputs, mount a separate shotgun microphone above the camera (at least 4 inches above the camera to cut down on camera noise.) for shots where the camera is closer then 8 ft from the actors. To cut down on reverb inside echoy rooms I'm going to use sound blankets or furniture moving pad or anything like thick foam which will absorb some of the reflecting sounds. I'll line all the walls outside of the shot with them.

For father shots

This will be more difficult on my next productions, due to time and cost. Eventually I would like to have a trained boom operator / sound engineer who can help me get everything right, but this won't be possible unless I get some technical volunteers for my next shoot. That's what Hollywood uses most of the time, boom mics. It creates a bit of a problem for my low budget production, cause it adds another person to the size of my ULTRA skeleton crew.

Since, it seems like everyone wants to be "famous" getting actors and actresses to volunteer is easy, but technical people? Who wants to hold up a boom mic all day long without getting paid?? I am in Los Angeles though, so I'll think of something or possibly find a film student or train a production assistant.

Oh, I could pay people, but actually I can't. I received almost no donations and since I'm a freelancer, my income is not very steady and I definitely couldn't afford the $30,000 required even for a "shoe string budget film". No, for the time being I make no budget movies. It's fun though, cause it's all about creativity and working within limitations to produce something enjoyable.

Plus I've given myself a very ambitious challenge. Eventually I want to produce a full length independent film produced on a budget of less then $5,000 that will get accepted into a major film festival and have an opportunity for mainstream distribution. It's never been done before to my knowledge and I want to be the first. I say opportunity for mainstream distribution, because I don't know what's going to happen in the film industry and for now I'm happy releasing my films online for free. Don’t say I'm crazy, I will accomplish this.

Although just wait.. the quality of my next productions will improve… Prosumer cameras, better editing, better acting through rehersals and more time and preparation. Better soundtrack. This is going to rock, just talking about makes me want to go shoot something, but I don't have a camera yet, that's coming in a month or so.

Ok back to shooting sound on father shots where the camera needs to be more then 8ft from the actors. If I can get together a boom pole and an experienced operator I'll use that. If not I'll shoot multiple takes close up and then mix the sound from the close up takes with the video from the far away takes.

It does appear that in the hard to record sound environments Hollywood justs doubs over the top with sound recorded on different takes on in the studio. I know you have to be really carefully to make sure that you don't have a lip synch problem (otherwise that could really distract from the movie).

Another mention, laviar mics are cheap and seem like they would work well, but initially I'm going to completely avoid them, because I believe they will add extra needed crew and more importantly time and plietion to my shoots. They have to hidden on the actors, tapped, tested and then all mixed toghther using expensive equipment to be fed into a separate sound recorder or mixed and balanced into th prosumer camera itself. I don't know. I want to start simple and then move to more complicated stuff as I start really understanding and becoming good at what I'm doing.

Step 1 – buy prosumer camera with mic attachment and shotgun microphone

Step 2 – practice shooting different types of shots and work extremely hard on the editing and post production side of things.

So that's it for now I'll keep you posted on what I find out and what I'm working on in my discovery process.

Oh wait I also wanted to touch up on a few things I'll not be adding to my movies.

1. CHEESY OVER DONE SOUND EFFECTS. This one always pisses me off here a few examples
a. sprinklers that sound like bullets ala "Lady in the Water" style.
b. Wind wooshing sounds when a hero punches someone
c. Space explostions that are Loud and instant - come on there is no air in space, so no sound and even if there was a way for the sound to get to you, a ship would be so far away it would take A LONG TIME
d. Cats meowing every time they are on the camera
e. The sound of the explosion timed exactly with the camera when the main character is a mile away. PLEASE lets reinforce at least knowledge of the basic laws of physics.

Hey that was fun. May I'll write a separate blog posts where I just name every cheesy over done sound effect I can think.

For my production I will however work on adding a few well placed sound effects and room buckhound noises to add richness and depth to my works.