Post Production – Page 4 – Journeys of a Hybrid

September 13, 2010September 13, 2010

Editing and Workflow for DSLR’s – The First Steps

In the Field
Depending on how you are working in the field and what you are shooting, your workflow and the way you organize and manage your media will vary somewhat. If you have a crew and are shooting a scripted video, then you will probably have a computer and technician on site, downloading media as it is shot, backing it up and checking it for focus.

If you’re working solo or with just one other person, which is how I have been working for the past 3 ½ months on my project, Opening Our Eyes,

GailIMG_2946 — Gail at the Kopila Valley Primary School, Surkhet, Nepal

then you don’t have the manpower to work that way. I downloaded all my footage, audio and stills at the end of the day. I rarely had the time or even the battery power on my computer (electricity was scarce at times) to look at what I had shot but I did do spot checks occasionally.

Regardless of how you work in the field,

Nepal_MG_5899 — Children at the Kopila Valley Primary School

it is essential to create redundant backups of all your content. I backed everything up to two portable external hard drives, after downloading the media to my laptop via card readers. There’s a nice software application called ShotPut Pro that lets you make up to 3 copies to different drives at a time, which speeds things up quite a bit. For the most part, I had organized my media by destination and subject with each folder containing the contents of a card. Whenever I shot an interview, I put a fresh card in the camera so that the content was automatically sorted out from the b-roll. Some shooters I’ve talked to who are used to shooting tape, archive each tape or card by making a disk image (DMG) of each which can be mounted on the computer, emulating the original card.

Back in the Editing Suite

The first thing I did when I returned from my 99-day journey, was to make two backups of all my material. After my media was backed up, I started to organize it. Everything had already been separated as far as destination and subject, but I needed to separate the stills from the video and the interviews from the b-roll – if any cards contained both. I also needed to match up the interview video footage with the audio files that had been captured by a separate recording device.

After getting all my media organized and sorted by destination, subject and file type, I renamed the files and added any relevant metadata – copyright and creator info etc. This can be done in Adobe Bridge. You can also look at the video files in Bridge to preview before transcoding them. Another way to preview your video files is by using QuickTime player. Because the files coming out of these hybrid cameras are compressed H.264 files, they do not play smoothly in Final Cut Pro, so they need to be transcoded into a codec like Apple Pro Res, before editing them. This can be done in Apple Compressor which comes with the Final Cut Pro Suite or MPEG Streamclip which is a free application.

You can choose to preview your video files first using Adobe Bridge or QuickTime player or another software tool, and then make a folder of “selects” and transcode just those files before importing them into FCP, or you can transcode everything and then import everything into Final Cut Pro.

After I organized my assets (stills, video and audio), I chose to transcode ALL my video files and import everything into Final Cut Pro. That way, not only could I preview everything smoothly, but I could also start adding information to the clips and organize them into bins within FCP. And with everything transcoded, I won’t have to leave FCP if I wanted to look at content that hadn’t been previously marked “selects”.

Getting to the Fun Part
Organizing, sorting, logging and transcoding is tedious work but it’s essential in order to be able to find things quickly when you need them, when you start laying down your storyline and want to keep focused. There’s nothing worse than having to break your train of thought while you’re editing and have to leave the program to find assets or prep them. Organizing is key – it’s not fun, but a necessary step in the process.

I will continue to slog through this initial process this week, in order to get through some of my content so that I can put together a sample for the PhotoCine News Expo that I’ve been asked to speak at this month. I have way too much material to go through everything, so I’ve decided to tackle the content from two of my subjects, which will make the task more manageable. It will also provide me with the reward of working on the “fun part” of editing by crafting a short story before moving on to daunting task of assembling the entire documentary. Check out this quick sample that I put together within 24 hours after getting off the plane. http://www.vimeo.com/14645594

Little by little things will come together and I’ll keep you posted as I go along.

September 7, 2010September 7, 2010

Post-Production – Overcoming Inertia and Getting Started

I returned back to the United States a couple of days ago and before I even did my laundry, I sat down to edit a quick behind-the-scenes interview video clip of my daughter and I discussing the documentary we had just finished shooting, traveling around the world. I was motivated by a deadline where I needed to provide a video clip from the project, right away.

I was fortunate in that we had just shot interviews of each other talking about the making of the film, while the experiences were still fresh in our heads. So it was relatively easy for me to pull a couple of soundbites from the interviews, sync the audio which had been recorded separately and add relevant B-roll. Within less than 24 hours after stepping off the plane, I had a 5 minute behind-the-scenes short. Nothing fancy, mind you but in addition to providing an opportunity for the film to get awareness, it forced me to start thinking about the overall structure of the piece.

The hardest part of editing is getting started – figuring out how the story will be told. In my case, I’m facing the daunting task of looking through 3 months of material – interviews, B-roll, still images, and behind-the-scenes footage that I need to figure out how I will put it all together. There are a dozen different directions where I could take this film in the editing process. I could choose to make each subject’s story an independent video, with the full length documentary being comprised of them all. Or I could weave the stories together – structuring the piece more thematically. Or I could include the mother/daughter aspect in the film and add some interview footage of the two of us talking about the project.

Just in putting together this quick sample, I have forced my mind to start thinking about the next step – crafting the story. My next deadline is to make a trailer for this film that hasn’t even been edited yet. I will be speaking at the PhotoCineNews Expo in LA in a couple of weeks and I’m motivated by this opportunity to present the workings of this project to a live audience.

As it turns out, jumping right into it was the best thing to do. I overcame the inertia that’s always present, and started focusing on how I was going to tell the story of not only our subjects but the experience itself.

August 23, 2010

Behind the Scenes DVD – or Not?

In a little more than a week, my 99-day journey trekking around the world with my daughter shooting a documentary, Opening Our Eyes will be over. Or will it? My work is really just beginning as I contemplate all we’ve done, people we’ve met and interviewed and how I will put this all together in an edited, finished film.

There are hundreds of ways I can edit this documentary and quite honestly, beginning the process and deciding the direction is always the most difficult. But there will be a moment when the light bulb goes off and the vision will be clear as to how to make sense of it all. Then it becomes easy as the story unfolds – as it should from my heart. It’s the story that can only be told by me and this case, me and my daughter.

My daughter and others have urged me to do a behind-the-scenes DVD

Gail Mooney showing kids her video shot at Kopila Valley Childre — Gail at the Kopila Valley Primary School, Surkhet, Nepal

– she tells me “that’s what people want”, to know more about the making of the film – more about the people behind the film. As much as I agree with her and understand this interest on the part of the viewer, there is also a resistance to make myself part of the documentary. With that said, a separate “behind-the-scenes” chapter could be the solution – to provide more information, without inserting the two of us into the film itself.

One thought does keep popping into my head that motivates me to provide a commentary on the why’s and how’s of this journey and the making of this film. Too many times when I’ve visited museums, I’ve been taken aback by some of the things that I over hear docents talking about in relation to the paintings. They analyze and interpret what the artist meant by his choice of color, brush stroke and placement of objects within the art and how that related to what was going on in his life at that point in time. I often wonder how they know that or even how can they be so sure? Is it documented or is it really just someone’s interpretation that has become fact over the years?

My daughter and I do plan to sit down this week and attempt to do on-camera interviews – while we are still in the moment and before we get back to our normal lives. Here’s where we need your help – tell us what you want to know. Maybe you’re curious about how we survived the dynamic of a mother/daughter team for three plus months. Maybe you want to know why we did this – or how we funded it. Or maybe the questions are even more basic – what did we like? – what was difficult?– any surprises? etc. etc. Perhaps you want to know more about the craft of shooting the doc– and how I went about that. And maybe you don’t really want to know anything at all and just want to know about the subjects of our film.

But please tell me what you’re curious about – as far as the behind-the-scenes making of this film. All questions are welcome – from the seemingly obvious to the more provocative.

August 20, 2010August 20, 2010

Does a Canon 5D Mark II Make You a Cinematographer?

I read somewhere that a recent episode of the TV show “House” was shot entirely with the Canon 5D Mark II. A dozen thoughts ran through my head – Who would have thought that a prime time TV show would be shot with a still camera? – Isn’t it amazing what technology has made possible? With a big production budget, why did they choose this camera? Did they back it up – just in case?

But the biggest thought that ran through my head was that this article oversimplifies the production process and leads you to believe that now just about anyone with a few thousand dollars can become a DP on a prime time TV show. In other words – when talking just about the camera, things get taken out of context.

What about the fact that they most likely had dozens of these hybrid cameras on set, with a crew of hundreds? Or that the sound guys were capturing the audio with tens of thousands of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment. And then of course there is the post-production aspect where the file from the camera gets tweaked, modified and enhanced by professional colorists.

I think many times still photographers overlook the fact that there is a lot more to a large scale production than just the shoot and the camera. And most of the time it goes way beyond the capabilities and role of the individual photographer who is used to working in a solo manner as opposed to collaboration.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a big part of me that absolutely loves my 5D and my 7D. It allows me to deliver a motion product with a stunning visual. But after shooting motion for 11 years, in addition to my 35 years shooting stills – I know that not only do I need to think differently when I shoot in motion but I also need to collaborate with others to be able to fulfill the needs of the production.

So when you hear that an entire movie was shot with the 5D – think beyond the camera.

July 22, 2010July 22, 2010

HDSLR Video – The Camera is Just the Beginning

Many still shooters make the same mistake when jumping over to video – they only think about the camera and the shoot. When this happens, what quickly follows is mild to severe panic when they realize that audio is even more important than the visual and post-production is video is far different than in stills. On top of that, if you shoot video like a still photographer – you’ll want to kick yourself when you get in the editing room.

The good news is there are plenty of resources when embracing these various skills and learning curves than when I started shooting video over ten years ago.

Here’s a few great sites, listservs and blogs that you should bookmark:

http://asmp.org/tutorials/video-tutorial.html

http://photocinenews.com

http://www.cinema5d.com/index.php

http://phillipbloom.net

newspaperVideo@yahoogroups.com

http://worldwide-studios.com/Worldwide_Studios/Resources.html

So have fun and remember, the more your learn, the more you realize you need to know.

July 14, 2010July 10, 2010

Capturing Good Audio When Shooting With DSLR’s

I see a lot of confusion and misconceptions amongst still photographers as they embrace video using the DSLR camera. For many audio is an after thought which is a big mistake because audio is much more important than the visual. Unless you’re just laying down still images or video clips to music then you have to be able to capture good sound. Some things to consider and remember.

1. You’ll never get good sound with the camera microphone – only use the camera mic for reference audio.

2. Don’t buy a camera that won’t let you use external microphones – unless you will be capturing your audio separately and syncing it later in post.

3. If “running and gunning” – you can probably get away with using a mic mounted on the camera as long as you are close to your audio source. You can either use a mic with a mini plug and connect it to the camera OR you can run the mic via an xlr cord to a mixer like a JuicedLink or a Beachtek, which is much better, rendering a cleaner audio capture.

4. For interviews, most likely you won’t want your camera to be extremely close to your subject. So you won’t want to use a mic mounted on the camera – it’s too far away. I rig a shotgun mic on a boom stand and I also use a lav on the subject and run both into my camera if I’m using a traditional video camera or into my JuicedLink mixer if I want to capture the sound on the same card as the audio.

5. When using a DSLR camera, capturing your audio separately with a digital recorder is ideal. I use a Samson H4N Zoom that not only has a built in dual stereo mic but two XLR inputs. I run my shotgun mic and lav mic into the Zoom and then sync the sound later in post with software called Plural Eyes. Make sure you keep the audio on in the camera as well to use as a reference for syncing later on.

6. When using a device like the zoom that has a built in mic – remember that even though this is a quality mic – you MUST get the mic in close to your sound – no more than a foot away. I prefer not to use this mic but rather a shotgun because a shotgun is more focused and won’t pick up a lot of the ambient noise.

7. Use headphones. Don’t just look at your meters – wear headphones and make sure that you are getting quality sound. You could be picking up interference or static.

8. Always consider your audio even for your b-roll – you need some audio – even if you only intend it as ambient background sound.

9. I only use a wireless system when I need to. In cities like New York you can get a lot of interference on the frequencies. Always go wired if you can. And if you find yourself needing a wireless system, spend the money to get a system that has a good range.

10. Be quiet and tell your crew to be quiet as well. You never know when you’ll want to use the audio – even if you think you won’t need it.

July 5, 2010July 3, 2010

The Making of a Documentary

Technically, I began working on my latest documentary, “Opening Our Eyes” about 7 months ago when the idea came to me. I had just seen Robert Frank’s show “The Americans” at the Met in New York City with a friend of mine and I commented to him that I was really yearning to get back to my beginnings and take a visual road trip.

Even though I had spent a lifetime traveling and shooting assignments for editorial and corporate clients, I never lost sight of my passion to explore with my camera.

Moscow_IMG_2695 — Gail at Red Square, Moscow

In the beginning, my explorations were through the lens of my still camera but when I started shooting motion about ten years ago, my tool of choice became a video camera and with that came self assigned documentaries.

It had been two years since my last passion project “Freedom Riders” and I was itching to start another. My daughter had just graduated from college, I was an emptynester and pretty much free to do as I pleased. I had accumulated over 300,000 airline miles, thousands of hotel award points and another 300,000 plus American Express points. I didn’t know what I was saving them for but it seemed like a good time to use them. So, I made a decision to take a trip around the world. I felt like I still had the energy and stamina to take on such a journey but something was missing – I needed a purpose.

The Idea
I have always been interested in the “common man” as opposed to the celebrity and the simple story that resonates in a viral way. I’m intrigued by people who go up against all odds, to right a wrong or fight for a cause and never give up. I usually side with the underdogs and am inspired by the Cinderella stories. And so after that day at the Met, an idea was born and that was to shine a spotlight on 6 people on 6 different continents who were making a positive difference in the world because it was their calling to do so.

Of course coming up with an idea is the easy part and many times those great ideas seem to drift away with time as one gets caught up in daily work and life. But this idea wasn’t going away – I knew it was the right time for me to bring these stories to life. My goal was to create individual videos about each of these people that would combine together as a feature documentary. My hope was that the film would not only create awareness of my subjects’ efforts, but also motivate others to create change.

The Pre-Production and Facilitation
Next came the hard part – making it a reality and the first step was figuring out how I would fund it. After working on 2 other self-assigned passion projects, I knew one thing and that is that it’s really hard to sell an idea. When I was in the planning stages of The Delta Bluesmen, I spent a lot of time applying for grant money and seeking funds from a variety of sources to no avail. I finally got frustrated and decided to self fund the project even though it meant taking it a bit slower and doing more of the work myself. My critics thought I was crazy to tackle a short film by myself and self fund it but I stuck to it and created a piece I’m proud of and which has brought many rewards to my life. So with that experience behind me, I took another leap of faith on my latest project and started the planning process. But perhaps most importantly, I focused on the fact that the positive aspects of working on a self-funded project is that it would be the way I wanted it to be – not compromised for the wrong reasons.

My first order of business was to send out a query to everyone I knew as well as use social media to find my subjects. My first subject was a given – a local young woman my daughter went to high school with, Maggie Doyne,

KopilaValley-6697 copy — Maggie and some of her children

who opted not to trek off to college after high school. Instead she wound up in Nepal and built a home for orphaned children. She’s 23 years old now, has 30 children in her home and is in the process of building a school. Then my daughter Erin, expressed interest in working on this project with me. She knew she’s need to leave quit her job, sublet her apartment and say goodbye to her boyfriend for 3 months – but she wanted to be part of it. And so we became a duo and with that the project really took off with her support and help.

Since the project was self-funded, I had to be extremely creative with the budget – or lack thereof. So after nailing down our subjects across the globe, we started to plan the logistics –airline tickets, hotel rooms, visas, vaccinations and of course equipment needs. From January to May, I spent countless hours booking reward tickets with 14 airlines for 29 flights – a round the world itinerary with extra local hops thrown in. I’ve arranged for 99 nights of accommodations, staying with friends, friend of friends, using reward points, paying for budget hotels and bartering for other rooms. I had to bite the bullet and pay large sums for our vaccinations and visas and budget for our meals. Most importantly, I needed to purchase new gear because my intent was to shoot this project with the HDSLR cameras. I knew I wanted to shoot stills and video and also knew that I had to travel lean and mean so this seemed like the best solution. You can read more about the gear here.

The Execution
We are about one third through the shoot and have worked on 3 continents. The scheduling has turned out to be brilliant – we work hard and exhaust ourselves for chunks of time – anywhere from a week to ten days and then have a few days to recoup, catch up on sleep, write in our blogs, or just sightsee and take some still snapshots along the way. We’ve had a couple mother/daughter disagreements but for the most part we are having the time of our life and seeing the world. At this point we sometimes forget which currency we are using or what the exchange rate is or what our room number is but in the process of creating a film, we have built a lifetime of memories.

We have also created an audience who tune into our project blog religiously and follow our journey as we go along. But something remarkable is happening and that is evident in the comments we are getting. We are opening people’s eyes though our travels and our writings. We have connected our audience with our subjects and their endeavors and are building a global community. It has been truly inspirational meeting and working with our subjects and there are days that my heart is full to bursting and confirms my belief in this project.

Post-Production
When we return in September, my first priority will be to edit the videos that I promised in barter arrangements. And hopefully at the end of the month, I will begin the edit. It will most likely take me a month just to log and transcode the footage and sync the audio in the situations where it was captured independently. I’m confident in my editing abilities but I would love to work with a pro. So if there is a pro out there reading this who would love to get involved in a fabulous documentary – I’d love to hear from you.

Distribution
Not really thinking about this part right now other than to use social media and perhaps itunes and Amazon to distribute it. But I have faith in this project and something tells me that this will take on a life of its own. It’s a feel good story and we’ve already gotten a lot of support and interest.

At any rate it’s the trip of a lifetime and I’m taking it with my daughter so I’ve already been blessed.

June 2, 2010June 2, 2010

Photographers and Video

I’ve been reading a lot of the still photography forums over the past few weeks and I’ve seen a lot of questions about capturing sound with the hybrid HDSLR’s. I’ve also seen some misleading information so I’ve decided to take a few minutes to clear up some misconceptions.

First – Audio is everything in video. People can tolerate a mediocre image but if they can’t understand or hear the audio – they won’t watch. See for yourself – turn the sound down on your TV and see how long you stay interested in the program – even if the image is stunning.

Second – You have many options of capturing audio with the HDSLR’s depending on what you are shooting. I think many still photographers assume everyone is going to be shooting “indie films” with crews. One of the things I find appealing about some of the new technology is that you don’t necessarily need a large crew and a Hollywood budget. And sometimes, if discretion is in order, you’re better off with a small crew. With that said – you should know how to capture good audio.

Third – NEVER use the camera to capture audio – it just isn’t good enough. And I would probably say that you shouldn’t plug an external mic into the camera via the mini plug. I don’t think the audio quality is good enough, especially for an interview.

Fourth – Either use a pre-amp with XLR inputs like a Beachtek or JuicedLink and an external microphone. Make sure you get the mic close to the audio you want to capture. And most importantly monitor the audio through a good set of headphones.

Fifth – Capture your audio independently with a good quality digital recorder like the Samson H4n Zoom and sync it later in post. Syncing sound in post is a snap with a great software application called Plural Eyes.

Lastly – Audio is everything! And remember as you add video to your skill set, you’ll be using your ears as much as your eyes.

May 30, 2010

Shooting Video in the Field with the Canon 5D Mark II

The first two days of our Round the World Journey, shooting the documentary Opening Our Eyes has been quite full and I’ve faced numerous situations – really putting my tools to the test.

Our first full day was spent at the offices of Wrap Up Africa, which are located in Kampala, Uganda. In addition to shooting b-roll of tailors at work, we shot several interviews. Our main interview was with Wrap Up Africa’s founder, Letha Sandison, followed by interviews of a couple of her staff members. We also did interviews of some of the cancer victims that Letha has helped. Here is where I not only needed to be attentive to my technical details but be sensitive to the situation and the people that I was interviewing. Hearing some of their stories is heartbreaking and hard for many Americans to fathom. Sure, we all watch the travesties taking place throughout the world on the nightly news, but it’s quite another experience to speak with people who have experienced horrendous tragedies in their lives that are simply unimaginable.

One woman, Evelyn who works for Letha had been abducted and held captive by the LRA, which stands for the Lord’s Resistance Army, and is not exactly a charitable group. She managed to escape after most of her family had been killed in front of her. She is now raising three orphans who had been victims as well and works with Letha, helping others.

Our set up was simple and deliberately so. I set up the Canon 5D Mark II and captured my audio separately with the H4N Zoom. I had two mics – one shotgun on a small boom stand and another lav. I will sync them later in post. We chose a room that had ample window light as we are traveling with only a small camera light and nothing else. Our biggest challenge was that the cabinet installer decided to do his work the day we were shooting – so the sounds of hammering and drilling made up our ambient background sound. But the mics were placed close to our subjects and did a pretty good job of boosting their audio above the din of the environment.

The next situation we faced was shooting b-roll in the dirty environments of a potter’s studio and a foundry. Again we used the Zoom to pick up the ambient sound of the environments. After a morning with the artists, we packed up quickly and headed to Mulago Hospital to visit the children’s cancer ward. We were not allowed to shoot video but we did shoot some still images and was happy to have the hybrid cameras that captured beautiful files – far better than frame grabs from a traditional video camera.

Then we headed to the market, which as usual is always a trying experience. For anyone who has traveled to congested third world environments, you know what I mean by “trying experience”. You must be aware of your personal belongings at all times, while shooting and I wish at times that I had eyes in the back of my head. On top of that I’m sensitive to those that don’t want to be photographed. It’s exhausting but at the same time exhilarating because of the exotic nature of the environment. My daughter wore the GoPro Hero helmet cam that is a tiny camera made for adventure sports but she had a lot of fun walking through the market recording the event with running video as we walked through the market.

I was shooting video with the Canon 5D Mark II and used a shotgun mic on top of the camera and run through a JuicedLink audio mixer. I’m embarrassed to say that somehow, even after lots of testing – I came back with no audio! Luckily the helmet cam Hero picked up very good ambient audio so I’m able to use that and layer it in post. In the chaos and confusion of the market, I probably didn’t set it up right and today I will do additional testing so as not to make that mistake in the future. But the video was captured beautifully and I will interweave those clips into the documentary with sound from the interviews and ambient sound from the Hero.

I am realizing one thing though and that there is nothing easy or streamlined when shooting video with these hybrid cameras. The results are stunning, but the shoot and workflow are much more tedious than when shooting with a video camera. Perhaps at the end of this three-month journey, I’ll be singing a different tune – I certainly hope so.

I’ll keep you posted as I get access to the Internet, which is iffy, and we’ve been off line for the last two days. But there’s something humbling about being off the grid and I’m learning to take it in stride and appreciate what I have. Today is Sunday and we are resting and storing up a bit of energy for the coming week. Please read more about our journey at Opening Our Eyes.

March 29, 2010March 29, 2010

Gearing Up With HD DSLR’s

Last week was incredibly stressful. I had been dealing with obtaining visas – a somewhat monumental task of which I had no control over, in preparation for my upcoming project Opening Our Eyes, that will literally take me around the world.

On one of my many trips to New York City, I went to B&H and purchased some gear I needed for the Opening Our Eyes documentary that I will be shooting. The gear I bought included – Canon 5D and Canon 7D cameras with extra batteries, (2) 16 GB Sandisk Extreme compact flash cards (I’ll need more), Manfrotto 190CX3 light weight carbon fiber tripod with the Manfrotto 701 fluid head (I needed a small tripod and head that will fit in a backpack), Samson Zoom H4N digital audio recorder, 2 GB Sandisk SD card for audio, recorder, Rode Shotgun mic with “dead cat”, Delvcam Camera Mount Adaptor (this attaches to bottom of H4N Zoom recorder giving it a hot shoe plate), Rycote Hot Shoe Extension/Extender (this attaches to the hot shoe on the top of the camera giving you extra room for devices – for me, the H4N Zoom recorder and a shock mount for the Rode mic) an adaptor so I can hardwire my Tram lav to the Zoom digital recorder, XLR cords of various lengths, and a couple of Rugged Lacie portable hard drives (500GB)

This weekend, I decided to familiarize myself with the new gear and do some testing. I was looking forward to getting back to my “purpose” for the trip and leave the administrative nightmares behind. I am not a shopper, nor am I a gadget freak. I buy new equipment when I have a need for it as opposed to because it exists. There’s something to be said about sticking with gear that you are comfortable with so that you can concentrate solely on the creative, but because of the pace of technology we are somewhat forced to keep current with our tools.

Whenever I add a new tool to my bag of tricks – I go through a process. First experiencing the thrill of something brand new in my hands. When I first took the Samson H4N Zoom out if it’s little coffin like plastic case and held it in my hands it was a sensual experience because of its design and what they make it out of. The second phase of the “new gear process” is reading the manuals and figuring out how things work. With the Zoom this was a bit frustrating and I am one who is already familiar with audio devices, so I can only imagine the frustration for someone who is not audio savvy. It’s such a sophisticated little mixer with so many choices that it took some time getting used to it. After much testing I settled on the 4Channel mode.

Over the weekend I tested both the Canon 5D and 7D cameras, recording sound with their internal mics as well as with a shotgun mic on camera plugged directly into the camera with an XLR to mini plug cord. I also tested both cameras, recording the audio separately through the H4N Zoom using the shotgun on the camera, and with the shotgun on a boom closer to the subject. Then I tested my Tram mic hard wired into the recorder and finally I did a test with the Tram and shotgun mics recorded on separate tracks on the Zoom.

After the tests, I brought both the video and audio files into Final Cut Pro. I had also purchased Philip Blooms 7D tutorial and in the workflow section he mentions how sluggish and problematic it is to work with the H264 files that come directly out of the camera. He recommends converting the files to Apple Pro Res LT either using compressor or MPEG StreamClip which is faster. I tried it both ways and he’s right the MPEG StreamClip is much faster. After I converted the files into Apple Pro Res LT, I imported them into Final Cut along with the WAV audio files. Incidentally, I shot everything at 24 frames a second and recorded the audio as WAV files at 48KHZ. In addition, I recorded sound through the camera, even though I was capturing my audio with an independent device. I knew I would use it as a reference when syncing the sound in post. My next step was to sync the audio files with the video/audio files coming from the camera. I used a clapper when recording so syncing was pretty easy. Philip Bloom mention using a software called PluralEyes for help with syncing audio and video in post but I have not yet purchased it. I did find out that you need to keep good organizational notes when shooting so that you can easily match up the audio files with the camera files later on. I decided that I like using the 4Channel mode with the digital recorder and using two external mics along with the stereo pair on the recorder. In post I can uncheck “stereo pair” and work on each channel independently.

So after a weekend of playing with the new gear, I went through the gamut of emotions from the thrill of newness to the incredible frustration of learning something new before the light bulb goes off. It will take a while to get to the third phase of the “new gear process” and that’s becoming very comfortable with the tools. And I can almost guarantee when that comfortable feeling start to happen, there will be something new that I’ll need to buy.