Your cameras audio. Let's talk about your cameras audio features. Your camera should have XLR inputs. These are professional three pin connectors that lock once connected. We will cover types of microphones and connections shortly. You should have at least two channels of audio inputs.

Your camera's audio in should have a selector switch to select either mic for microphone line for a line feed from an audio board. In addition, your camera should have a selection from the menu where you can select different audio levels. For example, minus 18 all the way up to plus 12. Normally, you would leave the setting at zero. Wherever the mic you're using sounds too low and you have the game turn all the way up on the side of your camera, you should adjust the gain in the menu to plus six or plus 12. If you aren't especially loud environment, like a rock concert, or using an audio feed that is too hot, turn your game down in the menu until the audio signal is no longer distorted.

Again, you should use manual audio settings in almost all cases. If you leave your audio level settings in auto, here's what happens. Because of a horrible background noise, I would never shoot a scene like this out on a real job by an air conditioning unit. But I'm doing it now. It was Straight a point about audio levels and background noise. Now I always run my main channel of audio, whether it's a lavalier, or hand mic or shotgun mic on manual level control.

That way it keeps the background noise at a constant level. Now I'm going to turn it to automatic in a moment, and you're going to hear for yourself the difference. Now we've got the audio level control on automatic. Notice how the background noise changes in level. When I stopped talking, the background noise increases. And then when I start talking again it decreases.

It's this constant fluctuation of the background noise increasing and decreasing, which makes for bad audio. This is really important if you're shooting in a noisy environment, say at a sporting event, or outdoors by the water with the waves crashing or in a busy nightclub. So you will Want to get in the habit of always using manual level control for your main channel of audio phantom power. shotgun mics require electrical power to function. Some take a battery while others need to be supplied power. Look for a camera that has a plus 48 v switch, which supplies voltage to the microphone when filter if you're working outdoors in a windy environment and hear wind noise while monitoring audio, you can activate the wind filter your camera to remove most if not all the wind noise.

But only is it when you have to because it also filters out all of your low level EQ. That is all the bass and it sounds tinny or the normal. Another very useful feature which is a holdover from the beta cam days is having a manual control for one of your audio channels at the front of your camera. With this you can adjust the audio level manually on your main audio channel. Without taking your eye away from the viewfinder to look at the audio levels on the side of the camera. You can see the audio levels in the viewfinder superimposed over the video and adjust accordingly.

So here are the basic features you want in the camera. Visual measure of 100% video or zebra adjustable shutter speed, manual and auto Iris, manual in autofocus, focus enhance servo and manual zoom. manual and auto white balance manual in auto audio level control, mic line selection, wind filter, audio gain level control tripod I've seen lots of folks attempting to shoot small cameras on still photography tripods or just dispensing with tripods all together. Both are bad ideas. a still photo tripod is fine for shooting stills, but awful for shooting video, because any moves you make will look jerky. You need a tripod that has a fluid head with adjustments for pan and tilt to make smooth camera moves.

While we're on it, let's talk about pan and tilt. A pan as a camera movement left or right. It tilt is a camera movement up or down. Of course you can have combinations of pans and tilts and zooms for that matter to make interesting shots. We'll see more than next video about when and when not to use a tripod. But for now always use a tripod whenever possible.

So you want a fluid head tripod with fluid movement for both pan and tilt and you went degrees of tension for pain until in order to adjust for the degree of resistance. If you want to do a slow movement, you should increase the tension In order to keep the move smooth if you need to make fast pans or tilt, loosen the tension. Also, you want to have locks for both pan and tilt. That way your whole camera doesn't dump over when you step away balance. Your tripod should have a bubble balance. This is a visual tool.

It's an air bubble that shows you when your tripod head is perfectly adjusted for both horizontal and vertical balance. related to the bubble bounce is the ball level adjustment. You want to tripod where the head has a ball level adjustment. In combination, it's a quick and easy adjustment to make sure your tripod has level. Just the head so the bubbles in the center and you're good to go. You need some sort of spreader either mid level or floor level to make sure your tripod is secure.

This will keep the tripod secure and prevent the legs from accidentally kicking out. topple your tripod and camera to the ground. Finally, make sure the tripod you select is rated for the weight of the camera plus accessories that are going to be mounted to the camera that you're using. Audio. The most neglected part of video production is audio without it or making a silent movie. This is one thing not to cheap out on.

Buy microphones and headphones to give you the most accurate audio possible. It would videotaping Be quiet. As an editor producer, I've received lots of raw footage where the shooter is having a conversation with other crew members and passers by. The result is unusable audio microphones. Your camera will either come with a shotgun mic, or you will have to purchase a shotgun mic. This is the mic that will always capture natural sound known as net sound, which is the natural audio that you hear in whatever environment you're recording video in.

Love Lear mind This is the small mic you attach to a person's clothing, their jacket, lapel their shirt or tie wherever. You can also hide this mic on your talent if you don't want to be able to see it in your shot. Hand mic. This is the microphone you will use while conducting man on the street interviews. It should be directional, have an XLR connection and have a windscreen. This mic will also be used for talent or reporter stand ups.

And for voiceovers. You should be able to either hardwire this mic with a physical XLR cable or transmit wirelessly with a wireless cube transmitter wireless you can and should purchase a wireless audio system that consists of a wireless receiver wireless transmitter for a lavalier mic and wireless XLR transmitter for use of either hand mic or line feed from the audio board. This wireless system should be able to change frequencies So if one channel is not clean, that is it's noisy or someone else is transmitting on it, you're able to change to a different frequency. Always have the camera mounted shotgun mic recording one channel for natural or net sound. The other audio channels should be used for either hand mic or lavalier mic. It's crucial to have redundancy.

For example, you need to have extra batteries for your camera for your wireless audio system. Also, it's crucial to have extra accessories for your wireless audio system. items that are easily lost are microphone attachments and windscreens. Therefore, it's very important to purchase extra tie clips for the Lavalier extra windscreens for the Lavalier extra batteries for wireless transmitters and receivers. By the way, never use old weak batteries for your audio on a shoot. They can go dead at the most inopportune time, new batteries are cheap insurance.

Lighting. At some point you'll need enough lighting fixtures to light an interview setup or more. Initially, the bare minimum you should have is an on camera light in a reflector. We will cover the use of both in the later segment on lighting. On camera lighting is so much more convenient and useful now and even 10 years ago, we used to have to wear bulky battery belts that gave about one hour of runtime and took all night to recharge. Now there are many manufacturers that have dimmable LED fixtures that run cool for long durations on a single small battery.

There are also easily attached color filters for changing color temperature. We cover that more in depth in the lighting video as well. reflector, you should always keep a portable reflector with you when shooting outdoors. This can help turn an ugly shot into a beautiful shot. by filling in shadows on your subjects faces. These reflectors fold up into manageable package.

I like the type that have different surfaces, silver, gold, and even have a diffusion layer to soften direct light. Again, we'll go over this stuff in the lighting video. Last but not least, make sure you have the necessary battery charges for your equipment and pack a circuit protected power strip and an electrical extension in an electrical adapter with you. You need to be totally self sufficient for a full day of shooting. But we'll need to recharge your batteries at the end of the day. You need to be prepared for anything.

So if you're staying in a room with only one electrical outlet, it is the old two prong style. You will need to plug in an adapter to connect your power strip. You need to be prepared to power multiple battery chargers. We have to The basic requirements of equipment, you will need to record video and audio on a typical shoot. This covers the camera audio and support that is the tripod in lighting. Now that you know what you will need, check out the other chapters in this series which cover how to shoot professional video.

How to light for professional video, how to record professional audio for video, pro videographer tips and best practices