sound with no dialogue

Since there is no dialog, I'd recommend that you add all of the sound in post.

The general rule is: if it moves, it makes a sound. Now, there's nothing that says you have to be literal about this. In fact, perhaps using non-literal sounds will make it more communicative.

My favorite quote when working with sound is "Picture communicates information, sound communicates emotion."

As she moves thru the garden, perhaps some sounds of her clothing as it moves on her body. As the box opens, not only have the sound of something moving, but perhaps there is something etheral that escapes from the box as it opens.

Musical score is critical to the communication of emotion. Do you have it scored?

To answer your question more directly, all of these sounds can be captured with your shotgun, but do not have to be captured at the same time as the picture.

Sound effect libraries are your friend.

Drop me a line once you have the footage shot and I'll be glad to toss some ideas your way. This is an area where I am looking to grow my experience.

LastSunsetFilms said:

for my next little short there is no dialogue, filming it in the garden, there is a couple of sounds such as a door closing and the opening of a wooden box. what is the best way to capture the sound? i only have a shotgun mic.

so for instance, the camera is 15 feet away from the subject and she is walking towards the box, where am i pointing the mic?? towards her feet as she moves closer? there will be a music track that will be more of the focus on the sound front in the film, but i'd like to have some 'set' sound also.

sound is by far my weakest point and i dont have a proper audio mixing program, i'm thinking to download 'audacity' as i have no money to spend on anything just now...

Click to expand...

LastSunsetFilms said:

so for instance, the camera is 15 feet away from the subject and she is walking towards the box, where am i pointing the mic?? towards her feet as she moves closer? there will be a music track that will be more of the focus on the sound front in the film, but i'd like to have some 'set' sound also.

Click to expand...

You can point the mic towards the ground to get
the sounds of her footsteps. For the sound of the
door closing and the opening of the box you can
use your shotgun mic to record both. As gpforet
said, you don't need to be shooting to record audio.
Point your mic at the door you want to use and open
and close it several times while recording. You can
then use only the audio part in your editing software.

You can do the same thing for footsteps and all other
sounds you want to put in your movie. This is an excellent
opportunity to build your skills and understanding of
sound for a movie. And you can build your own sound
effects library while doing it.

thx

You should ALWAYS record sound; if nothing else it makes syncing Foley and sound FX a lot easier, and you never know what gems may appear for your sound library for use in this or other projects. If you are not recording dialog aim the mic at the most prominent visual such as the footsteps, the box or the door. BTW, you can also hide the mic closer to the action.

Sound is multi-layered - besides the dialog there is the general ambience (which can be made up of dozens of layers in itself), there are specific "see it/hear it" sounds like doors and Foley (footsteps, etc.), "reactive" sounds that are not seen to which characters react, diegetic and non-diegetic music, etc.

As GP said non-literal sounds can be very effective. However, a lot of Foley is non-literal as the actual object, when recorded, does not sound "big" or "real" enough when mixed with the score and all of the other sounds. For a scene in the feature I recently completed I used a mop to replace the kick-stand of a bike, styrofoam and a piece of leather to replace the character putting his helmut on, a wheelbarrow on decorative stones to replace the bike tires on gravel, etc.

Another aspect to think about is that music only can pull the audience away from the immediacy of the moment. This is by no means a hard and fast rule and there are countless exceptions, just something of which you should be aware. It is also important to think about the entire audio frequency spectrum; too many sounds (score/music included) occupying the same frequencies can create audio "mud" where nothing stands out. Mixing - and planning for the mix - is a balancing act full of compromises.

We'll be here when you need more advice.