Hello, I've been reading this site for a while now while i got my ideas in order and equipment bought, but this is my first time posting.

Currently I'm working on my first short with some friends of mine as the actors, I have a storyboard all made up, as well as a script, and we even had a few rehearsals that I filmed so I could test some camera angles and such. I'm filming using a Cannon zr300. After our rehearsals, i took the footage i got and roughly cut it all together and found a few problems i never thought about. Any advise here would be greatly appreciated.

After watching my footage for the first time, I noticed that the built in mic on the camera was picking up every sound including me walking and breathing... This brings me to my first question, Is there a way to edit this sound so I can cut out the parts I don't want to hear without effecting the sounds i would like heard. Or would it just be a better Idea to go out an buy a shotgun or boom mic?

My second question... The camera I'm using supposedly has an anti shaking thing in it... I don't have the most steady hands while I'm walking, and there is still a lot of shaky moments. Is there any tricks i can use or something i should purchase that will keep the camera still while i follow my actor? There is one small point in the movie where my actor picks up a camcorder to record the goings on, and while in that mode I'm okay with the shaking, but when I'm following him and filming the non-first person shots, i would like to find a way to keep the camera still.

Thanks so much, hope you all can help me out :)

:welcome:

Cannon zr300 (...) I noticed that the built in mic on the camera was picking up every sound including me walking and breathing...

I just did a quick search on your camera. It appears to be fairly noisy in itself (apparently it can even pick up its own motor noise) Not much you can do about that.


Is there a way to edit this sound so I can cut out the parts I don't want to hear without effecting the sounds i would like heard.

Depends.

Or would it just be a better Idea to go out an buy a shotgun or boom mic?

Your camera doesn't appear to have a jack for plugging in an external mic.

Is there any tricks i can use or something i should purchase that will keep the camera still while i follow my actor?

You can cheaply make a stabiliser for that. Essentialy it would be a stick that attaches to the camera (screwed into the tripod hole underneath the camera), with some weights attached to the bottom of the stick. Lots of DIY how-to manuals that you can look up.

However, since the camera is teeny... not sure how useful that would be, overall.

This is your camera, right?

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/canon-zr300/4505-6500_7-31263385.html

Yeah that is my camera. After reading that, is there a better camcorder out there that I should look at picking up... hopefully around the $500 - $700 range? one with actual options?

There are three things that are VERY important when getting a camera:

Three CCD’s or CMOS
Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.


The JVC GZ-HD7, the first of the JVC HDD cameras is now a little over
a year old, I’ve seen these on line for as little as $800. A really nice
Fujinon lens makes a huge difference and full manual controls is important.
Three 1/5’ 16:9 progressive scan CCD’s are pretty impressive for a
camera in this price range. It has manual controls, a mic input and an
excellent focus ring which is surprisingly rare on small cameras. It
records directly to a built in 60GB hard drive. The issue here is the MPEG-2
compression. It’s not compatable with many NLE’s.

The GZ-HD6 can record 1080/60p through HDMI - pretty impressive.

The GZ-HD40 is a bit of a disapointment. I like that it records using
AVCHD compression which makes it compatable with most NLE’s but
it loses the important focus ring and it’s so small.

The Panasonic HDC-SD100 uses a 3-CMOS array and records 1920 x 1080
video in the AVCHD format to SD and SDHC memory cards. I like the
ring on the lens that controls zoom, focus, white balance, shutter speed,
and iris and it actually has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen.
Very important it has both a mic and headphone jack. I found it difficult
to handle with all the cables attached (mic, headphones and monitor)
but it’s a camera with all the basics.

Close is the Canon HV20. It records in HDV (1080i) and 24p (60i), has
a mic input and manual controls of white balance and focus but it uses
one 1/2.7” CMOS sensor rather than 3 CCD’s. And it’s so small the
handling is difficult.

The HV30 adds a 30f (Canon’s “frame mode”) in addition to 24p.

The Sony HDR-SR12 has a mic input and a good sized 120GB HDD.
It uses a 1/3” CMOS chip and like the Canon is really small. Because
of the input placement, the mic cable kept getting in my way. The
HR9 (which records to tape) is also a nice, very small, camera with
the essentials. Again the mic input is just below the lens which is
rather poor placement, in my opinion.

....plus, you may want to get a tripod to steady your shots until your hands are steadier. Practice will help...


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