Audio for my no budget short film.

U

Usmanhere

Ok when i say no budget i mean literally no budget. We are four friends making this 3-4 minute long short film with two actors and some 3,4 locations around the city with our 70d (50mm prime).
The issue is the sound. I can't invest more than 50$ on audio. How to get it done? I just want dialogues to be clear.
Every conversation scene is set outdoor on streets, with the two characters walking at times while speaking. So how to record clear understandable dialogues.
As u might have noticed it's our first film. So any kind of advice for a first time maker is welcomes. Tell me about your experience any mistake u made anything. But of-course primary question remains: The Audio.
Thanks in advance. :)
 
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Lavalier mic's are not a no more than 50$ solution to your question.
ADR is not much of a solution for a first time filmmaker. It takes skill
and talent from both the film maker and the actors.

The lav you link to is wired – meaning you will need to run a wire from
the mic to your camera phone. And you need one mic for each person
speaking. And you need to hide the mic under the clothing which muffles
the sound. A wireless system (mic, transmitter, receiver) is expensive.

THIS LINK will help. But a mic alone will not give you the record clear
understandable dialogues you want. You need to get the mic close to
the actors - use a boom pole. Recording directly to the camera (especially
a phone) will add even more challenges. It's best to record audio to an
audio recorder. You might even try using another smartphone to record audio
only.

It's great they you are concerned about audio. That's something too many
film makers don't put enough thought into. Your price range limits you, but
you CAN find solutions. The directional RODE videomic would be a better
choice than the wired lavalier mic. Make a boom pole yourself and get that
mic as close to the actors as you can. Go out and shoot a couple of tests.

Let us know what happens, okay?
 
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Okay i will, one hope is my university's media cage who are very cynical about lending equipments. If they do problem is solved. MAybe i have to go with my smart-phone's audio directly if they say no. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the advice :)
 
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I have a cheap mic that plugs into my d3200. I spent $15. I don't know if they're really far shots but you can voiceover and adjust audio in post. You can amplify and mix the sound in most video editors.
 
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Remember Forrest Gump? "Shrimpin' is HARD." Well, when it comes to low/no/mini/micro budget filmmaking, in fact, when it comes to filmmaking in general, "production sound is HARD!" Without a budget you have extremely limited options, and all of them are either restrictive, extremely difficult, or both.

Good production sound relies on getting a mic in close and properly aimed.

The Inverse Square Law - In physics, an inverse-square law is any physical law stating that a specified physical quantity or intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity.

So if you hold the mic two (2) inches from the sound source it will only be one quarter (1/4) as loud than if you held the mic one (1) inch away from the sound source. If you are four (4) inches away it will only be one sixteenth (1/16) as loud than if you held the mic one (1) inch away from the sound source. If you hold the mic eight (8) inches from the sound source it will only be one sixty-fourth (1/64) as loud.

And all of that is if the situation is optimal, meaning that the mic is properly aimed. If the mic is not exactly aimed you will be recording more noise and less dialog.

Since you have no external mic, that means getting the camera mic in extremely close, which, of course, is very restrictive of the type of shots you probably want to get. If you opt to get all the shots that you want you're going to end up with very noisy production sound. Cleaning up cluttered, noisy production sound is a hard job even for well equipped experienced audio post types.

So, as has been mentioned, the only solution is ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement). ADR requires the actors to go into a studio (which you can't afford) to perform their lines while EXACTLY matching the lip movements on the screen. This is difficult to achieve, especially if you don't have access to tools like VocAlign. On top of that, your actors still need to give emotional performances. To match sync and at the same time give an emotional performance is a difficult task even for high-paid experienced actors, much less inexperienced actors.

Oh, by the way, when you do ADR you will also have to do Foley to replace all of the human-made sounds like footsteps, cloth, small props, kissing, punching, etc. You will also have to replace the ambient background sounds and do sound effects to replace all visible audio cues (vehicles, doors, etc.).

Without having any knowledge as to what audio resources are available to you it is nearly impossible to advise you. Hopefully your media center will cooperate.

I wish you luck.
 
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