circafade777 said:
and please do not pick apart what i say.
Quoting parts of your post, or "picking apart" what you said makes it clear which part of the post is being addressed. There is no reason to be upset about this.
circafade777 said:
i feel that the story is the most important part to the film im just trying to get a couple pieces in place one being a camera to capture the image (which i have) and two being a mic to capture the sound better (looking for). i feel the story is what is truly important but we may have differing philosophies.
Yes, the story is the most important thing, without it there's no reason to pull the gear out of the closet in the first place.
But, even a visually beautiful film will become unwatchable if the audio sounds like it was phoned in.
circafade777 said:
I put a lot of research into what camera to buy for the budget i have and don't appreciate you calling it a mistake.
The reason alcove referred to your purchase as a mistake is that it's a common occurrence. A fledgling filmmaker goes out and purchases a new camera. But then after spending $1000+ on it, doesn't feel additional investment should be necessary for proper audio gear as well. For home movies of the kids birthdays, that thought pattern is just fine, but when you're intending to use the camera for any sort of narrative or documentary filmmaking, it's frankly a little foolish.
But don't feel that you're being picked on, or anything like that, this isn't a personal issue, it seems to be an almost universal issue. The advice and suggestions being provided to you are not intended to offend or make you feel bad about your purchases, quite the contrary. We'd prefer you to be happy about what you buy, and being able to put gear you buy to good use is a giant step in that direction.
Can you buy a $50 microphone with a 1/8" mini-jack that will plug right into your camera and make it work? Sure.. is it the best solution? Certainly not. We're trying to steer you toward more middle of the road equipment for several reasons:
- It will sound better
- It will last longer
- You'll be happier with it
To address your very first question, wireless or shotgun.. Wireless is almost always more of a headache. Buy cheap, and you'll get interference in even the best environments. Batteries start getting low, more interference and noise.
The cost involved in getting a reliable high quality wireless system, that is totally portable, is easily in the neighborhood of, if not more expensive than what your camera cost.
The concerns with shotgun mics are a bit less. They are highly directional, which is good it cuts out most of the background noise in most environments. However you still want to get the mic as close to the actor, interviewer, interviewee, etc as possible without it entering the shot.
Even a $4000 shotgun mic isn't going to sound all that amazing if it's mounted on the camera, that's just the way it is.
So you will want to use a boom pole, or maybe a mic stand with a boom arm if you're doing a sit down interview by yourself or something. Get the mic on the end of it, and keep it as close to the person speaking as possible without being in the shot. Pointing the tip of the mic to a spot about halfway between their mouth and center of the sternum tends to get a fairly articulate and full sound out of most shotgun mics.
The other concern you'll have to address is how to hook the mic up to your camera. Your camera, like many consumer and some prosumer level cameras, has an 1/8" jack for the microphone. The problem with this is that once you put the mic on a boom and move it across the room from where the camera is, the little 1/8" extension cable between the camera and mic turns into an antenna for electro-magnetic and RF interference. Shooting somewhere around overhead fluorescents? You'll almost certainly pick up the buzz of the ballast with this kind of setup.
There is, however, a solution to this issue. Several companies manufacture an adapter that lets you plug a balanced XLR cable into your little camera with an unbalanced input. The extra bonus is these adapters also give you separate volume control for each of the inputs (some have 4 inputs, most have 2)..
The two companies that come to mind are
Beachtek and
Juicedlink.
Juicedlink tends to be a bit more expensive than the Beachteks, due I believe to JL using slightly more expensive components, they claim to have better preamps that provide a much quieter signal. Honestly I've never been disappointed with my Beachtek, and people have commented on how clear it sounds on set before.
So.. if you look around (ebay is a good place to look) you should be able to find yourself a beachtek for right around $100 or so, and can probably find a shotgun/boom combo for just over $200..
I just looked and saw a boom, shockmount, 25' xlr cable, and Azden SGM-1x for $219 and a beachtek for $99
So, in the neighborhood of $300 you'll wind up with a nice little audio package and you could easily upgrade the mic later if needed. Rather than spending half that amount for something like the rode video mic which will wind up giving you headaches when you eventually do try to move it off of the camera onto a boom.
What is your budget for a mic and its related accessories?