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1.
sound
movies-
With the
added
dimen-
sion of sound,
there
are
many
new tech-
niques
for you to use. If
you already own
01'
have used
a
tape
recorder, you
prob-
ably
are familial'
with techniques for
good sound
recordings.
Many
of
these
same techniques can help you make
good sound
movies.
If you notice that the
sound
indicator
light is
on constantly
(not flickering)
while
you are
making sound movies, the
background noise level may be too high.
Turn
off any
radio or television
set
(01'
other appliance)
operating in the back-
ground.
Then position the microphone
equidistant
from your
subjects so
that
one
subject
doesn't predominate over
the others (especially important with
muscial instruments). This
enables
the
automatic gain
control (AGe) to
adjust
the recording level for your
subjects.
For the best
continuity
in your mov-
ies, keep the camera centered on
your
main
subject, even
though
another
per-
son
may be speaking. This will
avoid
quick, confusing, and distracting
scene
changes.
The
area
where you record can influ-
ence
the sound quality of your
movies.
Rooms with carpeting and heavy drap-
eries
help deaden echoes, thereby im-
proving the quality of recorded
sound.
Outdoors, be
sure
that you place the mi-
crophone near your prime
subject
so
that wind, traffic,
01'
other background
noises
will
be reduced.
Handling
of
the microphone during
recording will produce excessive,
dis-
tracting
noises on
the
sound track.
Once
you
determine
a position for
the
micro-
phone in a specific scene,
leave
it
there
until
you change scenes.
Use
an exten-
sion cord
(available
from your
photo
dealer) for the microphone if the cam-
era
position
will
b
e
limited by the length
of
the microphone
cord.
The
sound
recording is
placedo
nto the
film 18
frames ahead of
the picture.
To
avoid sounds from one scene
being
played
with an adjacent
unrelated
scene,
run
the
camera about 2 seconds
befoTe
and afte7·
your subjects' actions.
This
compensates
for the 1- to
2-second
de-
lay of
sound at
the beginning
of each
scene and
makes
editing your sound
movies much
easier.
2. scene
length-
With
sound
movies, the
scene
length will probably be controlled
by
your subject's
dialogue
or
other
sig-
nificant
sounds.
With
silent
mQvies,
about 5
to 10
seconds of
filming time
(approximately 1% to
2%
feet of film)
is
appropriate
for
movie scenes
of
aver-
age
action.
Give
your movies
an inter-
esting
change of
pace and
make them
more fun to
see
by making
some scenes
longer than others. So decide how long
you want the
scene
to
be
on the
screen,
and
expose
the film for that length of
time. Some
scenes
need to be long, some
medium in length,
and some short.
For
example, an
overall
shot of a
beach to
establish
location may last only a few
seconds,
but the more interesting close-
ups may deserve
a
much longer time.
Follow
a
moving sub-
ject by keeping it cen-
tered in the
viewfin
der.
The sub
j
ect w
ill
be
sharp, the background
b
l
urred. (See "pan-
ning," page 15.)
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