Bonding Audio?

OK.

From what you've written, it seems to me the first thing you need to look at is some editing software.

At the moment you're trying to edit in the camera... and that's never going to give you good results.

All drama is shot by getting coverage. Or, in other words, you shoot the same scene five or six times over, with your actors doing exactly the same thing each time, but from a selection of different angles. Every time you shoot the same scene it is called a take.

When you edit, you choose the best bits from each "take" and cut them together.

To do that you need to get your shots into a computer, which has a NLE (Non-Linear Editor).

If you own an Apple Mac, you already have a great newbie NLE "iMovie" ... there are probably some free PC NLE's kicking about (I can't help you with that, I've never used a PC for film making)

Of course you will get better sound if you use a good mic and a boom pole...but you made me laugh when you said there aren't any cheap mics where you are... you live in Hong Kong, the home of cheap electronics.

My guess is if you knew where to look and what to look for, you could get a cheaper mic than anyone else on this board.

Hm... I always go to the 'official' stores when buying electronics just to be safe... because Hong Kong... most of them is either 'non-exchangable', no warranty, or a fake. I'd ask someone if they could find a good windproof mic.

Also, I want to ask, after putting all together the different parts of each take, do we use just the audio from just 1 take so the audio sounds better and more put together? Or do we use the audio from each different take for each different cut? Because if I do that, there are weird sounds and significant difference in the background sound once take 1 switches to take 2, if you get what I mean.

When the audio quality (noise, background sounds, etc.) varies from one take to another, it is generally better to use the audio from one take, as long as you can get the other takes to sync well enough with that audio.

If you can clean up your audio a bit (remove some noise,etc.), often times it is enough just to cross-fade the audio from one cut to the next. When there is a cross fade, you don't get the abrupt changes that are so noticeable. However, if there is a big difference from take to take, it will still be disturbing.

Chances of getting the audio of one dialogue take to sync with the audio of another is very unlikely. So, generally you keep the audio recorded with the pictures... as much as is humanly possible.

One of the reasons for having a lot of takes, is it allows you to cut round bad audio in one particular take.

At the end of each scene, you also record 30 seconds of the audio which is natural to the location, with no speech. This is called the "wild track" and is used to equalize out the ambience between takes... and also covers any holes created, where you need the action without the sound attached to that take.

One of the real skills in post production is matching the levels of the audio on the takes, so that it is seemless... not something you're going to get right first time. (or the second time either).

But, please don't get me started on post-production audio or I'll be here all day.

At age 13, starting out as a filmmaker, and not in a position where you can have a separate boom operator, I wouldn't worry too much about the audio just yet. Start by learning to tell your stories, even do some silent films. Get some editing software and learn to shoot your different angles going through the scene multiple times.

Use crappy audio to start with, when it gets to the point where it annoys you, invest in a shotgun microphone. Build a boom pole and windscreen so you can get the microphone 1-3 feet (maximum) from your actor's mouths. This will make their voices much louder than the background noises and allow you to get cleaner audio as you can turn the volume down to get rid of even more of the background noise.

If your camera has a microphone that can detach, pull it off and get a long cord (8 meters or 25ft - not sure what system of measurement is used in HK) for it so you can attach it to a 16 foot painters pole and get it more near your actors mouths.

Work in stages on each piece of the technical puzzle that filmmaking is until you can do that part without thinking about it. Pick the weakest part of your last film and work on that in your next one.

For a real world comparison, pick up a copy of M. Night Shaymalan's ... um ... either the village or signs, can't remember which one. The BTS features of one of them has one of his first short films on it (should say on the back of the case) where he remakes a goofy little Indiana Jones scene with his dog. You'll see that even famous directors started out not knowing as much as they do now.

This art/craft is a process of learning little pieces at a time and putting them all together into a more cohesive product at the other end of the journey. But the most important skill is the ability to tell a story!