Good Day, fellow reader. My name is Rob, and I have a thing for sound…

<RANT ON>

With all the you-tubed, homemade, and student-films made today, with shaky visuals, wind-blown dialogue, and crunchy or imperceptible foley, don’t you think YOUR project deserves the recognition it deserves?  Now, tell the truth, come on… if you are reading this you already know that there really is no substitute for a good sound.

Remember that song that played at the High School Prom that you danced to with all your friends, and you just cut loose?  …or how about that orchestral piece that makes you think of magenta and fuscia sunsets over the lake on a warm summer’s day… Perhaps you are thinking of that hard hitting industro-rock that you work out to, to shut out the world and focus… what ever it is, music is composed of sound, and sound affects our lives, and indeed our mood and perception of events.

Because we are always using our eyes, and because our temporal cortex seems to take up so much of our attention, we forget about the sounds that slyly enter our ears unchecked.  We forget that we really do operate by sound.  We LIVE by sound.  You know the exact sound that your husband’s car makes as he pulls in at the end of the day, and your pulse quickens because he will soon be in your arms. You know by the sound of a Baby’s cry whether it is hungry, cold, or wet. You know that if you hear that drip again, you are going to have to go down to the hardware store and replace that toilet tank seal for sure this time.

Ok, maybe your not that much into sound, but you have to be, trust me! If you want your piece to be believable, to be realistic, then this level of nuance is needed.  Now, with that said, rules are meant to be broken, right?  So, take this all with a grain of salt, but for heaven’s sake, if you are recording any kind of sound at all for your project, make it good!  Use the best you can get (borrow, steal, beg for, etc) if you’re not recording it, and by all means, pay licensing fees to that artist who’s music you absolutely must have in you piece!

<RANT OFF>

So, how can you get good sound?  I know that I am preaching to the proverbial choir here for most of you, but consider the options below. Bare in mind that I am only offering suggestions to those of us that are only operating on shoe-string, or ultra low-low budgets. But cinema as an art form cannot be constrained by budgets. If it is, then we lose voices in that artistic community, and perhaps even a void is left.  What fills that void? In this day and age, I shudder to think…

So, if you are going to record dialogue, foley or any sound whatsoever, make sure you have the proper equipment:

1. A decent digital sound recorder like the Zoom or Tascam recorders are a great place to start. They record and capture to SD cards, easily editable WAV or MP3 files that are accessible on any video editing platform. Click for a great comparison on three of the standards here. As an aside, The H1 from  zoom is quite a bit cheaper than the H4, but has no XLR outputs.
2. Use a Boom! Yeah, its basically a big stick that has grips on one end and a mic attachment the other end so that you can position your external Mic where it needs to be. You can make this, you don’t need to buy one necessarily.
3. Use nice microphones.  Being that there are those that have a better knowledge here about mics, I will give a few general suggestions; just don’t go to radio shack for your mic, it’s not a good gamble. Instead try a Shure 57 or 58 for wide vocal capture, or a Rode M3 cartoid Condenser mic as a shotgun. There are also wireless Sennheiser and Shure Lavaliere microphone systems that work great for on-person capturing.
4. Choose your music and pre-recorded sound effects carefully.  At the recent SFN meeting we all started talking about reasonable music licensing costs (the current financial battle for my project, “Give Up the Ghost”) and the best places to get said music.  Unless you are dead set for specific music sound or foley, and money is no object, check out these great sound resources.

http://ccmixter.org
http://www.jewelbeat.com
http://www.premiumbeat.com
https://www.marmosetmusic.com/
https://www.musicbed.com/
http://www.audionetwork.com/
http://www.pond5.com/

Ultimately, my fellow story-tellers, it is about your art, and the best art that you can create.  The Sandpoint FilmMakers Network exists to bring our collaborative best to the table so that our stories can be told in the best way possible as a thriving and supportive film-making community here in Sandpoint.  Don’t let the complexities of the human psyche get you down; go out and make that art with your friends, and make it a good one!

I have read a lot of books about filmmaking over the years and while some are better than others, very few give concise actionable examples with diagrams and suggest exactly how and when they should be used. This is where Master Shots 2nd Edition by Christopher Kenworthy stands in a league of its own.

The sub title of the book promises “100 advanced camera techniques to get an expensive look on your low budget movie” and it delivers on its promise. While not all of the chapter titles fit the type of films that I am looking to make (Fight Scenes for example are not my cup of tea), all the techniques discussed in every chapter are relevant to all kinds of story telling and even chapters that I was thinking of skipping proved to be extremely relevant. This book truly does inspire me in ways that few others have done.

The book is structured in such a way that you could grab it while reading through a script and simply note sections that you want to review before shooting certain scenes. The shot suggestions may not be something that a filmmaker would exactly follow, but this book opens up multiple possibilities, many of which may have not been considered. From Entrances and Exits, Dramatic Shift, Revelation & Discoveries to Directing Attention, Dialogue Scenes, Arguments and Conflict, this book has shot techniques for everyone.

Be warned though, once you have read this book, there are two more books by the same author in the Master Shots series that you will likely want to purchase as well. I plan to do reviews of Master Shots Volume 2: Shooting Great Dialogue Scenes and Master Shots Volume 3: The Director’s Vision in a future post.

Sincere thanks to Christopher Kenworthy for documenting the multitude of techniques he has learned and used over the years into an accessible book that every independent filmmaker should have on their book shelf. If I were asked to rate this book on a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a solid 5. Highly recommended!

Click any of the book images for more information and pricing.

I personally feel that learning about all aspects of filmmaking is such an important part of being able to successfully navigate the complex details of shooting an independent film.

I have been consuming a lot of storytelling information recently and stumbled into several resources that I think will benefit filmmakers, actors and directors immensely. All of the resources mentioned cost money (some more than others), but what could be better than being well prepared next time you embark on a project. FWIW, I can personally recommend all the resources featured below.

1. The first resource is from Michael Caine called “Acting in Film”. In this one hour DVD Mr. Caine gives you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rob him blind! The man who’s hypnotized the camera lenses for a quarter of a century reveals the most closely guarded secrets on script preparation. working with the director, forming a character, voice, sound, and movement. Pearl by pearl he lays out the Caine wisdom on everything from set politics to set decorum, the film bureaucracy and more!

“A treasure … I’m not going to look at performances quite the same way … A grand entertainment with more drama than most movies … He’s a marvelous teacher … A real clear-cut lesson that every critic should see and everybody who goes to the movies should see… –Gene Siskel, Siskel & Ebert”

2. The next resource is from Uta Hagen called “Uta Hagen’s Acting Class: The DVDs”. Actors, directors, and teachers now have the opportunity to study with the legendary actress and teacher Uta Hagen for the first time on DVD. Shot over the course of two years, the interaction between Ms. Hagen and the actors and audience puts the viewer right in the room.

All ten of her celebrated Object Exercises are clarified and performed. Jack Lemmon, Whoopi Goldberg and Christine Lahti, among others – all former students – recall their classes with Ms. Hagen and her enduring influence on their work. As Ms. Hagen herself states, “When I believe that there is a human being in action up there, in that moment, alive – right there – then I get spellbound. When you really achieve that understanding of human nature, the ability to place yourselves in the shoes of another human being and reveal that life onstage, is to me the ultimate experience.” 2 DVDS, 200 MINUTES TOTAL!

3. The next resource is a book by Jennifer Van Sijll called “Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know”. This book includes many visual framegrabs from some of the best films in history and breaks down the conventions that particular scenes or entire movies utilize for cinematic storytelling.

The book also includes many script excerpts giving the reader a first hand look into some of the greatest screenplays ever written. The book covers everything from frame composition, editing, sounds effects, camera position, lenses, camera motion, and lighting just name a few. This is truly an enjoyable book and a resource that I will refer to again and again.

4. The next resource is over seven hours of actor training from the master himself called the “Sanford Meisner Master Class”. A comprehensive Master Class in acting taught by Sanford Meisner, this 8 hour instructional DVD set is the only existing video record of Meisner’s teaching. Essential viewing for film, TV and theater actors and directors, these DVDs also offer artists of all disciplines the opportunity to learn directly from a master who is now considered one of the most important acting theorists and teachers of the twentieth century.

In 1980, a group of Meisner’s alumni recognized the importance of preserving his teachings for future generations. They banded together and filmed a Master Class with Sandy, short clips of which were used in the 1984 PBS special Sanford Meisner: Theater’s Best Kept Secret. Until now, the rest of the 28 hours of footage remained archived and unavailable. This DVD-set finally makes the footage from this class available to the general public; for the first time since his death in 1997, students can experience the Meisner Technique as taught by Meisner himself.

Also available directly from the Meisner DVD website if amazon is out of stock.

Bonus Resource:

The Directing Motion Series with Vincent Laforet is hands down one of the most useful training series that I have ever purchased. Due to the cost, I agonized over whether to get it for quite a long time. Having watched the entire series three times now, I still find useful information which I did not absorb in the previous viewings. An expensive purchase, but I highly recommend it. If you are on a budget, the “Daytime Movement and Direction Workshop” is what I would recommend.

Excerpt from Directing Motion website:
One of the most important skills modern directors and DP’s are required to master is moving the camera in a dynamic and engaging way. This workshop will teach all levels of filmmakers the precise cinematic language of motion, and how to move not only the camera itself, but also content in front of the camera.

You will step away from this experience with a solid foundation in camera movement, blocking, lensing, and sequencing, and be able to direct any crew precisely and effectively to execute your vision. By understanding these principles thoroughly, you will add impact to your projects, from commercials through to webisodes, features, shorts, events, or documentaries.

More details about the Directing Motions Workshop Downloads can be found here: http://directingmotion.mzed.com/workshop

Video introduction to the workshop.

I hope you found some of the resources useful. Until next time, stay focused!