Audio

Another big difference between shooting pictures and shooting video is audio. If only your camera-mounted microphone could capture sound as well as your lens captures light. But that's just one more thing that keeps videotaping interesting: It's full of little challenges.

If you want good audio, you have to put a mike where the sound you want is (or, at the very least, you have to point a shotgun, or directional, mike toward it). This is not a natural, intuitive thing that most human beings understand right away.

Cameras work so well from a distance, so why doesn't audio work the same way? That is just the way things are. You have to be much more accommodating in the world of audio than in the world of video. But luckily, humans have invented a marvelous array of audio devices to capture sound, which gives you a chance to buy more fabulous gear! Fortunately, even a $20 investment in an external clip-on mike will get you good sound.

If you want good audio, you'll have to use external microphones to get the mike where the sound you want is. Your camera will also have to be connected to the external microphone with an audio extension cord (unless you have an expensive radio mike).

A basic clip-on microphone (see Figures 2.5 and 2.6) lets you capture sound close to the source rather than using the microphone built into your camcorder. Clip-on microphones come in two piecesa clip and the microphone. Generally, you can use the clip to hold the microphone and attach the clip to your subject's clothing, although you could mount the microphone on almost anything.

Figure 2.5. External clip-on microphone (clip and microphone).

Figure 2.6. External clip-on microphone (assembled).

A clip-on mike is great for pinning on someone's clothing and getting audio from a single source. Other types of commonly used microphones are the shotgun, or directional, microphones and the rarer omnidirectional microphones.

A shotgun, or directional, mike (which can be mounted on your camera) records audio from a narrow sector of space (that's why it's called directional), rather than all the noise in a room, for instance. Most of the sidewalk interviews you see on TV news are recorded with a shotgun, or directional, mike which makes it easier to hear the speakers than the surrounding noise.

If you want all the noise in the room (or street), you need to use an omnidirectional mike, which gathers sound equally from all directions.

Shotgun, or directional, mikes are much more commonly used than omnidirectional mikes, but because they usually cost more than clip-on mikes, they tend to be used in interviewing more than one person or when you don't want to be connected by a cord from your camera to the subject.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to get good audio. While it seems like extra work, taking a few minutes to get people properly miked makes the difference between a movie that's not very fun to watch and one that's riveting.

If you want to understand what a difference microphones make, do a simple test: Record your subject from 6 to 10 feet away, using your camera's microphone. Then record the same subject and audio with a clip-on microphone. Compare the two and listen to the difference yourself. Which one would you rather hear?